Weather Ways

Whatever the weather
we have it each day.

It's hot,
or it's cold,
or its sunny,
or gray.

It's blowy,
or snowy,
or rainy,
or clear.

There's SOME kind of weather
each day of the year.

What's The Weather?

(Tune: "Clementine")

What's the weather?
What's the weather?
What's the weather like today?
Tell us (child's name),
What's the weather?
What's the weather like today?

Is it sunny?
[hold arms above head in a circle]
Is it cloudy?
[cover eyes with hands]
Is it rainy out today?
[flutter fingers downward]
Is it snowy?
[wrap arms around body and shiver]
Is it windy?
["blow children over" with a swoop of your arms]
What's the weather like today?

Fun in the Rain!
(Tune: Three Blind Mice)

Rain, rain, rain
Rain, rain, rain
Dribble, dribble, sploosh!
Dribble, dribble, sploosh!
Grab your boots, your coat, and hat,
Jump in a puddle and go kersplat!
Stomp about and become a drowned rat,
Rain, rain, rain
Rain, rain, rain.

Rain on the Window

WATCH!
one drop
starts
slowly
down---
then with a rush
joins a second,
picks up a third!
Now the three-drop
races to the
bottom
PLOP!

"Raindrops"

Ten little raindrops dancing on the walk,
(tap fingers on floor)
Pitter patter, pitter patter, that's the way they talk.
(tap fingers on floor)
Out comes the yellow sun shining in the sky,
(Make a large circle with fingers for the sun)
And away all the raindrops fly, fly, fly.
(fingers hurry away to hide behind back)

Weather is Full of the Nicest Sounds

Weather is full of the nicest sounds:
it sings
and rumbles
and pings
and pounds
and hums
and tinkles
and strums
and twangs
and whishes
and sprinkles
and splishes
and bangs
and mumbles
and grumbles
and rumbles
and flashes and CRASHES

I wonder
if thunder
frightens
a bee,
a mouse, in her house,
a bird in a tree,
a bear
or a hare
or a fish in the sea?
Not ME!

Thunder and Lightning
(Tune: "Pop Goes the Weasel")

When a storm begins in the clouds,
It sometimes may look frightening.
You see a quick electrical spark--
Flash! goes the lightning! 

Long and thin and streaky and fast,
Its glow is oh so brightening.
Watch for the electric spark--
Flash! goes the lightning! 

When a storm begins in the clouds,
It truly is a wonder.
You hear a rumble loud in the sky--
Clap! goes the thunder! 

Lightning bolts are heating the air,
Over clouds and under.
When the air expands enough--
Clap! goes the thunder.

Water Cycle
(Tune: "It's Raining, It's Pouring"

It's raining, it's pouring,
The oceans are snoring
Water from the falling rain
While thunderclouds are roaring. 

The rain now is stopping,
The rain's no longer dropping.
Sun comes out and soaks up water
Like a mop that's mopping. 

The water's still there now,
But hidden in the air now.
In the clouds it makes a home
Until there's rain to share now. 

It's raining, it's pouring...

Today the sun is in the sky,
And sunny is the weather.
S-U-N-N-Y, S-U-N-N-Y, S-U-N-N-Y
And sunny is the weather.

Other verses:
Today the rain falls from the sky...
R-A-I-N-Y
Today the clouds are in the sky...
C-L-OUD-Y
Today the fog hangs in the sky...
F-O-G-G-Y
Today the snow falls from the sky...
S-N-O-W-Y
Today we have to wear a coat..
C-O-L-D

Clouds are floating, clouds are floating,
Up so high, up so high,
Floating up above us, floating up above us,
In the sky, in the sky.

Oh Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. golden Sun,
Please shine down on me.
Oh Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree.
These little children are asking you
To please come out so
We can play with you.
Oh Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. golden Sun,
Please shine down on,
Please shine down on,
Please shine down on me!

I Can Sing A Rainbow

Red and Orange and Yellow and Green
Blue and Purple too....
I can sing a rainbow ....
Sing a rainbow
And so can you.

Shared Reading

What Will the Weather Be Like Today?
by Paul Rogers

Day 1:  Before reading this book for the first time, have the students brainstorm all of the different 'weather' words that they can think of. After each named word,  ask the students to describe the word, and then   write it on the board. Add your own words if I think they are important. Next,   ask each student to draw a picture that represents his/her favorite type of weather. They should label their pictures appropriately, using the words on the board. These pictures will be placed on a wall in the classroom to begin a Word Wall for this book.

