Lesson Plan

Winter Weather Day 5: Follow Up

Overview

Students review what they have learned about winter weather. They write a poem describing wind, using assigned vocabulary. Students also make and "plant" a pinwheel.

Objective

Students will:

  1. Discover the properties of wind

Materials

  1. Pinwheel Pattern Reproducible (PDF)
  2. Scissors
  3. Glue
  4. Thumbtacks
  5. Unsharpened pencils

Set Up and Prepare

  1. You may wish to conduct this experiment yourself before class time. That way you will be familiar with the process when you demonstrate the experiment for your class.

Directions

  1. Review with children what they've learned all week about winter weather.
  2. Allow time for children to present any work that they have completed as assignments or homework. Encourage students to read any of their writing, report about how they measured the temperature, or share what it was like to experience the wind.
  3. Ask children to evaluate the week. What was their favorite part, why? What was the best thing they learned, why? What other things do they want to know about winter weather?

Lesson Extensions

  1. Read Feel the Wind by Arthur Dorros (Crowell, 1989). This book explores the cause and effect of wind.
  2. Read I Wonder Why the Wind Blows and Other Questions About Our Planet by Anita Ganeri (Kingfisher, 1994). This book answers common questions children have about weather.
  3. Read In The Wind Garden by Angela McAllister (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard, 1994), Ellie and her Grandpa "plant" a unique wind garden. Make pinwheels to plant using the Pinwheel Pattern Reproducible (PDF). Here's how:
    • Print and distribute the Pinwheel Pattern Reproducible (PDF). Demonstrate for children how to cut out the square, color both sides, and cut on the dashed line. Be sure children don't go beyond the dashed lines. They need to stop cutting before the center dot.
    • Show children how to take the point of each section and bend it over so that it touches the circle. Glue in place.
    • Carefully stick a thumbtack through the center of each child's pinwheel into the eraser of an unsharpened pencil. Be sure the thumbtack is attached firmly while still allowing the pinwheel to spin.
    • Let children "plant" their pinwheels in a flower bed or sandbox to create a wind garden then "pick" the pinwheels at the end of the day and take them home.

Assignments

Have children write a diamond-shaped poem about the wind. Explain to children that the first line of the poem is the one-word subject of the poem. (For example, wind.) The second line consists of two adjectives describing the subject (cool, gusty). The third line contains three verbs telling what the subject does (blows, sweeps, howls). The fourth line expresses, in two words, the writer's feelings about the subject (wonderful wind). The last line repeats the first.

  • Subjects:
    Arts and Crafts, Poetry Writing, Early Science, Science Experiments and Projects, Winter
  • Skills:
    Listening Comprehension, Public Speaking, Poetry Writing
  • Duration:
    1 Day
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