Winter 2020 Newsletter

Weather Patterns

The topic of weather comes up daily at Elements. Our weekly weather reporter uses our weather stones to share their assessment of the day. We discuss what kind of gear we will need and what gear we should bring along 'just in case.'

This week we dove deeper into why certain weather patterns occur, did some experiments, asked lots of questions, and discussed what we like about rain, snow and wind!

Nature Lessons

Our discussion of weather began with lots of questions! "Where does the hot air come from?" "What makes the thunder and lightning?" "Why does the wind move around?"

Compasses were offered to children to bring outside, and some were interested in a short lesson on how to use it. We learned how to find North and where the other cardinal directions were. We labeled each direction in the field nearby with a sign (east of our classroom!). The children pretended they were the wind as we swept across the field from the N, S, E, & W! Our rainy adventures allowed us to observe precipitation with our sense of sight, hearing, and touch.

Indoors we experimented with the properties of water, cloud formation, and precipitation. Among other provocations, the children were invited to create model rain clouds, by adding "water vapor" (food coloring) to "clouds" (shaving cream), and seeing what happened to clouds that had LOTS of water vapor! Children were invited to create rain art with blue watercolor, glue mixed with blue tempera, and baby oil. The baby oil creating a raindrop effect on the watercolor.

Books We Read

• Hey Water! by Antoinette Portis

• All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon

• Let's Investigate with Nate #1: Water Cycle by Nate Ball

• The Windy Day by Anna Milbourne

• The Rainy Day by Anna Milbourne

• Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb

You can further build your child's awareness of these topics, by talking about and pointing out the weather you notice together, listen to their questions. Allow the children's interests and questions to influence your library book choices or what you discuss at dinner. Talk about where the sun rises in your house and share what direction you are driving when traveling to familiar destinations!

Discussion Questions to Ask Your Child

• What's your favorite kind of weather?

• Where do you think that breeze was before it got to us?

• I wonder why it’s colder in this shady spot?

• Why are some clouds grey?

• I wonder why some clouds are different shapes?

• What happens inside the cloud to make the rain fall?

• What are the clouds made of?

Yours Truly, 

Cristy, Rachel, Amy & Erin