Did you ever look out the door and say "I wish I could keep this beautiful day forever"? Well of course you can! Your little rays of sunshine can keep an all-year weather journal. A simple spiral notebook will do. Set up your page: date at the top~below: time of day, temperature,sky observation,wind direction,speed,and draw a picture. You can miss some days, but as you go and look back, you will see a cool change of weather.
Sample:
Date: October 1,2010
Time: 10:00 am ~you can do same time each day or not~learn am/pm
Temp: 62 ~learn symbols: temp,etc.
Sky: Sunny
Wind: from the North~ 15 mph ~ learn NSEW directions and mph~check out the Beaufort Scale.
A beautiful drawing!
Find a Beaufort Scale and learn wind speeds by watching a flag or wind sock. The chart will also show you damages the wind can do. It is a fun chart to study!
A cloud chart is important to keep up. From fog to cumulo-nimbus, learning the types of clouds and names is great for weather watching. Look up at the clouds daily and log in your journal. You don`t have to be exact to do a good job.
A weather station is a hands-on way to study weather. Find directions and put up an area for a rain gauge,a wind vane,an anemometer,barometer, a wind sock and wind chimes. Go out to it and journal what you find. My dream was to always have a weather station~ sometimes we just had a few things and we always worked on it through the changing seasons. Let your backyard be your classroom!!
You can make weather watching as simple as possible from large calender and place a picture of: sunny, rainy, cloudy,or stormy ~ on the day~or just draw a picture. Just go out doors and talk about the weather. Use your 5 senses along with your talk: touch,taste,hear,feel and smell. Make a felt person and dress it accordingly, cut out the clothes yourself. It will all come alive to your little ones. No one is too young to learn.
For older kids you can add more weather symbols, past wild weather reports, a "What is" lightning,thunder,snow,wind,or rain. Write a report on; hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods. Learn the earth`s atmosphere layers, build a tornado jar, dissect a hailstone...and so much more.
Have a weather radio and keep up on the daily outlook and
build your library with books on weather and experiments.
Your weather watch will keep your child busy and learning about an important part of each day all year long!
Book to read for young children: Frog and Toad All Year Long~ Any Frog and Toad book by Arnold Lobel. They always tell about friendship and fun with the weather. Have them tell their own stories of Frog and Toad using an umbrella, raincoat,a snowman or a kite. Of course they can draw it on paper too.
Older: Tall Tales! Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill,and John Henry~ these are stories that are humorous and exaggerated. Then write your own Tall Tale! Ideas: a tornado, a rodeo horse or a missing lake! Have several of your friends write one or two and get together for a night of laughter. Don`t forget the popcorn!
No matter what the weather is, you can enjoy it!!
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I do this (calendar we call it, with date, time and weather)with my two boys, 4th. and 2nd. grade and it is fun to look back and see the weather change, like now going from summer to autumn...never thought of the wind or clouds though, thanks for the sweet extra idea. ;~)
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