Forums

Does anyone have any good ideas on teaching 3rd grade students about the seasons for Earth Science. Any good curriculum or extended activity ideas? I think it would be great for students to get outside and tangibly work with the seasons and document changes or characteristics they may see. Any other suggestions or ideas to go along with this?

You are the third person I have seen make this same request. Here is what I suggested to them. Do a search for this article from Science and Children for a fun lesson. "Science Shorts: The Reasons for the Seasons". I did a search for "seasons" and came up with lots of ideas for lessons. Just type "seasons" in the Search box in the upper right corner of the Learning Center. I hope this helps you.

I did a really cool activity with the students on seasons. You first would model it as the teacher. Get a globe and stand at the front of the classroom and have a student hold a flashlight towards the globe. Then you would move around as you show the students where the light is hitting and what part is getting direct and indirect sunlight. As you do that make sure you have the front of the classroom as summer and keep it as summer throughout. Make sure you always tell the students that the axis is facing the back of the classroom and at each point around the classroom point that out. Then get four students up to the four seasons in the classroom. Have them walk to the next point and tell them to act their season out. Then students can talk about what season it is and the weather. The students really liked being the Earth in the four seasons. This was a forth grade class.

Jennifer,

This is a great lesson to teach to young students. Many times, students (and adults) have misconceptions about the reason for the seasons. By addressing this early with students, we can help them experience the information accurately and hopefully negate some of the misconceptions. Here are a few resources that I think work really well for teaching about seasons:
5E Seasons Lesson Plan
Westfield 5E Season Lesson Plan
Super Science Models by Janice VanCleaves (ISBN: 0-471-25221-2) 'Changing: Make a Model of the Seasons!' pg. 64-66

Hope those help!

Maureen

Lindsey, great lesson idea. Thanks! Mike

Maureen, great lesson plan! Thanks for sharing!