(And 10 Joyful Ways to Get Kids Observing, Thinking, and Writing Like Scientists)

Winter arrives with its quiet magic — chilly mornings, early sunsets, frosty windows, and daily conversations about jackets, hats, snow (or the lack of it).
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to teach weather, this is it.

Whether you’re working with primary students who love noticing little changes or upper elementary kids who crave real scientific thinking, winter invites everyone to look closer at the world around them.

And the best part?
Weather is the great equalizer — every student has experience with it.
No matter their background, language level, or skill set, every child arrives with schema for weather, which means you get immediate buy-in and natural engagement.

So let’s lean in.
Let’s turn winter into a joyful stretch of connection, curiosity, and conversation.

Below are simple, meaningful ways to bring weather into your classroom — without adding stress to your already full day.

1. Start With a Simple Observation Routine

Introducing weather doesn’t require a science overhaul.
All you need is a clear routine built around three powerful practices:

Noticing

What do we see, hear, or feel today?

Wondering

What questions do we have about the weather?

Predicting

What might happen next, and why?

This framework is at the heart of my newly updated Weather Watchers system — and it’s become my favorite way to help kids slow down, observe, and think like scientists.

Young learners use primary-friendly forms.
Older learners shift naturally into deeper explanations and patterns.

It’s simple.
It’s predictable.
And it works.

2. Build a Daily Weather Routine Students Can Do Independently

Kids LOVE routine.
And weather is one of the easiest routines to fold into your morning.

As part of your calendar time or first 5 minutes of class, students record:

• temperature

• sky conditions

• clouds

• season

• one quick sketch

• optional prediction

By the end of the month, they’ll have created a powerful dataset — built entirely by themselves.
When they compare months later in the spring, the excitement is REAL.

Tools that make this easy:
Weather Watchers (daily + monthly pages)
Weather Word Banks
Weather & Seasons (1st Grade)
Write a Weather Report (2nd–5th)

3. Use Shared Readings to Build Weather Vocabulary + Joy

Winter is FULL of opportunities for beautiful shared readings:

• weather poems

• chants

• predictable texts

• silly weather stories

• seasonal books

These anchor kids in language, rhythm, and confidence — and encourage even shy learners to participate.

In my classroom, the shared readings rotate weekly.
Kids love hearing:
“Which weather poem are we using today?!”

4. Start a “We Are Always Wondering About Weather!” Question Wall

This is one of the easiest ways to ignite curiosity.

Label a chart:
“We Are Always Wondering About Weather!”

Then add every question students ask:

• Why does frost sparkle?

• Why don’t clouds fall?

• Can wind be strong enough to push a person?

• Are snowflakes really all different shapes?

• Why does thunder happen?

Here’s the magic:
You don’t have to answer the questions.
Just collect them.
Let the wonder lead the learning.

5. Let Students Write the Weather

(Even your reluctant writers will shine)

Writing about weather is accessible to everyone.
It’s concrete.
It’s visual.
It’s sensory.
It’s something kids actually KNOW.

Here are quick entry points:

Simple Weather Stories

(Use I Can Write Weather Stories)
Kids write about windy days, rainy recesses, chilly mornings, or spring surprises.

Daily Weather Reports

A few sentences + a drawing = a confident writer.

Full Meteorologist Reports

Weather Around the World

Compare climates, map weather, and track global patterns over time.

Weather writing builds understanding — and anchors vocabulary in authentic use.

6. Bring Weather to Life With Hands-On Tools

These simple tools transform student engagement:

• Pinwheels – perfect for measuring wind direction

• Anemometer – kids LOVE counting rotations

• Demo Thermometer – essential for showing temperature change

• Weather Sloth or Weather Bear – dress him daily for instant seasonal fun

• Magnifying Glasses – for frost, crystals, or cloud-watching days

7. Create a Weather Board That Stays Up All Year

Kids flock to a weather board like bees to a flower garden.

Mine includes:

• weather vocabulary

• seasonal word cards

• I Can statements

• cloud posters

• demo thermometer

• Weather Bear or Sloth

• daily tracking graph

• rotating weather books

• student questions

• clipboard area for observers

This becomes a natural hub for literacy, science, and writing.

