Whale Class · Weekly Circle Time
Weather
Week of Jan 11–15 · 13 min a day · ages 2.5–6, English learners
Print · laminate · ring-bind — your in-circle guide
Five words they'll own by Friday
Littles (2.5–3)
One word + a gesture is a win: “Sun!” (a big circle drawn with both arms), “Rain!” (fingers pattering down), “Wind!” (whoooosh — sway from side to side).
Bigs (4–6)
Sentence frames: “How is the weather today?” · “It is sunny today.” · “I need my umbrella.”
The one big idea: every morning we look out of the window and say what the sky is doing. The class weather chart goes up on Monday and one child hangs today's card before the circle starts. That is the whole week — five mornings, five looks out of the window, five real words for a real sky. Do not teach the weather from a picture while the actual weather is on the other side of the glass.
大寒 (Major Cold, the last solar term of the winter) falls on 20 January — next week. This is the coldest stretch of the Beijing year, so a cold hand on a cold window is the best teaching tool you own.
Day 1 · Sunny Day
Today's words: sunny
2 min Magic Box hook
The box is light and something inside it clicks. Hold it up. Whole class chants:
Shake it — one small clack. Sniff — nothing at all. Peek in for a long time, then say, very puzzled, “There are two little windows in here.”
The sunglasses go round the circle and every child tries them on. Big circle drawn with both arms: “Sun!”
4 min Teach · Sunny
Everybody stands. Say it twice — the second time they do it with you:
The sun is up, (both arms draw a big circle overhead)
The sky is blue, (one flat hand sweeps across in front of you)
Sunglasses ON — (mime putting them on with both hands)
I can see YOU! (point at one child after another, all the way round)
Then to the window, the whole class, and look. Is it sunny? One child hangs today's symbol card on the chart while everybody watches. This is the moment the week is built on: the sky, the word, the card, in that order.
Littles draw the sun circle and say “Sun!” Bigs owe you the answer: “It is sunny today.” Ask it properly first — “How is the weather today?”
Teacher fails: put the sunglasses on the back of your head, face the circle and complain that it has gone very dark. Hold it. Wait for them to march you round.
Chinese moment: lay the 晴 card under the chart and say 今天是晴天 once. One 汉字 a day joins the row all week — 晴 · 雨 · 风 · 云 · 雪.
3 min Song · How's the Weather? — chorus + Monday verse
How's the weather? How's the weather? (hand shading your eyes, looking about)
Look outside and tell me now! (point at the window)
Sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, (sun circle · fingers patter · sway · flutter fingers down)
Cloudy too — and that is how! (both arms round like a big fat cloud)
Monday's verse: Sunny, sunny, the sun is out, (sun circle, twice)
Sunglasses on — run about! (mime the glasses, then run on the spot)
The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it standing at the window, always.
3 min Game · Weather charades
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” You go first, big and silly: shade your eyes, fan yourself, walk very slowly like a hot afternoon.
Then one child at a time acts and the class guesses. Littles act with you, holding your hand, and the class still guesses. Bigs answer in the frame: “It is sunny!”
Only two answers are possible today — sunny or rainy — and that is deliberate. Guessing succeeds all week because the choice grows by exactly one word a day.
1 min Close
Standing at the window. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? Sun Up, Sun Down (Gail Gibbons) — or simply lie on the floor in the one patch of sunlight on the carpet and be warm together, saying nothing.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Sunny Day! We practiced the word “sunny” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Sunny… rainy… windy… cloudy… SNOWY! LOOK OUTSIDE!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 2 · Rainy Day
Today's words: rainy (sunny comes back every day)
2 min Magic Box hook
Today the box will not shut properly and a long handle is sticking out. Chant anyway:
Before you lift it out, hold up the spray bottle and give one small pssst over your own hand. Then over your face. Look astonished.
Fingers pattering down: “Rain!” Then out comes the umbrella and it goes up.
