Martin Walker teachers turn gloomy weather into fun reading, science lessons

Writing blew in from the east as science and reading sprinkled over first graders at Martin Walker Elementary as they used the book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett to fill their brains with knowledge. They were having so much fun, they didn’t even realize how much they were learning.

 

“I think learning is meant to be fun,” teacher Hillary Newton said. “I have as much fun as my students.”

 

First grade teachers started the unit by reading the well-known story. Teachers picked out weather vocabulary words that they would have students use in their writing assignments. Students used a graphic organizer to write down their favorite meals, and then they wrote their own version of a day in the town of Chew and Swallow, where food falls from the sky. At the end of the week, students got to give their weather reports like real weathermen.

 

“The weather element of the story couldn’t be ignored,” she said. “Students worked in science on a weather report for the actual weather that week, including the temperature, rain and cloud coverage. Students then practiced being meteorologists.”

 

Not to be outdone by science, reading stepped in and included lessons on author’s purpose and retelling. In the story, the silliness begins with pancakes flying through the air at the breakfast table. Teachers made sure not to forget this detail.

 

“At the end of the week, students were given a pancake recipe and were asked to determine the author’s purpose which was to inform,” Newton said. “Students then took the recipe and got to assist their teachers in making pancakes.”

 

As the students eagerly awaited the pancakes to be ready, they surveyed the class about what kind of pancakes they like best and turned the information it into graphs.

 

Food topped the chart as the highlight of the lesson for first grader Dayton Hurd and was a close second for Faith Reid.

 

“It was so fun,” Hurd said. “The best part was making pancakes.”

 

“The pancakes were delicious,” Reid said. “But, I liked giving my weather report the most.”