Let’s wrap up last week’s weather / change of seasons bilingual lesson fun with the Science Experiment I hinted about plus the ideas submitted by others who teach our young children.
Science Fun: The Cotton Ball & Water Activity
Age Level: Ages 2+; This activity is so fun and easy (even for the youngest children).
Number of students: 12 is a comfortable number
General Subject Area: Science
Materials needed:
One cotton ball for every child
Some flat pans or containers (pre-fill with about a 1/2 inch of cold water before
beginning activity)
Cold water
Introduction: We felt the weather outside today on our walk, we have seen many rainy
days here in Your city and we sang our fun song about weather from BOCA BETH. Now
we are going to use our pretend clouds and talk about rain.
Stated Objectives: Students will be able to use tactile skills to understand clouds and
rain.
Procedure:
1. Give each child a cotton ball to hold. Tell them to pretend that they are holding a
cloud.
2. Ask them how does the cloud feel: heavy or light, soft or hard.
3. Instruct the children to place the “cloud” (cotton ball) gently over the cold water.
Explain that water has evaporated, has traveled up to the cloud, and it is a lot colder up in
the sky, so the vapor turns into water, and it is filling up the cloud. Ask: Can you see the
“cloud” (cotton ball) filling up with the water.
4. Ask the children to gently pick up the “cloud” (cotton ball) from the pan. Ask: How
does the “cloud” feel now? Is it light or heavy? Is it warm or cold? What is happening
with the water? Hopefully they say that the water is dripping from the “cloud”. Ask
them why? Explanation should be that the cloud cannot hold all that water. It is too
heavy. What do we call when water falls from the clouds because they are too heavy
with water? Praise them for being right when they say “Rain!” Ask what happens to the
water when it rains? Validate for them that it is coming right back into the pan, and the
pan could be a stream, river, ocean or the ground.
Closure: Once the activity is over and the children help clean up the “clouds” and “rain” we will sing the “Eeensy Weensy Spider” song to reinforce what we just learned.
Here is a fun literature/science based lesson idea:
Literature/Science Fun: Spot’s Windy Day by Eric Hill
Age level: 1.5 – 6 years old
Number of students: 8-12 children (Circle/Story time comfortable level)
General Subject Area: Language Arts, Science
Materials Needed: Book Spot’s Windy Day by Eric Hill
Introduction: We have met Spot during many of his adventures, and today he is
enjoying a windy day.
Stated Objectives: Students will listen to and discuss Spot and what he encountered
during his windy day.
Procedure:
1. Read the story and discuss along the way as needed.
2. Discuss friendship, good neighbor and helping each other. Ask how Spot and
Kangaroo help one another in the story. And mention that returning things we
find to their owner is important.
3. Talk about the climate and weather conditions. Ask what helps the kite fly?
Could the kite fly without wind?
4. Talk about shapes & colors – discuss the shape of the kite being the diamond
shape and how the diamond shape is the perfect shape for a kite, it helps it fly.
With older preschoolers ask “What other shape can you see inside the kite?” (4
triangles) Then ask about what colors are Spot’s kite.
Happy Educating! ¡Sea feliz educando!
Boca Beth
P.S. (Ideas shared this week and that were entered into the random giveaway drawing are as follows:
We don’t have lots of pretty leaves here in my part of Texas either, and although it’s fall, it isn’t really very cool. We’re doing a unit on Fall/Halloween here right now though, and are relying heavily on books to show us things that aren’t readily available here. Three of our favorite books about fall and leaves are “Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!” by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, “Autumn Leaves,” by Ken Robbins, and “Why do Leaves Change Color?” by Betsy Maestro. by Lisa
We are doing a unit on the way weather changes as we can be sunny one moment and storming the next. We are reading different books about the weather and listening to music about weather including listening to different sounds of the weather. We are doing art and cooking ideas with the weather. We made stone soup. by Susan
This song will come in when teaching the children about the weather. I plan on translating the song Mister Sun, to go along with it. I have made a large moon, sun, cloud and rain. For an activity the children can choose what type of weather they want to talk about and draw a picture then use it in circle time. by Pamela
The random winner for the Boca Beth Prize Pack during this week’s lesson fun on weather and changing of the seasons is Susan! We will be e-mailing you to get your address to ship the CD and other goodies from our Boca Beth Program. Congratulations! ¡Felicitaciones!)
