Learning objective
- To recognise different types of weather.
EYFS outcomes
Development matters
Understanding the world
Children in reception will be learning to:
- Explore the natural world around them.
- Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them.
Characteristics of effective learning
- Playing and exploring.
- Creating and thinking critically.
See Development Matters (non-statutory curriculum guidance) – contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Understanding the world
ELG: The Natural World
Children at the expected level of development will:
- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
See Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage, 2021.
Before the lesson
Have ready
- Presentation: What is the weather?
- Pupil video: Whatever the weather song.
- Sicky tack and a box to place the completed weather symbols in (see Teacher notes).
- Link: BBC Weather (optional – see Support and challenge) – this is an external website and we do not have control over its content – please check before showing it to the children.
Teacher notes
Lesson organisation
A class weather chart helps the children understand how changing seasons impact the natural world. The Activity: Weather chart enables the pupils to create weather symbols, fostering a sense of ownership and encouraging sustained engagement with the chart.
- Laminate the class’s completed weather symbols and place them in a box—depending on how many each child chooses to create; there could be many symbols.
- Position the class weather chart in an easily reachable location and place the box of symbols nearby.
- Assign weekly monitors to update the chart daily with the appropriate weather symbols to reflect the current weather.
- Place some sticky tack next to the box to attach the symbols to the chart.
Lesson plan
Reflection time
Ask the following questions and have the children vote by raising their hands. Encourage discussion by asking them to explain their choices.
Questions
- Do you prefer sunny or cloudy weather? (The children might like the sun for paddling pool fun or the clouds to stay cool.)
- Do you prefer rainy or windy weather? (The children may like rain for jumping in puddles or wind for flying a kite.)
- Do you prefer snow or thunder and lightning? (The children might prefer snow for building a snowman or thunder and lightning for the excitement.)
Carpet time
Ask the children to find a space and prepare to dance to the Pupil video: Whatever the weather song. Guide them in creating simple movements to represent different types of weather mentioned in the verses. Encourage them to dance freely during the choruses.
Display slide 1 of the Presentation: What is the weather? Explain that when the wheel is spun, it will land on a weather type (sunny, rainy, snowy, thunder and lightning, cloudy or windy) for the children to act out. Ask them to stand in a space, spin the wheel and announce the weather type. Encourage the class to pretend they are experiencing it. For example, for windy, they might pretend to hold on to their hats and walk in strong winds.
Presentation: What is the weather?
Display slide 2, showing an interactive chart for recording daily weather patterns. Inform the children they will complete the weather chart for a fictional week. Demonstrate how to click and drag a symbol into the Monday box saying, “On Monday, it was raining.” Invite different children to do the same for the rest of the week.
Show children page one of the Resource: Weather chart (one copy printed in colour on A3 and laminated) and explain it is a class weather chart to record the daily weather. Explain that their task is to draw the symbols that can be stuck on the weather chart.
Adult-led task
Weather chart
Hand out blank weather symbols from page two of the Activity: Weather chart. Display slide 3 of the Presentation: What is the weather? and instruct the children to choose a symbol to draw and colour in. Allow them to complete up to five symbols if they like.
Questions
- What type of weather does this symbol represent?
- During which season might we see this weather? (Explain that weather can vary but we often expect it to be hot and sunny in summer and cold in winter.)
- How often does this weather occur? (Discuss that certain weather types, such as thunder and lightning, hail and fog, are less common.)
Independent task (optional)
Weather pairs
Set up 12 weather cards from the Activity: Weather pairs (two colour copies, pre-cut) face down on a table. Demonstrate to the children how to flip over two cards at a time to find matching pairs.
Model how to play ‘Find the pairs‘ using slide 4 of the Presentation: What is the weather? and leave this up for the children to play in pairs during continuous provision time.
Support and challenge
Adults can use the opportunity to:
- Support the children in selecting and drawing familiar weather symbols, such as sunny, rainy or cloudy, during the adult-led task.
- Read non-fiction books with the pupils to find pictures representing different weather types.
- Sing songs to help the children learn the days of the week.
- Look at the weather forecast using the link: BBC Weather.
Key vocabulary
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symbol
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weather
