ELA GK:M2

Learning through Science and Story: Weather Wonders

In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of the weather. The module begins with a story about a young girl named Sofia who is curious about the weather. Sofia wants to learn more about how she can be prepared for any type of weather, and she asks the kindergarten students to help her in this quest. In Unit 1, students study the science of weather through various informational texts. They create a class weather journal and track their individual learning in a meteorologist's notebook.

In Unit 2, students broaden their study as they think about how weather affects people in different places around the world and characters in a variety of narrative texts. Students engage in close read-alouds of: On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World's Weather by Marilyn Singer and Come on, Rain! by Karen Hesse. Students also read and retell several narrative texts about the experiences of children in different types of weather, including Brave Irene by William Steig, Umbrella by Taro Yashima, and One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews. Students continue to observe the local weather as they write daily entries in individual weather journals.

In Unit 3, students listen to The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats read aloud and continue to think about how the weather affects the choices people make about what to wear and what to do each day. They then use this book as a mentor text for their performance task, in which they plan and write an imaginary narrative about how the weather on a particular day affected what a person wore and did. They revise, edit, and practice reading their original narratives in preparation for sharing them with families and friends at an end of module Weather Expo. This performance task centers on CCSS ELA W.K.3, W.K.5, L.K.1a, L.K.2a, L.K.2c, L.K.2dL.K.6.

Please note: The version of Weather Words and What They Mean, used in Grade K, Module 2, that EL Education referenced when writing the original module lessons in 2017, has been updated by the publisher. This chart provides a lesson-by-lesson crosswalk between the page numbers and content from the edition used in the original module lessons (ISBN #978-0823409525) and the publisher's 2019 edition (ISBN #978-0823441907).

Lesson guidance and supporting materials for this module have not been updated to incorporate the new page numbers. Use this crosswalk as a guide.

Guiding Questions and Big Ideas

What is weather?

The combination of sun, wind, and clouds makes the weather.

How can I be prepared for any type of weather?
What is weather like around the world?

Weather can be different in different places and at different times.

How does weather affect people?
How can I write a story that teaches my reader about weather?

Weather has a great impact on the daily life of living things.
Weather affects the choices we make.
People write stories to entertain and teach others.

The Four Ts

Topic : Weather Wonders: A Study of Weather in Science and Story

Task: My Weather Story: An Imaginary Weather Narrative

Targets: (standards taught and assessed): W.K.3, W.K.5, L.K.1a, L.K.2a, L.K.2c, L.K.2d, and L.K.6

Text: One Hot Summer Day; On the Same Day in March; Weather (National Geographic Readers Series); Weather Words and What They Mean; Come On, Rain!; Umbrella; Brave Irene; The Snowy Day

Content Connections

This module is designed to address English Language Arts standards and to be taught during the content-based literacy block of the school day. The module also intentionally incorporates social studies content that many teachers across the nation are expected to address in kindergarten. These intentional connections are described below. (Based on your state or district context, teachers may also choose to address additional specific social studies or science standards during other parts of the school day.)

Science (based on NGSS):

ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

Weather is a combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time. People measure these conditions to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time.

C3 Framework for Social Studies:

D2.Geo.4.K-2: Explain how weather, climate, and other environmental characteristics affect people's lives in a place or region.

Habits of Character / Social Emotional Learning Focus

Central to EL Education's curriculum is a focus on "habits of character" and social-emotional learning. Students work to become effective learners, developing mindsets and skills for success in college, career, and life (e.g., initiative, responsibility, perseverance, collaboration); work to become ethical people, treating others well and standing up for what is right (e.g., empathy, integrity, respect, compassion); and work to contribute to a better world, putting their learning to use to improve communities (e.g., citizenship, service).
In this module, students work to become effective learners by learning about, practicing, and reflecting on the habits of responsibility and perseverance.

Units

Each unit file includes teacher materials and student-facing materials.