8. Integrate Weather Into Literacy, Science, AND Nature Study

Winter is the perfect time to tie together:

Weather Watchers
Nature Journal
Phenology Wall: Signs of the Seasons
Seasonal Word Walls
Weather Bear routines

Imagine:
Students document winter observations in their nature journals…
Then compare those observations with weather charts…
Then write weather stories using seasonal vocabulary…
Then add signs of seasonal change to the phenology wall…

That is real science. Real literacy. Real joy.

9. Explore Books That Bring Weather Alive

Here are wonderful winter-weather read alouds:

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (fiction fun)

• National Geographic Kids: Everything Weather

• The Meteorologist in Me

• Snowflake Bentley

• The Cloud Book

• What Will the Weather Be?

• Hello, Winter!

10. Let Kids Lead the Weather Conversation

Weather becomes transformational when kids feel empowered:

• Let them run the weather station

• Trust them with the clipboard

• Invite them to report

• Have them compare yesterday to today

• Celebrate their predictions

• Ask what they wonder

• Ask what they notice

• Ask how it feels outside today

These small actions turn students into scientists — not worksheet fillers.

 Why Winter Weather Teaching WORKS

Because winter gives us:

• strong patterns

• dramatic temperature swings

• big sky changes

• fun writing topics

• nature clues

• animal behaviors

• seasonal vocabulary

• opportunities to compare & contrast

• a built-in sense of wonder

Kids LOVE this time of year.
And weather fits right into that magic.

Want Done-For-You Weather Resources?

Here’s everything you can plug directly into your weather unit:

For K–2:

• Weather Watchers (daily + monthly routine)

• Weather Bear Bundle

• Weather & Seasons (1st Grade)

• I Can Write Weather Stories

Upper Elementary:

• Write a Weather Report

• Weather Word Wall & Science Center

• Weather Around the World

Nature + Seasons:

• Nature Journal

• Phenology Wall

• Seasonal Word Walls

Keep Sharing Your Sunshine

You have the power to make weather meaningful, joyful, and doable — even in the busiest months of the year.

Your students will remember these lessons long after winter melts away.

Hugs, teacher friend.
Thank you for sharing your sunshine with your students and helping them grow.
The world needs your magic.

The post Winter is the Best Time to Teach Weather appeared first on Help Writers Grow.

If They Don’t Protect It, Who Will?

“If children don’t grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it, and if they don’t understand it, they won’t protect it, and if they don’t protect it, who will?”
— Sir David Attenborough

A teacher friend used my nature journaling resource with her fourth graders this year. She began by sharing photos of her baby owls nesting on the roof, the birds at her feeder, and the small wonders in her own backyard. When she took her students outside, they fell in love instantly. Now they ask every single day, “Can we go again?”

That’s the magic of nature journaling. It’s not a fancy project. It’s a notebook, a pencil, and permission to notice.

Why Nature Journaling Matters

Nature journaling teaches children to slow down long enough to see. To look closer at the beetle instead of backing away. To notice the way the clouds shift or the way sunlight hits a leaf.

This simple act of observation is the first step toward understanding.
And understanding leads to protection.

You don’t need a forest or a field. You need curiosity. Nature hides in sidewalk cracks, in potted plants, in raindrops sliding down a window. When kids start to recognize that, they begin to understand that the natural world isn’t somewhere else—it’s everywhere.

How to Begin

Start small. Take your class outside for five minutes with a pencil and paper. Don’t aim for perfect sketches or essays. Aim for wonder.
Ask:

• What do you see?

• What do you hear?

• What do you wonder?

The first time, don’t even journal. Just sit together and look. Let silence do the teaching. The next time, bring notebooks. Students will surprise you with their attention, their empathy, their joy.

They’ll see more than you think—and they’ll start to care more deeply than you ever imagined.

It’s Not My Fault, But It’s My Problem

When I started a Green Team at my school, I told my students:

“No, I don’t want to go outside and pick up trash. I didn’t put it there.
But I will—because it’s not my fault, but it’s my problem.”

Almost fifty students signed up that week. They wanted to do something that mattered.

That’s what happens when we model stewardship. Kids mirror what they see.
They’ll choose not to squash a bug. They’ll pick up the bottle instead of stepping over it.
And those small choices ripple outward.