4 min Teach · Rainy
Everybody stands. Twice, the second time with you:
Drip, drop, drip, (fingers pattering down from high to low)
The rain comes down, (both hands falling all the way to the floor)
Up goes my umbrella — (push both hands up over your head)
All around the town! (turn slowly right round on the spot)
Now the real thing: open the umbrella, hold it over three children and spray the rain onto it so they can hear it landing above their heads and stay dry underneath. Everyone gets a turn to listen.
Littles patter their fingers and say “Rain!” Bigs take the frame: “It is rainy today.” “I need my umbrella.”
Teacher fails: hold the umbrella upside down like a bucket and admire how much rain you are catching. Get wetter and wetter. Wait.
Chinese moment: the 雨 card joins 晴 under the chart — 下雨了 · 雨伞. Point at the two characters and let them see the little strokes in 雨 falling like the rain itself.
3 min Song · How's the Weather? — chorus + Tuesday verse
Chorus twice with the actions — on “rainy” everybody now patters their fingers hard — then today's new verse:
Tuesday's verse: Rainy, rainy, drip-drop-drip, (fingers pattering down three times)
Up goes my umbrella — don't you slip! (push up with both hands, then wobble and catch yourself)
The slip is the whole verse. Wobble properly, nearly go over, recover at the last second. They will sing this one all week to make you do it again.
3 min Game · Run in the rain
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” You stand in the middle holding the open umbrella. Music plays: everybody walks about in the rain. Music stops:
Play it four or five times. Walking feet only, and the last round is a slow-motion round so nobody gets flattened.
Littles who will not leave your leg can hold the umbrella handle with you and be the shelter instead of running for it. Same game, same words, no crying.
1 min Close
Standing at the window, umbrella up. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? The Rain Came Down (David Shannon) — the rain falls, everyone squabbles, the sun comes out and everybody is friends again.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Rainy Day! We practiced the word “rainy” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Sunny… rainy… windy… cloudy… SNOWY! LOOK OUTSIDE!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 3 · Windy Day
Today's words: windy (sunny · rainy come back)
2 min Magic Box hook
The box makes no sound at all today. Chant, shake — nothing. Sniff — nothing.
Open the lid a crack and blow into it. Something inside starts to whirr. Open it properly and lift out the spinning pinwheel.
Swaying from side to side, whoooosh: “Wind!”
4 min Teach · Windy
Everybody stands. Twice, the second time with you:
Whoosh goes the wind, (sway from side to side, arms loose above your head)
It blows my hair, (both hands through your hair, messing it up)
It blows my hat — (grab your head, look up in alarm)
Up in the AIR! (both hands thrown straight up)
Then the real work. Wind is air, and air is invisible — so we watch what it moves. The feather across the mat. The tissue scraps off your palm. The pinwheel, close up and far away. Every child blows something and every child sees it move.
Littles sway and say “Wind!” Bigs take the frame: “It is windy today.” “The wind blows my hat!”
Teacher fails: stand a metre back from the pinwheel and blow at it very hard indeed. Nothing happens. Blow harder. Get cross with the pinwheel. Wait for somebody to come and move you closer.
Chinese moment: the 风 card joins the row — 刮风了. Fan one child with the fan and ask them 冷不冷? — wind on the skin is the same lesson in either language.
3 min Song · How's the Weather? — chorus + Wednesday verse
Chorus twice — on “windy” everybody sways so far they nearly fall over — then today's new verse:
Wednesday's verse: Windy, windy, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, (three big sways, one per whoosh)
It blows my hat — and shakes the bush! (grab your head, then shake both hands like leaves)
Sing the three whooshes on one long breath and let the last one run out of air. A song that makes them breathe out properly is worth two that do not.
3 min Game · Blow the pinwheel
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Sitting in the circle, the pinwheel is passed from child to child. Whose can keep spinning the longest?
Littles hold it while you blow and count with their fingers up. Bigs count their own spins and report: “I blew six!”
A long slow breath spins it further than a short hard puff, and they discover that themselves in about four turns. Do not tell them — just let the counting say it.