After this initial activity,  read the book as a read aloud. Read through it once, instructing the students to listen closely to determine if 'their' words are mentioned in the book. Ask students whose words were mentioned and what they were. Ask questions such as: Do you remember what the picture looked like on the page that your word was printed? How did it look like your picture? How was it different than your picture?

Day 2:   Read through the book again, only, this time ask the children to say the weather words with you.Follow the reading with a rhyming activity.Do a mini-lesson on rhyming words  Then,  put children into pairs, giving each pair a small version of the Big Book. Give the children about ten minutes to look through the book to find one pair of rhyming words. Finally, put up a large piece of butcher paper for the children to write their words on. Have printed words at the top which their words will rhyme with, so students should print their words underneath the proper word. Students will explain their choices, reviewing why their words do/ do not belong.

Day 3: Ask the children what the weather is like outside today. Write this word on the board, and  ask the students to name another weather word from our word wall. Write this word on the board as well, and tell students that you will be completing a Venn Diagram. Give a short mini-lesson on what a Venn Diagram is, and then  ask students to give ideas about how these weather words are the same and how they are different. Hand out small versions of the Big Book so that the students can look at the pictures to gain ideas. When a child says a difference or similarity, he/she should tell  where it should be written on the Venn Diagram. This activity can be done using other weather words from the book as well.

Day 4: Do an oral rereading of the book, only cover up the print this time. On each page, call on one or two children to make up a line to the story. The lines should be different than the original story, but the children must pay attention to the pictures so that the lines they say make sense and match the picture on that page. This is a fun activity because it can be done over and over again, and the story will never be the same!

Day 5:  Have students write a short story about what they do on a _____ day. Students can choose their weather word from the Word Wall, and then write a story that makes sense for that particular word. This will be done on paper that is lined at the bottom so that they can eventually illustrate their stories. Encourage children to look through the Big Book to get ideas on how to write their stories.

Use this book for a masking activity. After reading the book in a whole-group setting, I made a big book of the story using posterboard. The almost-finished book was placed in the writing center where my students were allowed to make the rain drops, the grass, flowers etc. for themselves. When completed, we revisited the book, but this time I covered certain words and allowed the students to predict the text.

For a sequencing activity, discuss the setting of the story at the beginning of the book (blue sky, no clouds) to the end of the story with the rainbow. Make pictures that correspond to the story and have students number them in order of first, next, and last.

Level B
Out in the Weather (Rigby)
Making a Weather Chart (Rigby)
I Like the Rain (Rigby)
When It Rains(Wright)

Level C
I Feel Cold (Rigby)
I Feel Hot (Rigby)
What a Week! (Rigby)
Look Out the Window (Rigby)
Rainy Day Counting (Wright)
One, One, Is the Sun (Wright)
The Wind (Wright)

Interactive Writing

Each day for a week, record the weather on a sentence strip using the following frame:

It is ___ and ___ today. 

Hang your sentences on the wall near the calendar and use for a Read Around the Room Activity.

Little Readers

This is a VERY popular layered book. You will need brightly colored construction paper of each rainbow color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You will also need a neutral color like white or manila for the cover. This uses a lot of construction paper. Save the scraps for various other projects.

The Pages:

Begin with the 12x18 sheets of construction paper and cut them length-wise to 6x18. The only page to remain this size is the purple one. The rest of the pages, working backwards in "rainbow order", will be progressively shorter so that your end result is a layered book with all of the rainbow colors showing on the edge. The text is very simple. Words are cut apart from the sentence strip and glued with a glue stick to each page. You could draw a colored line under each color word as a clue, or you could use your color printer to print the color words. The students are given six 4x4 white square papers on which they draw objects that represent each color. These squares with pictures are glued on the appropriate page, keeping them away from the right edge so as not to interrupt the 'rainbow effect' of the edge of the book.

Purple: 6x18 "I see purple."
Blue: 6x17 "I see blue."
Green: 6x16 "I see green."
Yellow: 6x15 "I see yellow."
Orange: 6x14 "I see orange."
Red: 6x13 "I see red."
White Cover: 6x12

The Cover:

The students draw an arch on the cover, and then glue small bits of red construction paper on the arch. A rainbow is completed by gluing other colors under the arch in the correct order, making a mosaic rainbow.