The Bigger Picture

Our planet doesn’t need another generation that can memorize environmental vocabulary. It needs a generation that feels connected enough to act.

Every journal entry, every drawing, every “I wonder why” moment is a seed.
When students understand that the world depends on them—and that their choices matter—they start living differently.

And that’s where change begins.

If They Don’t Protect It, Who Will?

It starts small.
With a pencil.
A notebook.
A child looking closely at the world for the first time.

If every teacher gave their students that chance—to notice, to record, to care—we could grow a thousand voices into ten thousand, and a whisper into a movement.

Because every act of attention is an act of love.
And love is what will save this world.

[Think, Observe, Write: Scientific Thinking for Young Naturalists]
Help your students look closer, wonder deeply, and write their way into caring for the world around them.

Book Spotlight: Jayden’s Impossible Garden

If you’re looking for the perfect read-aloud to pair with your nature journaling lessons, Jayden’s Impossible Garden by Mélina Mangal is a must. This heartwarming story follows Jayden, a boy who sees beauty and nature in the middle of the city—even when the adults around him can’t. With the help of his neighbor, he creates a small garden that transforms their urban space and inspires others to notice the life all around them.

It’s a powerful reminder that nature is everywhere—we just have to look for it. Use this book to spark conversation, reflection, and journaling about where your students find nature in their own world.

Grab it Here!

The post Nature Journals in the Classroom appeared first on Help Writers Grow.

Spring is coming!  The earth is warming up and beginning to awaken.  As the colors Spring forth, now is the perfect time to carry your writing instruction past the four walls of your classroom.  Because as the world wakes up, so do the children.  Before the springtime jitters and misbehaviors hit your classroom, begin to take the children outside for part of their writing and learning lessons.  The changing season will spark their creativity and love for writing and open up a world of wonder that will carry over into their other subjects.

If this sounds wonderful, but you need help with how to bring that about, here are five suggestions on mixing in the Spring season with your teaching.

Embrace the magic of Spring.  Spring is a time of renewal and growth, making it an ideal backdrop for writing activities.  Please encourage your students to step outside and immerse themselves in the season’s sights, sounds, and sensations.  From the first peek of the new blossoms growing on the tree limbs to the bloom of the first spring flowers, the kids will be thrilled to discover all the signs of Spring.  Nature provides endless inspiration for young writers.

Spring Writing Ideas.

Nature Journaling.  Hands down, nature journaling has been one of the best things I have ever introduced to my students.

Nature Journaling enhances writing skills and fosters a deeper connection and understanding of the natural world.  Students stretch their observational skills by documenting what they see and keeping ongoing records, by words and drawings, of the changes they notice.  This journaling allows the students to learn to appreciate the beauty and diversity of nature and gradually learn to care for it.

You can easily integrate nature journaling into different subjects like math, science, and art.  When you can connect real-world experiences to your instruction, you’ll inspire a love for learning that extends far beyond the classroom.

Nature journaling can be a simple curriculum and materials.  Just bring the students out regularly to write and observe their surroundings.  When first starting, students will need guidance on what to watch and draw, but with practice, they will soon develop their own understanding of what to journal and begin exploring independently.  (You can read my article on Nature Journaling here.)

Provide students with a place to keep their notes and observations.  Additionally, always include the same four things in every entry:  date, time, place of your journal, and the weather.  (Need more ideas?  My Nature Journal resource contains ideas and instructions on taking your students outside and journaling.)

Spring Poetry.  The outside world is bursting forth in colors, sounds, and activity.  This beauty will inspire your students to capture these moments on paper.

Poetry is emotion put into words, and Spring is the perfect backdrop for creative thought.

Introduce students to the traditional Japanese form of Haiku.  This poetry form focuses on observations of nature.  Encourage your students to create haiku poems from their experiences outdoors and express them in the traditional three-line poem.  (Reminder:  three lines.  Syllable pattern 5-7-5.)

Acrostic poems are also a fun way to embrace the new season.  Guide your students in creating acrostic poems using the words “SPRING,” “SUNSHINE,” or “BLOSSOM.” Take students outside with their writing and let them be inspired as they create poems from their observations.  Remind students that they can use adjectives, nouns, phrases, and even sounds for each line of their poem.  (Writing Spring Poetry resource contains various poetry forms with a Spring focus.)

