In Science, our objective this past week was,  “students will observe, describe, and illustrate objects in the sky such as the clouds and Sun.” (Earth and Space TEK 8c) Coupled with this objective, we were also learning about rain, storms, and hurricanes.

We read these books this week:

Each day we completed a hands-on activity to make these weather concepts come to life.

Rain (book: Mushroom In The Rain)

To help us understand rain clouds, we completed an awesome activity that Deborah Stewart from Teach Preschool created. (If you don’t follow her blog and instagram account, you simply must! She is amazing!!)

I set up this provocation on my “math table.” I used my large sensory bins and let my students explore rain clouds. They loved this!

That day we also retold the story “Mushroom In The Rain” by creating character puppets (made out of popsicle sticks) and mushrooms. The kids then used their puppets and the dialogue to retell it to a friend.

The next day we read, “Storm Is Coming.” They loved this book! We completed the “cloud in a jar” science experiment this day. (You can read about that experiment here, here, and here.)

Hurricanes

On Friday we completed a few activities to explore hurricanes. We started off  reading the book “Hurricane” and then watched this video:

My students were SO into it that while they were at PE, I set up an outdoor provocation to encourage them to create hurricanes and storms using our sensory tubs and a few other containers and kitchen items.

For fun, I used my iPhone to record their hurricanes in slow motion. It was a HUGE hit with my students!

During the activity, my students created hurricanes, rainstorms, and typhoons using the materials. Their conversations were incredible! They used so many of the terms that we were learning and tried to have their creations include things like the eye of the storm and the eye wall.

This activity was a choice during our recess time. It worked out great doing it this way! Two teachers were on the playground watching our classes, while I watched the students using the provocation. Some students decided to spend their entire recess time playing with the sensory tables, whereas others decided to play on the playground.

During exploration centers that afternoon, we created “Hurricanes In A Jar.” I had seen the directions for them on the blog One Time Through and just had to try it with my class! (Click on her blog title to get the exact recipe!)

To begin, we gathered all of our materials: food coloring, empty containers, Softsoap, a funnel, and glitter!

Then we filled our bottles 1/4 of the way with the soap and then the remaining 3/4 with water.

My students got to pick which color hurricane they wanted.

We added 10-16 drops of food coloring to each bottle. Then we used the funnel to add some glitter.

Finally, we put the lids on the bottles and shook them up!

My students LOVED this activity and were so excited to show their parents their hurricanes when they got picked up! The pictures don’t do the bottles any justice. You have to try this one– it was so easy and fun!

If you are interested in fully written out lesson plans, activities, and printables to go along with your weather unit, you might want to check out my “Weather and Clouds” kindergarten and preschool pack available on Teachers Pay Teachers. (here)

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