W is for Weather

We finished our study of the letter “W” today by doing some weather related activities.

 

We started our morning by reading two weather related books. The first was called Rainy Day! by Patricia Lakin. It was a cute rhyming story about the adventures of Sam, Pam, Will and Jill. The types of weather featured in this short story were rain, fog and hail. It was cute.

 

I also read another book called Storm’s Coming by Dave and Julie Saunders. In this book animals of the forest warn each other of an approaching storm and try to find a safe place to wait it out. In the end they all enjoy the warm sun that follows the storm.

 

When we were finished with the stories we made these cute weather wheels. I printed the pattern from The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood. The children colored the pictures and then glued the paper to a paper plate. I added the names of each type of weather and put the arrow in the center. You could always make lines on a paper plate and then draw different types of weather. You could even glue on clip art of different types of weather.

Weather Patterns Worksheet

Later we acted out some patterns like clap, snap, clap, snap, etc. That warmed the children up to be able to complete the weather pattern worksheet I created. (You may download and print this worksheet by clicking the link above.)

Weather Cards

One of our center activities this week involved the weather cards pictured above. (You can download and print them by clicking the link above.) The first page I left intact and then cut apart the cards on the second page. The children were to match the type of outfit a person was wearing to the type of weather it would be appropriate for. For example, person sledding in a snow suit matched snowy weather.

 

I sent home the children’s folders today. They painted them on Wednesday with muddy worms (linguine noodles and brown paint).

Inside the folders was a copy of a letter “W” tracing paper and mini book from First School, a worm song, a wagon song, a types of weather page, and each child’s name. (You can download and print the songs and types of weather by clicking the link below.)

Letter W Songs & Clip Art

If you are interested in using this file I created you may download it or print it. The file is free for personal use; however, you are not allowed to post the file on your website. You may link to my site so that others may download the template. Thank you.

We ended our morning with another name activity. I first wrote each child’s name on a piece of colorful lined cardstock. Then I laid them all face down on the table. The children took turns picking one up and figuring out whose name it was. The child who’s name was picked was to raise their hand once they realized it was their name.

 

Once everyone had their name I used an idea I found at Excellence in Early Childhood Education. We counted how many letters were in each of their names and graphed them accordingly. This was a great way to incorporate math into name recognition.

We had a great morning and I am looking forward to coming up with some letter “X” activities for next week. Have a great weekend!