March: Yup, In Like a Lion!

While we still haven’t seen the kids’ much-wished-for snow, March entered like a lion with a wet, cloudy, chilly day.

As in past years, we will be reading In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb, by Marion Dane Bauer, and making some sort of craft, like our lion and lamb masks from last year.

Last year we created a March weather bar graph of lions and lambs. This year, my daughter will also create a chart and line graph of daily temperature readings.

So, today we observed the weather:

Checked the temperature. (I need to buy an outdoor or window cling thermometer but, in the meantime, we used a free thermometer app on the iPhone so the kids could get practice reading a thermometer.)

Recorded our observations and temperature reading on the chart and marked the first point on the line graph.

And then determined it was a lion day and marked it on the calendar.

Educational Connections:

• Science / Weather: What makes a day a lamb day? What type of weather do you expect on a lion day? What are signs that spring is on the way?
• Science / Astronomy: What causes the change in the seasons? Create a model of the Earth and Sun and show why the weather is getting warmer in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Mathematics (toddlers and preschoolers): Count the number of “lamb” and “lion” days in March–was the month more of a lamb or a lion? Make a bar graph with your lambs and lions.
• Mathematics (school aged): Read a thermometer. Is every degree labeled? Do you need to skip count? What is the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius? Where are each used?
• Mathematics (school aged): Make a chart of the month’s temperature every day at the same time of day. Did the temperatures steadily change? Or were there peaks and dips? Over the course of the month, did the weather show a trend?