One of my favorite science topics to teach is weather. My little learners always loved it, too! Weather is all around us, and students already have some background knowledge of how it affects them. When it comes to teaching weather while distance learning, it can feel overwhelming to reinvent the wheel. Today, I’m sharing some virtual weather activities that will be easier to implement and still help students master important science standards and vocabulary.
Let’s take a few things you already may have and make them distance learning-friendly and sprinkle in some new, engaging virtual weather activities. We don’t have to start from scratch. We just need to get a little creative!
Use videos and video clips to help introduce weather or reinforce important vocabulary. If you already have a few bookmarked from previous years, great! If you need a few suggestions, here’s what I found:
Digital task cards have recently become one of my go-to recommendations for the virtual classroom. Students can work on meaningful activities and get immediate feedback while learning. Plus, you can easily track students’ progress while they practice.
The All About Weather Deck would be perfect to assign to distance learners to help them learn about weather virtually. It has both teaching cards and activity cards to reinforce learning and have students practice in a meaningful way. You can use this virtual weather activity in several ways:
Interactive read alouds are an easy way to teach students about science topics. Plus, the interactive read aloud has so many benefits for students. You can do the read alouds live on Zoom or prerecord them using Loom or any other platform your district may be using.
I have a mega list of read alouds for the entire year of science. It’s FREE to download. Click HERE to head to the blog post where you can grab it!
You can also use videos of read alouds for students. Here are a few I found:
Writing about science has many benefits for primary students. It allows for the scaffolding of learning and for students to think about their thinking. Over time and with practice, writing about science will help students build a solid understanding of concepts they need to master and how to use new vocabulary correctly.
So, how do we do that with distance learners? One way is to use the teaching posters you would normally use to help students while they do their science journals or interactive notebooks.
These activities are still possible! Whether you have a digital notebook or students are just writing on paper, they will still get the benefits of writing about science either way.
It can be as simple as labeling or more complex like a KWL chart (grab a free one HERE). THIS POST shares how to split PDFs and grab the pages you might need to share your screen so you can still use teaching posters you might have.
You can get your scientists busy writing about their learning with my Print and Digital Weather Notebook.
Another idea for virtual weather activities is to use songs, chants, and poems to reiterate key ideas and important vocabulary. Shared reading can benefit virtual students in both reading and science. Just grab your favorite poem or song for weather and plan your teaching points. You can share your screen or prerecord a lesson, too.
I shared all about how to teach shared reading virtually HERE. There is a shared reading poem, teaching plan, and coordinating phonics activities in the All About Weather unit already prepared for you to use, too!
Another activity that is simple to do virtually is weather tracking. Guide students to create weather charts to document the weather each day. You can include things like:
You can also introduce weather tool vocabulary as well. Students can do this in their science journals. If you have my Weather Print and Digital Notebook, there are several in there you can use!
Virtual weather activities don’t have to be complicated! I love taking what I already have and adapting it for distance learning. If you’re looking to jazz up your weather unit activities and make lesson planning easier, try including any of these resources:
I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers. Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!
One Response
These resources are amazing and helps a lot for my students.Thanks!