Spring Adventure Writing.  Provide students with sentence starters or story ideas related to Spring, such as “One sunny spring day…” or “Legend says that in the time of Spring, a magic door opens…”.

Encourage them to use their imaginations to continue the story and create their own adventure.

Bring the students outside and allow them to be inspired and write simultaneously.  A Spring Time Adventure (as seen here) is always easier to write when you can see and compare blooms and the sizes of various springtime objects.  Sometimes, it helps to be immersed in what you are writing about.  This immersion allows students to visualize their story better as they write.  (Spring Writing Prompt)

Letter Writing. Allow students to write letters to friends and family members describing what they love about Spring, the changes they have observed, and even weather conditions.

Students can add in their experiences and changes they may enjoy watching.  This activity improves their writing skills and encourages them to communicate their thoughts and experiences.  This activity also increases their understanding through this real-world connection to others.

Letter writing provides powerful learning when family members who live in different places write back and share the differences of the season they are also experiencing.  The students can then share the letters with classmates and create a wall display showing the differences in the regions where the family members and letters are coming from.  My students are always surprised when there are extreme differences in the weather.  When the students share this learning assignment, it also deepens the connections of the students in the classroom.

Celebrate the Bees.  Bees and other pollinators play such an essential role in our environment, and Spring is the perfect time to plan a celebration to teach others about these vital creatures.  (check out this bee resource)

Students can learn and share all about bees, from the life cycle and parts of a bee to the list of foods that bees pollinate and help grow.  They can share drawings, diagrams, and journal entries on bee activities they have observed outside.  Allow your students to learn the waggle dance, and then they can teach others about it.   Your students can work with other classes and plan a schoolyard habitat presentation for the administration and community to help save the bees.

Spring is a season of growth in nature and the classroom.  By incorporating nature and the outdoors into your curriculum, you’ll cultivate a love for writing and enhance a deeper connection with the world around us for your students.  Seize this opportunity to bring your students outside this Spring, embrace the beauty and changes, and watch your students and their writing flourish in the beauty of the great outdoors.

Hugs, Teacher Friend.

Thank you for continuing to share your sunshine with your students and helping them grow.  Keep

sharing your magic with the world.  The world needs you.

Kinla

Nature lends itself to so many learning opportunities.

Learning about weather?  Try these Daily Weather Reports

 Weather Bear

Want to try animal reports? Turtles and Tortoises

  Butterflies and Moths

The post Embrace Spring – Bring Your Writing Lessons to Life with these 5 Writing Ideas appeared first on Help Writers Grow.

What is Nature Journaling?

Nature journaling is as easy as it sounds. It focuses on writing about observations and feelings about nature, particularly the nature around you. Focusing on nature allows students to develop an awareness of the life happening around them, which, hopefully, can grow into a desire to protect this same environment. 

It is also a time to help them develop their non-fiction writing in a less threatening environment. This is especially helpful for struggling writers who already have a dread of writing. When you can completely change the setting, from a classroom and desk to the open and fresh outdoors, the feeling is entirely different, and the student doesn’t even realize he is writing.  

Nature journaling also allows students to develop personal connections and real-life experiences with many science topics, including seasons, phenology, life cycles, food webs, environmental impact, and many more. Learning is always more substantial and sustainable when the student can make real-life connections. 

Nature Journaling in the Classroom

The more students can interact with nature and items of nature, then the more they will appreciate it. Having a nature center or a place to encourage journaling nature in your classroom is incredibly easy. You can fill it with books about anything nature and nature journaling examples. If you can’t spend the money on many specimens, put together a library collection of texts regarding animals, plants, habitats, bones, insects, etc. Students will browse through these books when they have extra minutes in the classroom. You can add nature journaling to your classroom centers rotation and “Early Finishers” choice board.  

Many books feature nature journaling. I have gathered many books from different authors and places and added them to my nature center, showing how to write and incorporate nature into the writing process. Jim Arnosky continues to be a favorite with my students, and while some of his books are older and hard to find, the timelessness of his work remains. 

Ask for donations when creating a nature center for the classroom.

