Weather and Seasons Mini Investigation

A few weeks ago, Ms. West and I needed to come up with a plan for our formal spring evaluation (OTES).  We are currently working on a cooking investigation with a focus on restaurants-however-we wanted something the kids could really dig their hands into for a project.  Since spring was coming up and the students had been asking a lot of questions about seasons and the weather- we decided to do a spring weather mini-investigation.  Mini Investigations can be exhausting because it's a lot in a shorter amount of time... but sometimes I think that is what makes them so exciting!

Unfortunately since we were being formally evaluated... we did not get as many photographs throughout the process- but we did get some during our creation phase and of the final products.

The week before we started the weather mini- we reviewed the seasons and really talked about spring.  We wrote about spring during writer's workshop.  We also did an opinion writing about our favorite season and did watercolor paintings of our favorite season as well.  Students also worked collaboratively to make a tree for each season using construction paper, poster board and glue.  I think they turned out really nice!

We also did an EKW chart before we started.

Our weather mini was broken down into 5 parts.
Day 1- Introduction and Vocabulary

• During this day we reviewed types of weather (we have been tracking the weather every day since the beginning of the school year).  Ms. West also introduced the students to weather vocabulary, weather tools and weather related jobs.  We also started our weather journal to record what we learned and track/predict the weather for the week.

Day 2- Center Experiment Rotations

• During this day we did a 4 way center rotation (sorry I was too busy to take pictures!).  The purpose of this day was to introduce the students to the 3 types of weather that we would be focusing on for spring weather.  For each type we did a basic introduction with non-fiction text and then did a small experiment or coinciding activity.  Here is a list of the centers we did:

1. Rainy/Stormy Center- students listened to non-fiction text about rain and storms.  Students did the shaving cream/food coloring experiment in the cup. Students then made rain gauges using recycled plastic water bottles.
    
   
2. Sunny Center- Students listened to non-fiction text about the sun.  They learned about sun dials through the Liverpool museum website.  Students then used paper plates, clock faces and pencils to create their own sun dial. 
   
3. Cloudy/Windy Center- Students listened to non-fiction text about the wind.  We did an experiment to see if the wind would blow different objects.  Students made predictions and then we used a hair dryer to test it out.   We then learned about the different types of clouds by looking at pictures of each cloud form.
   
4. Wind Chimes Center- Our fabulous Wright State student helped the kids decorate a CD using sharpies and gems.  The CDs will be compiled into a few wind chimes to hang outside our classroom door. 
   

At the end of the day- students chose the expert group they wanted to be in.  

Day 3- Research

• During day 3 the students worked with the expert group they chose.  We read a lot of non-fiction books and watch video clips.  The students helped us make a list of things they thought were important to tell people about what they had learned about the type of weather they researched.

Day 4- Creation 

• During this day we made big messes and created our displays.  Earlier in the morning- students wrote the facts they had told us were important the day before.  In the afternoon students used all different materials to create pieces to show what they wanted other people to know.

Sun Expert Group

Rainy/Stormy Expert Group

Cloudy/Windy Expert Group

After all the pieces had dried they were compiled together on boards that the students had painted and placed with the facts they had written.

Sunny Weather Boards

The boards were split up into 3 categories: Sun Facts, Sun Uses and Sunny Gear

Rainy/Storm Boards

The rainy/stormy boards were split up into 3 categories: The Water Cycle, Rain Facts and Storm Facts

Cloudy/Windy Boards

The cloudy/windy boards were split up into 3 categories: Cloud Facts, Types of Clouds and Wind Facts

All of the boards were hung out in the hallway along with our data.  We were able to incorporate a lot of graphing into this study.  The 5th part of our mini will be when students use the boards when we get back from spring break to teach each other about the major types of spring weather.  We also are hoping to have a visit from a meteorologist and we will integrate some weather concepts into our play based centers.