This guest blog post was contributed by Yessi Feyissa, the Resident Services Manager for Education AHC Inc., an affordable housing nonprofit in Arlington, Virginia. AHC’s Summer Camp program is designed to prevent learning loss through both educational and enrichment experiences.
August 24, 2023
We really appreciate the material provided and the opportunity to introduce ideas and things that can be interesting for elementary students ages about weather. In our summer classroom at Virginia Gardens, students enjoyed the Weather Wonders program and any activities related to nature, art, and community. We did the daily weather discussion and watched the temperature for the outdoor activities time. If the weather was good — not too hot or humid — we walked around the community and students explored bugs they saw.
Students also shared and discussed the weather in other places, and a volunteer from Florida shared how the weather is different from Virginia. A first-grader shared his experience about his vacation in Arizona by stating “My family took me to another state in Arizona to visit my uncle; it is too hot over there.” He shared what he experienced with the heat in Arizona. The lesson outcome from this discussion: students were able to become familiar with the vocabulary used in the book.
The most popular activities chosen by the students were nature and art because they like nature walks, nature appreciation, recycling, and admiring nature. Here is the group effort poster about how to take care of the natural environment!
In the book The Giving Tree students enjoyed the activities such as remembering all the parts of the tree that the boy enjoyed. The students also enjoyed time with the chef, as they were hands-on with the food.
