The Month of March

This activity teaches the children about alphabet letters, the weather in March, Spatial concepts, opposites and St. Patrick’s Day.

Materials:

• Books pertaining to opposites, alphabet letters and the weather
• glue
• construction paper
• glitter of different colors
• calendar
• thermometer
• tissue paper in different colors

Length of Unit:  6 lessons

Outline:

• Lesson 1: Spring Weather, The Wind Blew
• Lesson 2: Raindrops
• Lesson 3: In Like a Lion out like a Lamb?
• Lesson 4: Let’s Talk about Opposites!
• Lesson 5: Introduce Letters
• Lesson 6: Rain: What do we need, what do we wear?

LESSON 1 – SPRING WEATHER

All of you are going to learn today that spring weather can be very unpredictable. Does anyone know what unpredictable means? (It means we do not know what the weather will be like from day to day or even hour to hour.) Sometimes in the Spring it rains and sometimes it gets really warm. Other times it gets windy and cold!

Activity:

1. Let’s talk about what happens when the wind blows.
2. Can you see the wind?
3. How do you know it is windy?
4. What all does the wind blow sometimes?
5. Let’s read a book:  The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
   

Discussion:

1. What did the wind blow in the book?
2. Has that ever happened to you?
3. Have you ever lost something because it blew away in the wind?
4. Does the wind sometimes scare you?
5. Sometimes wind can do damage to things. What might wind damage or destroy?
6. Tell a story about anything that happened to you when it was very windy. For example, When it was very windy at my house, a window broke. Sometimes trees will fall down and telephone lines will break.

Editor’s Note:   Also, it might be appropriate to discuss how to stay safe when it is very windy outside… For instance: Stay indoors.

Here is a March Song about the wind:

5 Little children one March day Went for a walk just this way. The wind blew so hard and strong As they walked down the street. It turned them round and round And almost blew them off their feet!

Sing this with the children. If possible, write it out on poster board and have it laminated.

LESSON 2 – RAINDROPS

Discussion:

Find a copy of the song “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” (click here to download the MIDI version) and play it for your children in your class. They have probably never heard it before.

Discuss with the children about what the sky is like before it rains. Is it sunny? Cloudy? Dark sometimes?

Discuss the fact that if it rains and the sun is shining, many times you can see a rainbow. Ask the children if they have ever seen a rainbow. Ask if they have ever seen a double or triple rainbow. If you have ever seen a double or triple rainbow describe the experience to the children.

Talk to the children about songs that talk about the rain. For instance:

It’s Raining It’s Pouring, The old man is snoring. He bumped his head, and he went to bed, and he couldn’t get up in the morning.

OR:

Rain Rain go away. Come Again another day. Little Johnny wants to play.

In that song where the name Johnny is, the teacher can change the name to each of the children’s name in her class.

LESSON 3 – IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB

March comes in with many windy and raining days and at the end of March, it seems to get cool and nice weather outside.

Discussion:

Explain why people use the saying in like a lion out like a lamb.

Activity:

Have children make lions.

1. Have students paint a paper plate yellow or orange.
2. After the paper plate dries, have wiggly eyes that are large for the children to glue on the paper plate. Then have precut orange or yellow ears for the children to glue on the top of the paper plate.
3. Lastly have the students use precut pieces of yellow or orange yarn to glue all around the face of the lion face.
4. You can also use the yarn for whiskers for the lion and cut out a mouth and nose for the lions face!

LESSON 4 – LET’S TALK ABOUT OPPOSITES

Activities:

1. First read as many opposite books as possible to the children.
2. Use the word opposite throughout the day.
3. Play an opposite game. You say “day” they say night. You say “up” they say down.
4. Try to do an art activity with each preposition.

For example: Up and Down

Give children cotton balls to tear apart and have them put the “clouds” up in the sky. Then have them draw something down on the ground. At the bottom of their picture write a sentence of what is up in the sky and down on the ground. “The clouds are in the sky and the ball is on the ground.” Hang these pictures up or send them home.

Another Art Activity: In and Out

Have students paint a picture of a bowl or basket or wagon. Have them look through magazines and cut out pictures to put in their basket, wagon or bowl. Have them put one item out of the bowl and at the bottom of the picture write a sentence about the picture. You could also have them make a picture with popsicle sticks to make a wagon.

Discussion:

Have the children through out the day listen to your words and do as you say: Such as stand up now, sit down, sit between John and Andy, go under the stick etc. This will help them learn these words.

LESSON 5 – INTRODUCE ALPHABET LETTERS EACH WEEK IN MARCH

• Week 1: Letter M
• Week 2: Letter N
• Week 3: Letter O
• Week 4: Letter P

Activities to Do With Letters:

Letter M: Cut out a block M and let the children glue marshmallows onto the letter. Give them extra to eat when they are done.

Letter N: Glue scraps of newspaper to the letter N.

Letter O: Stick stickers of Owls and Octopus onto the letter O.

Letter P: Paint the letter P.

Other letters that could be used are: R for rain and rainbow, W for wind and weather, K for kite and U for umbrella.

LESSON 6 – RAIN: WHAT DO WE NEED, WHAT DO WE WEAR?

Discussion:

Talk about what you need if you go out in the rain. What do you need to wear?

Activity:

Make a book with pictures of clothes needed when going out in the rain. For instance on one page write the word jacket, next page: rain boots, and so on. Also have the children make a picture of themselves playing in the rain.

Grade Level(s): Preschool, K
By: Debbie Haren, Preschool Teacher