How Long is the Weather

This week we decided to embrace the theme from music class, weather.  And to accompany studying the weather, we explored some measuring activities.  We also looked at habitats of different plants and animals.

We read a variety of fiction and nonfiction books.  Some stories included Stormy Weather - a bedtime to animals book, Storm is Coming about some silly animals preparing for "storm" to arrive, The Rhino who Swallowed a Storm about dealing with being scared, and The Rain Came Down where a whole town is grumpy in the rain.  We read Bear Wants More and When Will It Be Spring about bears waking up from hibernation.  Our nonfiction books included The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola, National Geographic books, rainbow books, question and answer books, and tales of freaky weather.

We sang our songs from music class, especially "What's the Weather" set to "Oh My Darling Clementine." We sang before we checked the weather each day.  We used a old soda bottle to make a rain gauge, cutting off the top and marking inches and centimeters on the side.  We used ribbon and a toilet paper roll to create a windsock.  Genevieve used contact paper and tissue paper to create a kite to hang up inside and a kite kit for outside.  We read Red Kite, Blue Kite and Shibumi and the Kitemaker, both set in Asia.  We enjoyed snail and worm hunts in our wet weather.  We also observed the change in the coefficient of friction on the slide in the wet weather and force and motion, taking turns pushing each other on the swing.  Genevieve particularly thought it was funny to try to push me.

We read several books by Marianne Collins Berkes.  These have both counting and habitats, including the jungle, US rivers, the African grasslands, and the coral reef.  We also looked at habitats and counting in The Water Hole and US parks in Park Scientists.

We enjoyed some additional math books, like 8 Silly Monkeys, the new Goodnight Numbers, Doggone Dogs, and The Lion's Share.  I love this last book for it's storytelling and work in multiplication and division.  We measured things with our arms, blocks, books and rulers.  We explored volume by guessing which containers were the biggest and then trying to pour them into each other.  We also tried our hands at mancala.

Genevieve started getting ready for Easter by sewing up a basket and painting a large egg.  She explored with her microscope.  And she found two new favorite books - Toys in Space and Miss Smith and the Haunted Library.