1 min Close
Standing at the window, swaying. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? The Wind Blew (Pat Hutchins) — the wind takes an umbrella, a balloon, a hat, a kite, and gives every one of them to the wrong person.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Windy Day! We practiced the word “windy” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Sunny… rainy… windy… cloudy… SNOWY! LOOK OUTSIDE!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 4 · Cloudy Day
Today's words: cloudy (sunny · rainy · windy come back)
2 min Magic Box hook
The box weighs nothing at all today. Let one child hold it and be surprised. Chant:
Shake it — a soft nothing. Lift out the grey card with its cotton-wool clouds and hold it high above everybody's heads, so they have to look up at it.
Both arms round in a big fat shape: “Cloud!”
4 min Teach · Cloudy
Everybody stands. Twice, the second time with you:
Big fat clouds, (both arms make a huge round shape)
Grey and white, (one hand, then the other, sweeping across the sky)
They cover up the sun — (one hand slides across in front of the other)
and hide the light! (both hands over your eyes, then peep through your fingers)
Then the loose cotton wool. Pull a piece thin and wispy; roll a piece thick and lumpy. Both are clouds. Hold them up against the window and compare them with the real ones. Count the real clouds together — none, a few, or a sky so full you cannot count at all, which is also an answer.
Littles make the round arms and say “Cloud!” Bigs take the frame: “It is cloudy today.” “I can see three clouds.”
Teacher fails: reach right out of the window and try to catch a cloud in your two hands. Look at your empty hands. Try again, higher. Wait.
Chinese moment: the 云 card joins the row — 多云. Say 晴天 · 多云 · 下雨 in order, pointing at the three cards, and let them chorus it back.
3 min Song · How's the Weather? — chorus + Thursday verse
Chorus twice — on “cloudy too” everybody makes the big round cloud — then today's new verse:
Thursday's verse: Cloudy, cloudy, grey and white, (round arms, then sweep both hands across)
Big fat clouds — what a sight! (arms as wide as they will go, then hand shading the eyes)
Sing this one slower than the others, drifting. Four verses in now: the song has become the review and nobody has noticed.
3 min Game · Cloud watching
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Coats on and outside if you possibly can — flat on our backs on the ground, looking straight up. If you cannot get out, everybody lies on the mat with their heads at the window.
Go round one at a time and everybody gets to say their cloud. Littles point and say one word — “Dog!” Bigs give it a sentence: “That cloud looks like a big dog.”
This is the quietest three minutes of the year and it is worth protecting. No corrections, no “are you sure?” — a cloud looks like whatever the child says it looks like.
1 min Close
Standing at the window, big round cloud arms. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? Little Cloud (Eric Carle) — one cloud turns into a sheep, an aeroplane, a hat, and then rains on everybody.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Cloudy Day! We practiced the word “cloudy” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Sunny… rainy… windy… cloudy… SNOWY! LOOK OUTSIDE!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 5 · Snowy + The Weather Reporter
Today's words: snowy (and all five come back for the report)
2 min Magic Box hook
The box is full and heavy and everything rattles. Chant it big:
Out comes one prop at a time, fast, and the class shouts the word before you can say it — sunglasses, umbrella, pinwheel, cloud. Then, last, hold up a handful of cotton wool and let it fall through your fingers over somebody's head.
Fluttering fingers falling: “Snow!”
4 min Teach · Snowy, and the whole week
Everybody stands. The last new rhyme of the week, twice:
Snowy, snowy, white and cold, (flutter fingers down, then hug yourself and shiver)
It falls so slow… (one hand drifting down, very slowly indeed)
and the whole world's gold! (no — wait for them to correct you)
Teacher fails — this is the one: the world is white, not gold, and they will tell you so before the line is finished. Look amazed. Do it again wrong. Let them fix it twice.
Then the review. Hold up each prop and the class gives the word and the gesture: sunglasses → “Sunny!” umbrella → “Rainy!” pinwheel → “Windy!” cloud → “Cloudy!” cotton wool → “Snowy!” Bigs answer the real question every time: “How is the weather today?” “It is snowy today.”