Adding natural life objects to your nature center adds a new level of interest for the students. Need more to add? Have students bring in a favorite rock from home or gather a few fallen leaves outside. Add in a house plant. Let your students’ parents and other faculty members know you are creating a nature center for your classroom. You will be pleasantly surprised with the items that start showing up in your classroom, from rocks or skulls that people had gathering dust at home to feathers and an abandoned bird nest seen in the yard. (side note: keep nests and any feathers you get in plastic bags for several weeks to kill any mites on them. – I put mine in the freezer for a week.) When you start looking for things to add to your nature center and let it be known that you want these objects, they will appear.

I never recommend bringing in live specimens. The point of nature journaling is to see it outside, draw it from outside, and then leave it outside. It follows along with the ‘Leave No Trace’ philosophy (check out the ‘leave no trace philosophy’ here) and one the students need to learn to respect.

What do you need for a nature journal?

You need very little to write a nature journal. Just a piece of paper and a pencil. I usually create a nature journal for each student and let them color or decorate the front (you can check out my nature journal here). Once they spend time and effort working on the cover, they are already attached to their journal. I give each student a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, and the students put their journal, a pencil, a sharpener, and colored pencils into the bag. That is what we go out with. I like having the cover be cardstock because it adds firmness to the booklet when writing from your lap. I have seen others take out convenient clipboards, but when I take the students on any hike to journal, we leave the clipboards at school.

A few people have asked about what we all sit on outside. The simple answer is the ground. Unless it has been raining, the ground works just fine. Please remind students to watch where they will sit, especially if you are journaling anywhere near a cactus. I don’t know how they manage to do it, but someone always finds a cactus. And sits on it. 

I have learned that teachers need to bring a little more with them if they take the kids any distance from the school. I always have a backpack with me and carry a simple first aid kit in case a kid falls or scrapes a hand or knee, my phone, extra sharpeners, wet wipes, tissues, a whistle, and a trash bag. Students see trash out and get agitated when they can’t pick it up and throw it away at school.

How to Get Started with Nature Journaling

Just do it.  

I make sure my principal knows and approves the journaling first. Then I send notes home to parents to let them know when we are going to go out. If you can schedule a consistent day and time that you are going to journal, parents are aware and can help ensure kids have dressed appropriately. And sometimes they like to join in if they have available time.

Make sure to get permission from your parents if you plan to take the students off school grounds. You don’t have to. But my school for several years backed up to the foothills of the rocky mountains. Of course, we went off the school grounds. I brought a phone and school radio, so I was always reachable, and I scheduled nature journaling for the same time and day so parents knew where we would be.

To get started with nature journaling in your class: 

      Show examples of nature journaling entries.  

      Discuss what nature journaling is.  

      Get a nature journaling teacher pack together.

      Walk around outside and pick a good location and time for you and your students to journal. You don’t want to choose to nature journal in the backfield if that is a time it is also used by    

      several classes for recess, for example. Your best time would be early morning. Or middle of the day.

The students will be excited about the location if you are excited about the area. They love being outside. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

Ideas 

First lesson

The first time I take the students to nature journal, I don’t bring journals. We use this time to focus on behavior and expectations. I have learned that the more time I take in this initial process, the better the year goes. I don’t rush this process. The students need to know precisely what is expected in their journaling and behavior. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to begin nature journaling. That way, these norms, and procedures are put into practice immediately, and you and your students can enjoy an entire year of journaling outdoors.

When I introduce journaling, I show a few examples of journal entries. We discuss what the kids notice. Then I introduce the concept of all of us going to nature journal. We go outside to our chosen location that I had scouted out earlier) and sit and observe for 10 minutes. Then we go back to the classroom. After going back inside, we discuss what kinds of things we could have written and make notes on chart paper. We discuss what nature journaling should look and sound like when journaling – chart this. And we make certain agreements about the respect of all things nature: no killing (even insects – everything serves a purpose), no polluting, etc. Students are introduced to the concept of leave no trace. We formally write a list of agreed-upon behaviors and sign it. This is not a list of “don’t dos” but positively stated behaviors. For example, we respect all living things, leave them alone to do their job, draw and write what we see, and leave nature for all to enjoy.

