Singing In The Rain: Learning About Weather in Pre-K

Our Pre-K class has been learning about the weather. We've learned quite a bit through fun activities and experiments.

Counting Raindrops on Cloud Mats

I made these little cloud mats from blue paper. Originally, I made them as a small group game where the children either roll a die or draw a numbered card and count out the number of glass raindrop beads onto the cloud. The children have also delighted in just playing with the mats and beads, making up their own games or designs as they play.

TV Weather Station
I transformed a little area of our Science Center into a tv weather station. One evening I gave the children "homework" and asked them to watch the weather portion of the news. They really enjoyed pretending to be a meteorologist. 

Weather Wheels
We made our own little "weather wheels" by drawing on a paper plate divided into sections. We talked about what type of weather we usually have in our area to decide which conditions (rain, sun, clouds, snow, wind, etc.) to include. As we did this with several small groups, different groups included different weather on their wheels.

Weather Magazines

Disclaimer:   The publishers over at Scholastic's "My Big World" preschool classroom magazines sent us a class supply of the magazines to try out. (While I did receive the issues for free for classroom use, I am not being paid to promote or endorse Scholastic or their magazines. The opinions expressed below are strictly my own based on our class experiences with the magazines.) 

We used Scholastic's "My Big World" preschool classroom magazine as a small group activity, reading together and doing the activity on the back. Thank you, "My Big World" magazine, and especially Janice, for sharing these with us! We really enjoyed them and we learned a lot! 

I was really tickled to see some of the children getting their magazines out later on and having a little "small group" of their own! The magazines are very easy for children to follow and "read along", even if they can't independently read the actual text yet! 

If you'd like more info on ordering "My Big World" magazines for your class, please visit the Scholastic website or click here.

Art
As it often happens, our learning focus often creeps into whatever the students are creating in art center.

Flying Kites
Kite making has been a very popular activity in our art center and flying the homemade kites has been the highlight of our outdoor time!

Singing About Weather
We LOVE The Learning Station's music in our class. They have a wonderful version of "Singing In The Rain" that really gets us moving. If you are not familiar with it, you should check it out! They also have a wonderful youtube station filled with great children's music videos.




Weather Experiments
We've conducted some pretty cool weather experiments in our class. You can read more about the experiments and kite making/flying, plus get a FREE printable weather recording chart on PreK+K Sharing: Exploring Weather With Science Experiments in Preschool.

Books About Weather

These are some of the books we've been reading about weather!

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Play It Again, Sam! Music In Our Pre-K Class

Most of the teachers at our school know that if they are looking for a song or cd that they can't find, chances are that I will have it. We use music in our classroom activities all day long. I thought I would share with you some of our favorites, so this is by no means a comprehensive list. We enjoy all kinds of music and play quite a variety, from country, to classical, to cultural (like Irish), to rock, to children's favorites. 

Hap Palmer's "Getting To Know Myself" features timeless preschool favorites like "Sammy" and is a must have for every classroom!  You can find it here!

Newbridge Songs For Learning--
     "Holiday Songs" cd is filled with original holiday songs. A teacher's guide gives suggestions and ideas for activities and actions to accompany the songs. You can find it here.
       "Following Directions" cd is filled with action songs that help teach skills needed to follow directions. You can find it here.

"Simple Songs For Preschool" has become one of our favorites! The songs are easy to learn and easy to sing and are topical to children's interests! You can find the cd here on Deborah Stewart's website, Teach Preschool, and listen to a few previews!

Shawn Brown has fabulous rhythms and his music really gets the kids moving! (I've written about him here before: "Super Fun With Shawn Brown". Our two favorites are "Super Fun Show"

And "Super Fun Transitions" which is filled with great songs for transitions, like lining up, cleaning up, coming to the rug and saying goodbye. 

You can find them both here at the Super Fun online store. 

I'm a fan of Jack Hartmann's music and I follow many of the principles of Conscious Discipline, so what could be better than a cd combining the two? This cd is filled with connection making music! Check out "It Starts In The Heart" on the Conscious Discipline website store.

Mr. Al has a ton of great cds and we listen to several. Our absolute favorite of all of Mr. Al's is "Mr. Al: A La Carte"! You can find his website and online store here.

Greg & Steve are very popular and they have tons of cds, as well. You can check out all their great cds in their online store here.
Our two favorites are "Kids In Motion", filled with movement songs and "We All Live Together, Vol. 2" which has great songs for circle time.

I discovered Eric Litwin several years ago at a training, before "Pete the Cat" became wildly popular. I love his versatility--he presents a variety of songs in different musical styles! His music really gets us going. "Smile At Your Neighbor" is great fun to move to, especially the hits "Smile At Your Neighbor", "The Fun Thing" and "The 3 Little Pigs Story Song". We act out the 3 Little Pigs with this song as often as possible! You can click here to find his online store.

I have loved my "Tony Chestnut" cd by The Learning Station  for a long time. We just can't get enough of the great songs on it. We also love "Literacy In Motion" and use it to help make connections to some of the great children's books we read. The Learning Station has tons of great cds, and I'm working on checking them all out. I recently won 2 cds that I didn't have already, so I'm sure they will become fast favorites! I have also discovered that The Learning Station has a FABULOUS youtube channel where you can watch The Learning Station crew performing the great songs and motions! Definitely something to put in your "favorites"!!!

Here's a little "sneak peek" at my class jamming to "Baby Shark" on The Learning Station's youtube channel!

We also use music at naptime. We try to play a variety of soft music, often classical or soothing tunes. We do have two favorite "contemporary" cds that we listen to at nap.

"Bedtime With the Beatles" (blue cover) is an instrumental cd of Beatles hits. You can find it on Amazon here, or at your local record store.

I love Jack Johnson and was thrilled when he did the soundtrack for the "Curious George" movie! The kids love "Sing-A-Longs And Lullabies for the Film Curious George" as much as I do! Look for it on Amazon here or in your local record store.

I'm very excited that I'll have the opportunity to see some of these great names live and in person at the 2012 NAEYC conference next month!!! Look at this snippet of the Conference agenda to see why I'm so excited!

I hope that you have found something here that you will enjoy using in your early childhood setting! Leave a comment about the music your kids enjoy--I'm always on the lookout for new tunes!