Participation Ideas and Tips
Classroom display board
Brainstorm ideas for drawings
Comparing observations
Comparing Spring and Autumn sessions
Experiments and Extensions
Foreign language studies
Holiday and break reports
Notebook of student observations
Presentations
Observation Illustrations
Observation Reports
Questing
Thematic expansion activities
Weather Center
Working with multiple district classes
Weekly Observation Reports (Weeks 2-4)
Weekly class reports are based on observations done using the observation form. Some groups submit only text; others include text and a drawing or photograph, as in the following example:
[43:06N 87:54W] USA Wisconsin, Whitefish Bay
Richards Elementary School,
Mary Kreul's 4th graders
WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The temperature this week in Whitefish
Bay, WI was warmer than it has been for quite a while! The highs were from
37-64 F and the lows were from 25-41F. The warmest day was Monday, St.
Patrick's Day, when the high was 64 and the low was 41. We know the sun is
brighter now so the temperatures are higher. The cool breezes off of Lake
Michigan made it a bit cooler here compared to inland places.
LAND & WATER: The drizzling rain and warm sun have made all the
snow melt this week. The ice on the Milwaukee River is melting but there
is still some thin ice and some running water.
PLANTS: We have noticed some plants and trees starting to grow
like magnolia trees, crocuses, and hosta. Some of the crocuses have grown
bigger over the week's time. We can also see tiny green shoots coming out
of the ground but are not sure yet what plants they are.
ANIMALS: We are seeing robins and other birds in our trees and
heard them singing in the mornings. We think they are starting to come
back north after spending time further south.
PEOPLE: People are definitely dressing in lighter clothing this
week! Some people are getting out their shorts and lighter jackets. It
still is cool in the morning but by noon recess you can usually take off
your jacket or sweatshirt.
OTHER: A few days were rainy and windy so students could not go
outside for recess. They had to stay in and read or play quiet games in
the gym.
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Weekly Observation Illustrations (Weeks 2-4)
Illustrations submitted with each weekly observation make other participants and the seasonal changes vivid for students. Photographs, drawings and collages all provide unique ways to interpret and demonstrate understanding:
Colorful drawings are another creative way that students share their observations, as in this picture by a student from Janet Critch's 2nd grader class at
Upper Gullies Primary Schoolin Upper Gullies, Newfoundland, Canada.
This photograph by instructor Kathy Kirch of Heatly School in Green Island, New York, USA, of Fall leaves and seeds vividly captures specific changes and prompts discussion of plants.
A collage incorporating real bits of Fall leaves into a tree combines observation and imagination. This drawing is by one of Mark & Lisa Tobin's home school students in Whitestown, Indiana, USA.
Photographing the same location weekly allows participants to identify and compare visual changes. Instructor Roberta Gray's Fall photos of a pasture outside Austinburg Elementary School, in Austinburg, Ohio, showed the marked changes across two weeks.
Art Lesson: Saving the Colors of Fall
By Branson Elementary School, in Branson, Missouri, USA, teacher Regina Seaman.
Objective: To stop the process of the leaf changing colors.
Materials: Each student needs a baby food jar or a yogurt container with a lid.
Glycerin, approximately a teaspoon per student
Leaves, we chose one green, one orange or yellow.
Activity: Have the students label the jar or container with their name. Fill the
container with water and one teaspoon of glycerin. Add the leaves. Place
on the lid. Take out of the mixture in three to five days. Wash the
leaves and affix to construction paper. Any part of the leave that
wasn't in the glycerin water combination will turn brown or black;
the part in the water will be soft and retain most of its color.
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Project Display
Bulletin boards help students visual the project span and identify locations and groups, such as this one at Holgate Elementary School, in Holgate, Ohio, USA. Holgate instructor Linda Wagner and media specialist Deb Burkhart have led multiple March and October groups in this project. Student interest continues the following year as former students return to check on the new season's reports.
At Eastbrook Elementary School, in Eastbrook, Indiana, USA, teacher Cindy Newton displays project news in the hallway outside her classroom. She prints out partner emails and
uses them as read alouds over a series of days. Students identify specific
details of the emails as important to their fall study or
were interesting facts about the partner schools. These facts are highlighted in yellow and
the school's name and location. Each student is then given two emails to post on the
display.