Rainy day ideas

No matter how well you plan, there will be a few days that you won’t be able to go outside and nature journal because of the rain. This is an excellent opportunity to allow them to make close-up observations in the classroom. You may have a classroom plant they can draw, focusing on one leaf or a cactus spike. Or you have a window where they can watch the rain and make notes of the sky, clouds, or even the way the rain runs down the window pane. Now is the time to bring out leaves and insect specimens or even pull up butterfly or beetle colors on the internet and allow students to practice blending and coloring to be scientifically accurate.

What to always include on every entry

There are four things that you must include in every journal entry. That is the date, time, place, and weather.  

The Date

We want students to pay attention to the changing of the seasons, so the date is necessary to record the differences they see at different times of the year.  

The Time

Recording the time allows students to see the changes in the same place at different times of the day. You don’t have to be specific down to the minute. If you don’t have access to a clock, no worries; the time of day can be as easy as ‘mid-morning or ‘late afternoon.’ The shadows change. The insect and bird populations are usually active at different times of the day.  

The Place

Note where you are. When comparing entries at different times of the year, it is nice to note where you are. After a few times, it is easy to forget where you were for a specific entry, especially if you move around from time to time. So unless you spend the whole year going back to one spot, note the location.   

The Weather

You can write the actual temperature with access to a smartwatch or phone or even make a few observations. Is it sunny? Windy? Cool or warm? Additionally, students may want to note if the weather is different from the previous few days. If the weather has been cool or wet for a few days, the students will notice quite a difference in the number and activity of the insects and other animals on the first warm day.

Encourage Journaling at Home

Students are always surprised when I mention that they can journal at home, too. I remind them that nature journaling can be done anywhere you can spy, even the tiniest bit of nature. I send home a family letter to encourage nature observations as a family. You can include ideas like:

      Out a window, you can watch a bird making a nest on the windowsill.  

      Observe the ants busy in their anthill next to a crack in the sidewalk.  

      Tally the different kinds of birds you see and participate in a bird count.  

      Keep count of the types of clouds that appear in the sky throughout the week and see if you can start to see patterns in cloud formations and weather predictions. 

      Journal on vacation. Observing nature in different environments is always interesting.

Culminating Activities and PBL Ideas to Extend the Learning

There are many ways to incorporate nature journaling into a PBL project or create a culminating activity.

1. Create a nature guide for your area based on your students’ nature journaling.
2. Create a nature walking path or make guides that younger students can use the guides when they are outside in nature.  
3. Make books. Students can use their phones or cameras to take photos of plants and animals and create nature guide booklets along with their notes and drawings. You can publish it in the classroom or make a copy for each student at the end of the year. Some of my favorite nature journals have included descriptions, drawings, and actual photos of the specimen.
4. Create a nature journal for a younger class and bring them outside to nature journal with their own personal guides. I love seeing my students interact as experts with their kindergarten book buddies. 
5. Showcase colored copies of different entries of your students’ works in a parent night at the end of the year.  
6. Create a John Muir award for the top naturalists in your classroom.  
7. Create a digital slideshow to play so that different entries and photos from your year of nature journaling can be celebrated.  
8. Have a few students write and present their personal experiences. Include local nature stores, nature centers, or master gardeners.

How Nature Journaling helps in other areas of writing.

Nature journaling helps students make connections.

Use the seasons to extend their learning into poetry writing. If you have been journaling outside in the fall weather and enjoying the changing of the season, then it is the perfect time to start a fall poetry unit or begin a fall adventure story. I like incorporating an adventure at the fall fair because so many students attend the State Fair in the fall.  

If you have been outside in the spring and enjoying a bug hunt or journaling observations of the new leaves, you can find now is the time to write Spring Poetry, including haikus to nature or a spring adventure through the woods. (need to add a little excitement? Make the walk through the woods and include a narrowly missed interaction with a bear just waking up from his winter’s nap.) 

 The more connections kids make or, the more students can use the same vocabulary and experience in different forms of writing, the stronger their writing will be. They will be better prepared. And they will be more confident and feel more successful in their writing attempts. 

Happy Journaling,

K

Writing Spring Poetry

The post Journaling Nature; Quick and Easy Steps to Getting Kids Outside appeared first on Help Writers Grow.