Weather Lesson Plan

Notes:

Use this lesson to teach the weather vocab and structures and then in following classes add a weather section to the beginning of your lesson.

Lesson Procedure:

Warm Up and Maintenance:

See our "Warm Up & Wrap Up" page.

New Learning and Practice:

1. Teach the weather vocab
Before class prepare weather flashcard pictures for the vocab sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, snowy, foggy, hot, cold. Our weather flashcards are great for this. Stick them around the walls of your classroom.

2. Play "Touch the cards"
Once the class has started, the teacher walks around the classroom touching the weather cards. As you touch each card do the song gesture while saying the vocab (e.g. it's sunny!). As you do this encourage your students to do the gestures and say the words with you. Next, get all your students to stand up. Teacher shouts out a weather word (e.g. "It’s rainy!") and students have to run over to the correct picture, touch it and do the gesture. If you have a lot of students it is worthwhile having multiple pictures of each card placed around the walls of the room.

3. Talk about the weather outside
Motion for your students to come over to the window (or even outside). Say a few times "How’s the weather?", "Look outside". Elicit from the class the weather and if it’s hot or cold (you can also teach "warm" if necessary). E.g. "It’s cloudy and rainy and cold". Then ask each student in turn “How’s the weather?” and encourage them to reply.

4. Sing "The Weather Song"
First put the weather flashcards on the board in the order of the song (or use our Weather Song song poster). Have all the students stand up and watch you as you sing along and use the gestures. Encourage them to join in and sing along. Play the song two or three times.

Lyrics for "The Weather Song"

Verse 1:
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
It’s sunny, it’s rainy, it’s windy, it’s cloudy.
It’s snowy, it’s foggy, it’s hot, it’s cold.

Verse 2:
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
It’s sunny, it’s rainy, it’s windy, it’s cloudy.
It’s snowy, it’s foggy, it’s hot, it’s cold.

(download MP3 here)

Gestures for "The Weather Song"

There are some easy gestures you can do as you sing along to the song:

For the question part "How’s the weather?", sing along and do the 'palms of the hands up' question gesture.
For the "Look outside" part, face the window and put your hand over your eyes (like a salute), as if you were looking into the distance.
Use hand gestures for the weather words:
- sunny: slowly spread your arms out
- rainy: wiggle your fingers downwards like rain
- windy: gesture wind blowing out of your mouth
- cloudy: make cloudy shapes with your hands
- snowy: wiggle your fingers downwards like snow and shiver
- foggy: close your eyes and put your hand out in front like you are trying to feel for something you can’t see
- hot: fan your face
- cold: shiver and wrap your arms around your body

We also have a video that you can stream in class to sing along with (Internet connection required):

5. Play Flashcard Concentration
Put the class into groups of 4. Each group will need two sets of weather flashcards. Model the activity first by having everyone watch you play with one group: shuffle the cards and lay them out face down on the floor. Turn over two cards. If they are different, turn them back over – it is the end of your turn. If they are the same (e.g. two sunny cards) you keep the cards (remove them from the game) and have another go. At the end, all of the cards will have been removed. The player with the most cards is the winner.

6. Read classroom reader "What Weather do you Like? "
This reader ties in nicely with the lesson and allows students to say which weather conditions they like. Before class, download and print off the reader "What Weather do you Like?" . As you go through each page, point to the pictures and elicit each key word, for example:

Teacher: What is this?
Students: It's a flower.
Teacher: And how's the weather?
Students: It's sunny!
Teacher: That's right! ...(reading) ... "I am a flower. I like sunny weather". Do you like sunny
weather Ken?
Student (Ken): Yes, I do.

Read classroom reader "What Weather do you Like?" Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions (e.g. eliciting colors and other objects) and getting them to tell you which weather they like.

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and read through the story one more time (without stopping for questions, etc.) as students match the characters in the story to the weather they like. Then have students draw the weather they like in the box.

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Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required):

7. Play Flashcard Basketball
Students, in teams, take shots with a ball (or a scrunched up piece of paper) at a trash can/box/etc. First show a flashcard to student 1. If s/he answers correctly then s/he can have a shot at the basket. If the student gets the ball in the basket then s/he wins 2 points. If the student hits the basket without going inside then s/he wins 1 point. The team with the most points is the winner.

8. Do "Weather Match and Draw!" worksheet
To finish off this section of the lesson, give out the worksheets. As your students are doing the worksheets, ask questions (e.g. “what is that?”, etc.).

Wrap Up:

1. Assign Homework: "Weather Draw!" worksheet.
2. Wrap up the lesson with some ideas from our "Warm Up & Wrap Up" page.

Future Lessons: Reviewing and checking the weather each lesson:

1. Prepare the "Weather Board"
Prepare a piece of cardboard and cover it with felt – you are going to pin this to the wall. If you can, try and get blue felt (to represent the sky). Write at the top in large letters, “How’s the weather today?”. Below the write “Today it’s”. Cut out weather pictures (such as our weather flashcards) and stick some velcro on the back. Arrange the weather pictures around the edge of the board and then put the board on the wall of your classroom.

2. Sing the Weather Song
In the warm up section of your lesson you can include a weather section – introduce this section by singing the weather song (with gestures).

3. Look outside
Get everyone to look outside by saying “How’s the weather? Look outside”. Elicit the weather for that day.

4. Put the weather pictures on the Weather Board
Invite some students to come up and put the weather pictures on the board. Make sure these students say the word as they put the card on the board.