It’s back to school time!! Although I can hardly believe that summer has come to a close, I always get excited for a new school year.
The first few days (and even weeks) are often spent establishing and explaining rules and routines. And while sometimes I’m super eager to get to the curriculum, I know just how valuable taking the time to train the kids is! You can read more about it HERE.
Our Morning Calendar Routine is definitely one of the areas I spend plenty of time establishing expectations and routines. Part of the calendar routine involves taking a weather observation for the day. We just use this simple weather chart. Some years I have used it with the rotating cover and brad. Other years I have just laminated it, glued a magnet on the back (for the magnetic whiteboard), and clipped on a clothespin (with a magnet too). Grab it for FREE at the bottom of this post.
And since we’re talking about weather, I introduce the seasons toward the beginning of the year as well. I’m going to be sharing some of the activities from my Four Seasons Activity Pack below.
One of my favorite way to introduce the seasons is using the book Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. Although it doesn’t explicitly name the different seasons, it illustrates the cyclical nature of the seasons through the changes we see in a tree. It’s super interactive and great for prek and kindergarten students. They just love following the various “commands” to make the tree change. Click on the image below to grab it (This is an affiliate link – which means you’re not charged anything extra, but Amazon gives me a commission for directing you there. You can read my full disclosure policy here).
After spending some time interacting with this book, we name the seasons, and then identify which pictures relate to the different seasons. After an introduction to the seasons, we do a class picture sort. Students have an individual sort as well.
The kids also love building their Four Seasons wheel to color and take home.
One of the centers the students love is the four seasons puzzles. There is a puzzle for each season (I usually have 2 copies of each season at the center). Students find the four puzzle pieces that match the season to complete the puzzle. Then, since the pieces are laminated, students trace the name of the season words using a dry erase marker.
Since it’s the beginning of the year, we also spend time creating a class birthday chart. This pairs perfectly with the I Love my _____ Birthday page, where students write a little about what they like about the season in which their birthday falls. We’ve haven’t done a lot of writing at this point in the year, so sometimes I just record what the student shares with me. It’s a great way to get students thinking about the seasons – since they usually can recall events surrounding their birthday!
And speaking of writing, one of the things I love most about this Seasons Activity Pack is the Seasons Word Lists. Although I encourage students to use phonetic spelling as much as possible at this point, there are definitely students who want to know how to spell every word correctly. Providing them with these Seasonal Word Lists, not only gives them a little inspiration for their writing, but each list has 20 commonly used words associated with that season – with picture clues!! It’s been a wonderful resource that we use all year!
While we spend time at the beginning of the year introducing and discussing the seasons, we revisit the seasons throughout the year as they change. The Seasons Through my 5 Senses, Color by Code Activities, and Emergent Readers are perfect activities to use throughout the year.
And since my students tend to know more about technology every year, they absolutely jump at the opportunity to use it when we’re learning about the seasons. The Dress for the Weather digital cards, as well as the Which One Doesn’t Belong digital cards are always a big hit!
If you’re interested in grabbing these activities for your class, you can find the Activity Pack by clicking on any of the images above or RIGHT HERE.
Hope you have the opportunity to check it out! And if you use any of these materials in your class – I’d love to see them in action!!
Grab your FREE Weather and Season Chart Download HERE.