Favorite Cloud Graph

Review the three main kinds of clouds.  Title a piece of chart paper "OUR FAVORITE CLOUDS,"  and divide it into three columns with the headings stratus, cirrus, and cumulus.  Give each student a cotton ball and have her stretch, cut, or shape it to make it look like her favorite kind of cloud.  Then have the class glue their clouds in the corresponding row.  Next, use the data on the graph to review math operations by asking the following questions:   Which cloud is liked by the most students?
How many more students like cumulus clouds than liked stratus clouds?
Which cloud is liked by the fewest students?
What are the totals for each cloud?

Counting Clouds

Practice counting, make ten clouds from white construction paper. Write a number from one to ten on each cloud. Make fifty-five raindrops out of gray construction paper, laminate both the clouds and the raindrops. Have students count the corresponding number of raindrops onto each cloud.

How Much Rain?

Students conduct an experiment where they measure the rainfall for one month, by leaving out tubs, marking off after each rainfall, and recording the information given by the weather man the students figure out how much rain has fallen in this month.

Lion or Lamb

Students can make graphs, vote each day a "lion" day or "lamb" day (using stickers or coloring with markers), write a short story about March including weather elements, have a meteorologist visit the classroom, or correspond with other classrooms via the internet to compare weather information with them. Save your calendar for next year, and you can make comparisons from year to year.

What's the Weather
Like Today?

After listing things like temperature extremes and precipitation types and wind speeds, draw a calendar grid on the chalkboard or large sheet of paper, then each day, make notes regarding the weather variables. Review from week to week, then do a final observation at the end of the month.

Thermometer Fun

Mount a big outdoor thermometer outside a classroom window, out of the sun.  (If your window gets too much sun, find another place!)Try this activity each day for a week:

Begin by asking the children to predict the temperature and record the predictions.  Help the children read the thermometer and record the reading  Check to see whose prediction was closest to the actual temperature.   Graph your results!

Rainbows

Here are a few rainbow activities to do:

Use a prism and observe the color spectrum.

Blow bubbles on a sunny day and observe the rainbow colors on the surface of the bubbles.

Weather Writing Center

Try these writing prompts:

It is _______________,
I can __________.

Playing with Clouds

Put some shaving cream on the table. Tell the children to imagine that it is a cloud. To keep children to their own personal space use a paper plate for the shaving cream.

Raindrop Fishing

Cut out several raindrop shapes from light blue construction paper. Write several numbers or letters on them. Have them laminated. Then place a paper clip on each raindrop. Make a fishing pole out of a dowel or pencil, string and a magnet. Place the raindrops on the floor and have the children sit in chairs around the raindrops. (This may work better with a few fishing poles.) Have the children try to catch a raindrop with the fishing pole. Then, when they catch one.. show it to them and ask what letter or number it is.
Variation: For younger children you could make the raindrops different colors and ask what color is the raindrop
Variation: Ask the child if they can catch the "a" or the "1"

Windy Art Center

Lay out the paper. Give each child a straw. Put two blobs of paint on each child's paper.  Have them blow through their straws to mix the color and watch it move. After each child is done let the paint dry, and then have them cut out their favorite item that the wind blew on their construction paper. String several of them together to make mobiles.  Hang from the ceiling and watch them blow when the air or heat comes on, or when the wind blows through the windows.

Rainy Listening Center

Playa section of a rain storm CD. Start off with just a pitter patter of rain and lead to thunder and a down pour of rain. While the children listen, give them a piece of paper and markers and have them draw weather pictures. Talk a lot about what they are hearing and drawing throughout this activity.

My Rainbow

Read the book A Rainbow of My Own  to your class.  After reading it and discussing rainbows allow the children to create rainbow marble paintings.  
1.)  Place a piece of blue paper in a tray.
2.)  Apply small spoonfuls of paint, one for each color of the rainbow, in various places on the paper.
3.)  Place a marble on the tray.
4.)   Have the children tilt the tray.  
Now they have their own rainbow!

