Weather Week

This year we added "Weather Week" to our curriculum. We have always discussed the weather when we talked about summer, fall, winter and spring but it was really fun to have an entire week to talk about weather. Of course, during this week we had nothing but rain in the forecast, but we made do. but after being out of school on Monday for the Martin Luther King Holiday, we got busy Tuesday discussing RAIN! My husband had received a "sound machine" for Christmas (really, a sound machine when you live with ME!?!) but it did have the most wonderful rain sound programmed in it. So naturally, we had a background of "rain" all day on Tuesday. (There is also a wonderful "ocean" sound that we will use during our "Ocean and Water" week!) We also discussed rain and thunderstorms. I think there are a couple of students who aren't as afraid of thunder and lightening now. Our craft for Tuesday was simple, an umbrella with fingerprint rain drops.

Wednesday rolled around and we decided to heat up the classroom with our suns!

These actually turned out much nicer than I ever expected. The children loved talking about the sun and enjoyed hearing about the "giant ball of fire in the sky". Would you like to make a sun like ours? Start with a large round circle, we used thick poster board paper, and blob on some paint!

Cover with clear plastic wrap and SQUISH it!

We really like the feel of the paint under the clear plastic wrap!

Next we glued our sun to a piece of very large blue construction paper and added the sunrays!

Some children wanted BIG sunrays . . . . .

while others were happy with teeny, tiny rays.

either way, they were amazing!

By the time Friday rolled around we were ready for a fun weather snack! So, we decided to eat a rainbow! Yep, you heard me - we ate a rainbow! It was so fun and yummy. First we started with a rather funny looking template of a rainbow and started adding the color - with Fruit Loops of course!

It never ceases to amaze me how precise some children can be
while others are way to much LIKE ME! Either way, they were very, very yummy!

Our science experiment was all about the clouds! We started with a jumbo cotton ball (I had NO idea that cotton balls came in JUMBO) and a very small cup of water.

Next we put the cotton ball into the water, and squeezed it.




INSTANT RAIN! INSTANT FUN!


For our last science experiment we took a clear plastic cup and added plain water. We put a small amount of shaving creme on top. Then came the fun - a few drops of red and yellow food coloring. The food coloring slowly found it's way down into the water to make ORANGE rain! What fun! AND yes, we did it again with blue and yellow. And again, with red and blue! SUPER FUN!

Next week, my FAVORITE week - the SOLAR SYSTEM!!!! I hope you come back and as we rotate our way around the sun!

Fall Leaf Man

I just had to go ahead and post what I think is the cheapest and cutest fall project. Here he is (or in some cases "she"). I call him "Leaf Man".
I will confess that it takes a lot of glue but he is well worth it. He is made from leaves and sticks from my backyard. Everyone gets to pick out their own leaves, acorns and sticks. I even have pine straw for his hair.

Another great project is our squishy leaves. Everyone gets to pick out several different colors of paint and blop them on the cut out leaf. (I find that using poster board is best.) Then we cover the leaf with clear plastic wrap and squish it! I love the look on their faces when they see their leaf once the plastic wrap is removed. It is truly a work of art. Here are a couple from last year.
Here are the leaves displayed on the wall.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will try one or both of these great projects!