To locate each partner, she would place my hand over the Atlantic Ocean. Students would
direct her to where the partner schools were located by reading the location on
the email and matching it to the state or country name on the map. They then
verbalized where to move her hand (N, S, E, W) to find the map
location. The student would tape a piece of string near this location. The
other end was taped to the back of the email and that email was then taped
to the wall.
An interesting by-product was that students could visually see
how the yarn looked like a spider web or net. They then began to better
understand the term Inter"net".
This display at Harbor School School, in Eatontown, New Jersey, USA, was created by teacher Sandy Greebel. Photos of the same site for each of the five weeks, observation sheets, laminated leaves and scientific diagrams illustrate a broad range of student inquiries.
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Weather Center
At St. Barnabas Elementary School, Bronx, New York, USA, Mrs. Kirchmann & Ms. Ferrari fully engage their students in weather study with the Two-Two Town Weather Station Sensation. Students track the weather on a monthly calendar. They keep tally sheets to count the number of sunny, rainy and windy days by using thermometers, making observations, and reading the newspaper reports. They also create the Magnificent Monthly Weather Manual, containing all of their weather work for the month.
Using spreadsheets, students create graphs to record their findings, as shown below for tempearture and weather conditions.
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Observation Book
At Brevard Elementary School, in Brevard, North Carolina, USA, Molly Tartt & Carrie Kirby are compiled these eye-catching book of each student's colorfully illustrated observation sheets. Students carry their book along to make their observations outside.
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Comparing Observations
At Elliot Elementary School, in Elliot, Iowa, USA, Tammy Greiman and Mrs. Stein created flow charts to help students compare their weekly observation with another group's. Reports submitted with distinct observation categories make comparisons easy for students.
At Branson Elementary School, in Branson, Missouri, USA, teacher Ginny Lennon had her students compare observations of one element from Week 1 and Week 5 using a Venn diagram. In the diagram above, a student compared observations of a tree.
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Questing
At Ellenville Elementary School in Ellenville, New York, Nancy Sharoff uses this strategy with her second grade students to engage with the Signs Quests and involve families. Each week she prints all the observations. Then she chooses ten of the
Quest Questions, types them
on a sheet of paper (along with the school/location where they will
find the answer) with room for answers. She hands the notebook with
the observations and a xerox of the Quest Questions to a student
to take home for three days. During the course of the three days, the student, with adult help if necessary, finds the answers to the
questions. When the student returns the notebook and answer sheet to
Ms. Sharoff, s/he gets a prize. It's a great way to get students to read for information. Also, parents are very responsive to this additional assignment.
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Brainstorming ideas for drawings
At Richards Elementary School in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, USA, Mary Kreul's class brainstorms signs of the changing season to generate a list of ideas for making drawings. Here's an example from her March, 2002 group:
Signs of Spring
Baseball
Spring clothes in the stores
Getting lighter clothes out of the closet
Days are getting longer = more light
Buds on trees and bushes coming out
Robins and other birds flying back to WI
Animals coming out of hibernation
Animals more active
Temperature getting higher = warmer
Snow is melting
Flowers and plants, especially bulbs, start to come out
People and pets want to get outside
Spring holiday decorations going up = St. Patrick's Day and Easter
Planning spring vacations
Seeds and other garden supplies in the stores
Wind is getting stronger
Grass getting greener
Indoor plants growing because there is more sun
Buying things for outdoor activities, like baseballs and bats, bubble sets, swimming pools, outdoor furniture, lawn supplies, etc.
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Suggestions for working with teams
The goals of Signs of Autumn, Signs of Spring include linking students around the globe in a shared learning experience. To keep the content manageable for everyone involved, only one weekly report per participating school can be posted.
However, media specialists can successfully coordinate this project with multiple classroom groups. Likewise, teams of teachers from the same school can also coordinate their participation. The weekly discussions, observations and creations on the project schedule can be done by all of your classrooms. The key is to decide in advance how to compile the observations into one weekly report for your groups. Options include:
- Selecting a different group's report to be submitted each week
- Selecting one different part of the observation for each group (people, plants, animals, weather, etc.)
