Mini Meteorologists

Ms. Tonette is the Head Early Learning Teacher at CYC-Sidney Epstein. When she’s not in class with her 19 students, she’s planning super fun and engaging lessons to get them kindergarten ready! This winter, as temperatures dropped below zero outside, she noticed many children asking why it was so cold. She saw this as a great opportunity to bring children’s curiosities into the classroom. 

“At first, it was a math lesson, actually.” said Ms. Tonette, “We measured the differences between temperatures to better understand cold weather.”  Soon after they started to investigate temperature, the little super sleuths began to ask many more questions. Students wanted to understand ideas like why some snow is fluffy or slushy, or why the sidewalk gets icy. What was designed to be a real-word math exercise quickly sprouted an interest in science, and so the Weather Center was born! What’s great is that they can continue their explorations through every season. 

Ms. Tonette next to the Weather Center Board she created!

Children arrive to class each morning excited to share what they noticed outside. The small scientists report their sightings of elements like clouds, fog, rain, or sunshine. Ms. Tonette writes their observations on the Weather Center board as she teaches her students about each condition they record. At the end of each lesson, the children take turns being the mini meteorologist of the day! This fantastic forecaster reads the charts back to the rest of the students as they give the official class weather report.  

Class meteorologist of the day!

Ms. Tonette shared about how the children continue to grow each day, “There are a few students that are becoming curious about larger topics like how raindrops and the sun make rainbows- they are all so smart!”  

Lessons about the weather are an easy, accessible way to continue exploring both inside and outside of the classroom. Offering engaging, real-world experiences like the Weather Center helps CYC children to grow as learners. Each Center and Site has incredible learning moments like these, and we’d love to continue to share them with you. Add your email to the form below and subscribe to the CYC newsletter so you can keep up with the fun!