More From Chewandswallow {Weather Unit}

Is it just me or is it so hard to believe that we are zooming through the month of September?!? Geezzeee! Maybe it is because I am having WAY too much fun with my sweet little second graders. The past two weeks, it has been ALL about weather. We have been hard at work creating, researching, and learning about all things weather. They ask daily..."Can we PLEASE learn about weather all day?" They are loving it! Here are a few of the little projects that have been keeping us busy this week. I have more to share...so keep your eyes open for more Chewandswallow.

This week, we created four weather tools that we will observe outside for two weeks.

We also made up movements and motions for each tool to help us remember what they are called and what they do to predict the weather. I WOULD definitely try to explain them to you...BUT...you would get totally lost! Maybe in the next week, I will become savvy and move into videos! Ohhhh....the possibilities! :)  

We began by creating a class barometer to identify the pressure of the air each day. This was definitely a class fave! 

The makings of a weather vane.

Our anemometer {say that five times fast} will help us identify the wind speed.

It looks like we are prepared for a week of storm chasing and weather predicting!

You can find all of the directions for these fun little weather tools at:

If you haven't seen this site...it is such a fantastic resource. This week, the students will be using this site to research different types of storms. They will also be creating class presentations to teach other groups about their findings.

This week we also completed a few quick writes. I try VERY hard to include a daily writing into our science and social studies time. My philosophy = if they can write about it and explain it..they know what they're talking about = teaching success! Our favorite from the week: a little activity inspired by Cara Carroll over at the first grade parade. I saw her "What is a Scientist?" activity and modified and adapted it a bit to work right in with our weather unit.

Our sweet little meteorologists! It is hard to see...but they all were able to design their own rain boots! So cute! I also used their pictures for the face of our meteorologist.

Poster Inspired by Cara Carroll.

Raindrops are removable for student interaction during writing.

When they needed to spell a "weather word", they would remove

the raindrop to help them out a bit! The raindrops are taped to the poster.

A Few of Our Writings:

{Warning...writings have NOT been edited! :) We typically do not edit these writings each day. I focus on editing during my writing conferences and look for them to apply strategies during other writing activities!}

I can't wait for our research this week. The students are ready for their assigned "specialty areas" in the land of Chewandswallow! More to come!

On a little side note: I apologize to all of you who have emailed and have not heard back from me yet. I promise to get back to all of you within the week! 

I typically do not share personal information on my blog, but this weekend and past week has been a very sad week for our school system. One of my cross country kids {I have mentioned my team before} took her precious life last Tuesday. She was such a beautiful person inside and out and we have spent the weekend remembering all of the great times that she has given us! I strongly believe in the power of prayer and the Lord has truly given this family peace. If you too believe in the power of prayer, I ask that you remember this family as they continue to celebrate the life of their sweet little girl. So thankful that I serve a God that never forgets his promises!

"For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. —Psalm 30:5"

Happy Sunday Friends!