Displaying student observations and project information generates enthusiasm and involvement. Create a shared display board, with a special section for each of your groups. Include photographs of the groups of students outside. Post progressive photos of a tree, or a location you are watching for signs. Designate an area for displaying student observation notebooks. Students love seeing their own work in the spotlight!
Holiday and break submissions ... while you're away
For some participants, the project dates include breaks or holidays that prevent observations during one week. To provide continuity for everyone, these groups provide advance notice that they will not be reporting and submit information in advance, such as seasonal poems or drawings or information about vacation plans.
At College du Pilat, in Bourg-Argental, France, Claudie Ferret's 6th graders created acrostics as part of their English foreign language studies. They sent these poems to post while they were on Fall holiday:
At the beginning of October,
Under the cloudy sky, we go
To the forest to do leaves battles.
Under the trees, we pick up
Mushrooms and chestnuts.
No doubt it's great fun!
Foxes eat pears and grapes
Apples fall from the tree
Lizard climbs up the wall
Light a fire in the fire-place!
Mrs. Smith's students at The Leas Infants School in Waltham, Lincolnshire, England, shared what they would be doing while on holiday. They also sent illustrations of familiar weather rhymes.
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Foreign language students
Instructors of English as a foreign language use Signs of Autumn, Signs of Spring to provide an engaging application of their studies. Collaborating on an international project motivates students to apply what they learn and conceptualize across diverse subject areas. The on elementary level content focus fits with the initial years of foreign language study.
Claudie Ferret, English teacher at College du Pilat, in Bourg-Argental, France developed this approach for her foreign language students:
Observations. Each week we had a brain-storming about the observations of the week in
French first. Then we wrote our ideas in English. The teacher helped us. We
had sheets with some vocabulary and we used dictionaries. We had to use the
tenses we were learning.
Reports and Mapping. After the first week we selected 10 schools (according to their situation in
the world but also to the level of language used for us to understand)
We've put stickers on a world map with their names.
Then the teacher printed the observations of these schools and we had to
translate it in French. We reported to the others.
Data Day. After the Data Day Report the teacher printed all the observations ,she
explained the latitude and longitude and the time zones and we compared the
difference of weather and daylight hours.
Understanding. The last week we trained reading English without dictionaries trying to
understand globaly the observations and to compare the differences with ours.
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Comparing Spring and Autumn sessions
Working with students through both Spring and Autumn sessions presents unique opportunities and challenges. Building on the learning experience of the first session is important -- helping students expand their understanding, not just repeat the same tasks.
Try observing and following a particular plant/animal/person(s) across both seasons. Compare current behavior with the previous Autumn/Spring, exploring the causes for the differences. Photographs, drawings, research and writing can all play a part. Students might draw a picture for one season and then reproduce the same scene for Spring. The scene might be real/observed or imagined.
Successive photographs of the same area that could be scrutinized for changes and compared across the seasons are another option. Display the photos and list characteristics for each.
Try interviewing other students at school or taking a poll related to the season, weather, activities. Publish a seasonal newspaper. Create a template -- with topics such as weather, people, activities, holidays. Create one for each season and compare the difference. Once you start thinking, ideas keep multiplying!
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Presentation
Create an electronic presentation of student art and observations in a program like PowerPoint or ClarisWorks. Second grade teacher Molly Tartt at Brevard Elementary School created this captivating Signs of Spring PowerPoint (208K) of her students artwork. Students can then share their work with other classes, or to their parents.
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Experiments and extensions
Susan MacDougall, instructor at Brick Community Primary Learning Center in Brick, New Jersey, USA, incorporates science experiments into her seasonal studies. Here's how:
In the Fall, as part of my floating and sinking lessons, I bring in fall fruits and vegetables, like colorful peppers, gourds, big and small pumpkins, and acorns. The children predict if each one will sink or float and then we test it. (NOTE: Acorns sink unless they are old, then they float. Pumpkins float because of the air inside.)
I also cut the top off one pumpkin and let everyone smell the inside. There is a wonderful video called Pumpkin Circle, narrated by Danny Glover (in verse) with music that shows the whole growing cycle and what kinds of foods are made from pumpkins."
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