Pinwheel Wind Collector

Materials
a pin
a square piece of construction paper (about 8.5" x 8.5")
a sharpened pencil with an eraser
scissors

Procedure
Lay the square of paper flat on a table and draw a line diagonally from each corner to the opposite corner. Mark the center of the square where the two lines cross and punch a small hole through it with the pencil tip. Next, cut along each line stopping about an inch from the hole in the center of the square. Take the pin and punch a hole in the top left corner of each of the four flaps. (No two holes should be next to each other.) Pick up a flap at a punched corner and carefully curve it over toward the center hole, securing it with the pin. Repeat this for the other flaps. When all four flaps are held by the pin, carefully lift the paper without letting the flaps unfurl. Lay the pencil flat on a table and carefully push the point of the pin into the side of the eraser.

Now your pinwheel is complete and ready to go. Pick up the pinwheel near the pencil point and let it catch the wind. Your students should discover that the pinwheel only spins when the wind hits its center.

You now have a simple wind collector. The pinwheel is an example of a horizontal-axis active wind collector. It must be pointed into the wind in order to spin.

Kites

Decorate a paper grocery bag with paints, markers, streamers, etc. Attach a short string on both side securely. When the children run, air enters the bag and it flies behind them.

Paper Towel Rainbow

Cut a rainbow shape out a higher priced paper towel (good quality) Have watercolor markers (broad tip)set out for them to use. Let them draw rainbow lines on the paper towel leaving a blank space in between each line. Then let them paint with water over top of the whole rainbow. As the towel soaks up the water, the marker lines will blend to create a neat rainbow

Cloud Frames

After reading the book Little Cloud by Eric Carle, make a cloud frame. Using 1/2 of a light blue file folder. Cut a hole in the center. Decorate with cotton balls spread apart to look like clouds. Then go outside and watch the clouds through your frame!

A Wind Sock

Materials:
round container (like oatmeal box) for each student
Colored contact paper to cover the container
String
Streamers
glue
hole puncher

Have the students cover their container with contact paper. Then punch holes in the top to hold the string (to hand the wind sock) Glue 8 streamers hanging from the bottom, and decorate.

Rainbow Fish

A Rainbow Fish can also be made by copying a simple fish shape onto construction paper.   The students can then paint, use tissue paper, colored glue, or torn paper to give him color.  (Have them leave the head, fins, and tail undone and only do the body.)   One shiny fish scale can be added by either using glitter, aluminum foil, silver sequins, holographic book covers, or holographic wrapping paper. 
A wiggly eye can be added as well.  These fish can be displayed together on light blue paper cut with "waves" at the top.

Rainbow Jell-O

Each day for a week mix up a color of Jell-O. We started with red. Pour a small amount into a clear plastic cup. Allow to harden and then add orange. Follow this procedure with all the other colors. At the end of the week you will have an edible rainbow!

Rainy Day Dreams
by Michael Chesworth

Ask students, have you ever felt the wind blow so hard you felt like it would blow you away?

Activities
1. Have children narrate the pictures in the book.

2. Have them write about if they were blown away where would they like to go?

Windy Race

Place a ping pong ball in the center of a table. One team is on one side of the table and the other team on the opposite side. NO Hands!! Blow the ball back and forth to get it off the table on the opponents side!

What Can We Move
by Blowing?

Materials:
Feather, Tissue, Leaf, Paper, Rock, Magnet, Stick, Spoon, Marker and Poster paper

Ask the children which objects they think they can move by blowing on them. Write their answers on the poster paper. Test your predictions by having the children blow on different objects.
(Only one child should be blowing at a time.)

The Wind Blew
by Pat Hutchins

Introduction: All of you are going to learn today that spring weather can be very unpredictable. Does anyone know what unpredictable means? (It means we do not know what the weather will be like from day to day or even hour to hour.) Sometimes in the Spring it rains and sometimes it gets really warm. Other times it gets windy and cold!!

Activity: Let's talk about what happens when the wind blows.
Can you see the wind?
How do you know it is windy?
What all does the wind blow sometimes?
Let's read a book: The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins

Discussion:
--What did the wind blow in the book?
--Has that ever happened to you?
--Have you ever lost something because it blew away in the  wind?
--Does the wind sometimes scare you?
--Sometimes wind can do damage to things.
--What might wind damage or destroy?
--Tell a story about anything that happened to you when it was very windy. For example, When it was very windy at my house a window broke. Sometimes trees will fall down and telephone lines will break.

One Windy Wednesday

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