ELA GK:M2:U1

Learning to Read and Write Informational Texts: Becoming Meteorologists

ELA GK:M2:U2

Reading Narrative Texts: How Weather Affects People

ELA GK:M2:U3

Writing Imaginary Narratives: My Weather Story

Assessment

Each unit in the K-2 Language Arts Curriculum has one standards-based assessment built in. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Download this Module's Assessments

Performance Task

My Weather Story: An Imaginary Weather Narrative

In this performance task, students write an imaginary narrative about a character's experience with the weather, using The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats as a mentor text. Students' narratives reflect how the weather affects the choices the character makes about what to wear and what to do. Students use group notes, puppets, and oral planning as scaffolding to illustrating and writing their stories. They also revise, edit, and practice reading their original narratives in preparation for sharing them with families and friends during the end of module celebration: A Weather Expo. This task addresses CCSS ELA W.K.3, W.K.5, L.K.1a, L.K.2a, L.K.2c, L.K.2d, and L.K.6.

Download this Performance Task

Materials

See each Unit Overview for a list of any unusual physical materials required (such as puppets or props) for module lessons.

Texts and Resources to Buy

Texts that need to be procured. Please download the Trade Book List for procurement guidance.

Text or Resource	Quantity	ISBNs
Umbrella by Taro Yashima	One per Classroom	ISBN: 9780140502404
Brave Irene by William Steig	One per Classroom	ISBN: 9780312564223
On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World’s Weather by Marilyn Singer	One per Classroom	ISBN: 9780064435284
Weather (National Geographic Readers) by Kristin Baird Rattini	One per Classroom	ISBN: 9781426313486
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats	Six per Classroom	ISBN: 9780140501827
Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse	Six per Classroom	ISBN: 9780590331258
Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons	Six per Classroom	ISBN: 9780823441907
One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews	One Per Classroom	ISBN: 9780688133931

Module-at-a-Glance

Each module is approximately 6-8 weeks of instruction broken into 3 units. The "week at a glance" chart in the curriculum map gives the big picture, breaking down the module into a detailed week-by-week view. It shows how the module unfolds, the focus of each week of instruction, and where the six assessments and the performance task occur.

View the module-at-a-glance chart

Labs

Labs are 1 hour of instruction per day. They are designed to promote student proficiency and growth.

There are 5 distinct Labs: Explore, Engineer, Create, Imagine, and Research. Each of the Labs unfolds across an entire module and takes place in four stages: Launch, Practice, Extend, and Choice and Challenge.

During their Lab time, students break up into smaller Lab groups and go to separate workstations (tables or other work spaces around the classroom). This structure creates a small collaborative atmosphere in which students will work throughout their Labs experience. It also supports the management of materials (since each workstation has its own materials).

Connections to the Labs

Labs continue to provide students with an engaging, hands-on place to build habits of character, literacy skills, and module related content understanding. There are four Labs for the second module: Create, Explore, Imagine, and Research. The labs are directly connected to the content of the module and should be implemented alongside the imodule lessons.

Labs for this module focus on having students:

Research extreme weather through close viewing of weather photographs
Engage in role-playing experiences with different types of weather scenarios, and act out narrative stories read throughout the module
Build structures that can withstand certain types of weather (e.g., wind- or rainproof shelters)
Create detailed drawings of weather scenes and people within those scenes

Connections to the Reading Foundations Skills Block

The Reading Foundations Skills Block is an hour of instruction that teaches students how to crack the alphabetic code. This block supports reading and writing conventions necessary for student success in the Integrated Reading block, covering all Reading Foundations Standards and the Language Standards associated with spelling. Research- and Standards-based instructional practices are designed to support teachers as they teach students how to read, write, and analyze words. Built-in instructional supports and resources provide teacher guidance for differentiation in both the Whole and Small Group settings based on each student's Phase of Reading and Spelling Development. The Skills Block includes one hour of instruction: 15-20 minutes of Whole Group and 45 minutes of Differentiated Small Group instruction.

Skills Block lessons for this module focus on having students:

Continue to identify the name, shape, and sound of letters
Continue to identify rhyming words and syllables in words
Continue to name the onset (beginning sound) and rime (ending chunk)
Prepare to use phonemic awareness (identifying the individual sounds in words) and letter sound knowledge to begin to decode simple VC (vowel, consonant) and CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.

Refer to each cycle overview for more detailed information regarding that cycle, including information about what to prepare in advance and extension opportunities.

EL Education Curriculum