Thinking Theme: Weather

Letter of the Week:  W

Number of the Week:  12

Bible Verse of the Week:  "Sing to the Lord with thanks.  He covers the heavens with clouds. He gives rain to the earth." Psalm 147: 7-8

Books:

Songs: Great weather songs at Perpetual Preschool
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Lesson 1: Weather Chart
Objectives:
* To understand what weather is and recognize different types of weather
* To recognize and state the weather for a specific day
* To chart/graph weather throughout the week

Materials:
* The possibilities for this are endless.  I have a chart that I used with teaching that you can find at your local teacher store.  Otherwise, you need materials to create your own chart (poster board, construction paper, markers, etc.)  Specifically, you will need multiple cut-outs of different types of weather to put on the chart each day. (sun, cloud, raindrop, snowflake, etc)

Procedure:
1. Create your weather chart (or buy one :) ) making sure there are spaces for each of the 7 days of the week.  This is also a great way to teach your children the names and order of the days.

2. Each day ask your child to look out the window to see what the weather is like.  We sing a little song to go along with it.

What's the Weather? (tune of Clementine)
What's the weather? What's the weather?
What's the weather like today?
Is it rainy? Is it snowy? Are there clouds or is there sun?

3. Have your child place a symbol of the type of weather on the corresponding day on the chart.

4. At the end of the week, look back at the chart to see which weather occurred the most, least, etc.

Lesson 2: God's Promise
Objectives:
* To read the story of Noah and the Ark and discuss the Lord's promise at the end
* To recognize what a rainbow is and the order of the colors in it
* To understand a rainbow forms after a rainstorm

Materials:
* bible or book about Noah and the Ark
* light blue construction paper
* red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple tissue paper
* cotton balls
* scissors
* glue
* pencil

Procedure:

1. Read the story of Noah and the Ark and talk about what happens in it.  Ask your child questions about the characters, the plot, and the promise the Lord made to all of us at the end of the story.

2. Draw 6 lines on the blue construction paper with a pencil in a rainbow shape.

3. Cut out small squares of each color tissue paper.

4. Have your child squeeze/fold each square together and glue it on the rainbow in the correct color order.

5. Have your child write (or you help them write) God's Promise at the top of the page so they will never forget what the rainbow symbolizes.  You can add cotton balls to the rainbow to represent clouds if you like!

Lesson 3: Tornadoes
Objectives:
* To understand what a tornado is and how it forms
* To create an art piece using spinning motions like a tornado

Materials:
* 3-4 different colors of paint
* large paper plate
* salad spinner

Procedure: (Our friend EK joined us for this lesson. Sorry some pics are blurry.)

1. Talk about what a tornado is.  I didn't get into much detail because I didn't want to scare the children!  I just said a tornado is a big gust of wind that spins around really fast in circles.  I did the motion for them to demonstrate.

2. Have your child place a paper plate into a salad spinner.

3. Squirt 3-4 different colors of paint onto the plate.  You don't have to use a lot of paint...just about 1-2 tablespoons of each color.

4. Place the lid on the salad spinner and let your child push it as fast as they can to make it spin.

5. Open the lid to see the masterpiece!  This is some of my favorite art work!

Lesson 4: Rain Showers File Folder Game from File Folder Fun
Objectives:
* To understand that certain letters, when placed together, can make a new sound (sh, ch, bl, and pl)
* To match together objects that start with these sounds

Materials:
* file folder
* glue
* scissors
* printables from File Folder Fun

Procedure:

1. Cut out the printables and glue the umbrellas onto the file folder.

2. Explain to your child that some letters can be put together to make a new sound.  Say each sound for your child, asking them to repeat it.  Be sure to point at the letters when you are making the sound.

3. Have your child match the raindrops to the correct umbrellas according to their sounds.

4. You can place the raindrops in a Ziploc bag to save and play throughout the week!

Lesson 5: Wind
Objectives:
* To understand what wind is and recognize that you can feel it but not see it
* To create art work by blowing through a straw to create a wind effect with paint

Materials:

* construction paper

* 3-4 colors of paint

* 3-4 bowls

* cup of water

* spoon

* 3-4 straws

Procedure:

1. Talk about the wind.  Have your child blow on their hand and through a straw onto their hand to understand that you can feel the wind, but it is a type of weather that you cannot see.

  

2. Put some paint into the bowls and mix each color with a little water to make it more loose.

3. Using a spoon, put some paint onto the paper and let your child blow the paint with a straw.  Allow them to see how the paint moves as they blow.  Talk about how the wind moves things outside.



 









4. A fun little challenge is to have your child try to blow one color paint into the other.  

* Extension: What can the wind move? from PreKinders

Extra Thinking:
* Cloud Art - PreKinders

* What to wear for the weather? - Put different types of clothing, shoes, and materials in a box that you would need to wear for different types of weather.  Ask your child to put on the correct items according to the type of weather you say.  (Ex: It's rainy outside.  What do you need to wear? Child could put on a raincoat, galoshes, and hold an umbrella.)

* Snowflakes - Orange Marmalade