Four Seasons

1. Students list weather changes that occur with each of the four seasons in temperate climates. How do the change of seasons affect the natural environment and students' activities, including the clothing they wear? Ask students which is their favorite season? Why?
2. Cover a table top with recycled newspaper. On white paper, use Crayola® Washable Paints and paintbrushes to paint one picture that shows something relating to each of the four seasons. Include plants, animals, clothing, and activities.
3. Students listen to a recording of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" as they paint. Ask which selections best match the season or mood of their work? Dry the painting on a flat surface.
4. Use Crayola Markers to add details and outlines.

LA: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

LA: Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting or plot.

LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding word s.

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

LA: With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.

SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.

SCI: Offer causal explanations appropriate to level of scientific knowledge.

SCI: Construct drawings or diagrams as representations of events or systems.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Possible classroom resources include: Seasons by Blexbolex; Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum; Winter Wonderland by Jill Esbaum; Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft; Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Anna Hanwell Celenza

Play Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" for students and allow them to paint to the emotion of the music. Have students compare their painting created while listening to "Winter" to the piece created while listening to "Summer." How are these similar? How are they different?

Working in small groups, students generate a chart of terms that describe each of the four seasons. Post this chart in the classroom and encourage students to use these terms when discussing the seasons.

Students paint four different panels, one for each season of the year. Once finished and dry, have students select a single season and compose a poem about that season using information gained while researching the season.