Lion or Lamb?

One of the activities that I remember most from MY elementary school years is when we would predict whether or not March would "Come in like a Lion and go out like a Lamb" or "Come in like a Lamb and go out like a Lion."  I did this a few years ago with one of my First Grade classes, but have yet to do it with my Second Graders.  Soooo...this extra "Leap Day" provided the perfect time and opportunity to discuss our predictions for March Weather!

We started out by discussing Lions and Lambs.  Since we are already studying adjectives, we used describing words and phrases to describe Lions and Lambs.  (grammar connection!)  Then, we used those descriptive words and related them to weather. (science connection!)  How can weather be like a Lion or like a Lamb?  We looked up the local 7 day forecast, then the students made predictions about how March was going to "Come in" like. (predicting/language arts connection) To add a little Math to the activity, we graphed our predictions and did a few number sentences.  (Thanks to, http://firstgradeandfabulous.blogspot.com/ for the graphing idea!)

The students wrote their prediction and gave a reason why they chose a Lion or Lamb.  Then, they got to make a Lion or a Lamb, depending on their prediction.  They turned out pretty good!  I think in the future, I'll give them some better patterns to trace/cut out, but hey...when you only have a day to put it together.......I think they did a great job!  :)