Chinese moment: the 雪 card completes the row — 下雪了. Read all five together, pointing: 晴 · 雨 · 风 · 云 · 雪. Then 大寒 — the coldest days of the whole year arrive on the 20th, next week: 大寒到，天最冷。
3 min Song · How's the Weather? — the whole song, top to bottom
Chorus, then all five verses in order — sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, snowy — then the chorus once more, as loud as it will go.
Friday's verse: Sun and rain and wind and snow, (one action for each, in order)
What's the weather? — Now I know! (shrug with both palms up, then point proudly at the chart)
This run-through IS the week's review. Five verses, five kinds of sky, sung standing in front of a chart the children filled in themselves. Nothing else is needed.
3 min Game · Little weather reporter
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The chart is on the wall with all five days filled in. Each child in turn comes up, takes the pointer, points at one day and reports it to the class like the television.
Littles point at a card and say the one word: “Sunny!” Bigs give the whole report: “On Monday it was sunny.” “Today it is snowy.” Everybody claps every reporter.
Give out the “You are a star” awards (page 17) here, one per child, as they finish their report. Then the sheets and the awards go home together in the bag.
1 min Close
Standing at the window, the whole week's props held up. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats) — one small boy, one morning of snow, and nothing else happens at all. It is perfect.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Snowy + The Weather Reporter! We practiced the word “snowy” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Sunny… rainy… windy… cloudy… SNOWY! LOOK OUTSIDE!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Theme Song · “How's the Weather?”
The one song of the week — sung at every circle. Same chorus daily, one new verse each morning, full song on Friday.
The three chords
Tempo: brisk and cheerful, like somebody stepping outside to check the sky. Three chords, no Am anywhere, and every verse is just C and G7 — exactly the same shape as the Christmas song, so your fingers already know it. Chant it once without the uke so they get the actions first; add the chords tomorrow.
Chorus — sing it every single day
CHow's the weather? How's the Fweather? C(hand shading your eyes, looking about)
FLook outCside and G7tell me now! C(point at the window)
CSunny, rainy, Fwindy, Csnowy, (sun circle · fingers patter · sway · flutter fingers down)
FCloudy Ctoo — and G7that is Chow! (both arms round like a big fat cloud)
Sing the chorus twice each time, and always facing the window. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who draws the sun, patters the rain and sways in the wind has understood the week, whether or not a single word comes out.
One verse a day — every verse is just C and G7
Monday · Sunny
CSunny, sunny, the sun is out, (sun circle, twice)
G7Sunglasses on — Crun about! (mime the glasses, then run on the spot)
Tuesday · Rainy
CRainy, rainy, drip-drop-drip, (fingers pattering down three times)
G7Up goes my umbrella — Cdon't you slip! (push up with both hands, then wobble)
Wednesday · Windy
CWindy, windy, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, (three big sways, one per whoosh)
G7It blows my hat — Cand shakes the bush! (grab your head, then shake both hands like leaves)
Thursday · Cloudy
CCloudy, cloudy, grey and white, (round arms, then sweep both hands across)
G7Big fat clouds — Cwhat a sight! (arms wide, then hand shading the eyes)
Friday · Weather report
CSun and rain and wind and snow, (one action for each, in order)
G7What's the weather? — CNow I know! (shrug, palms up, then point at the chart)
The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung standing in front of the filled-in weather chart, doubles as the review of the whole week.
If you're brand new to ukulele
Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the entire chorus, and the whole song is those three shapes — there is no Am this week at all. C is one finger, F is two, G7 is three; learn them in that order. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, give one child the pinwheel to spin and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the actions carry the meaning either way.
Print Pack · Wall + Shelf
One click prints the whole week: theme wall posters, the song sheet, and all the shelf material.
In the print dialog: A4, portrait, “Background graphics” ON (for the emoji art), color. Want only some pages? Pick a page range — the order below is the print order. Card sheets print best on thick paper or laminated.
Page 1 · Theme poster
Pages 2–6 · Word posters for the wall
Page 7 · Sentence frames poster
“How is the weather ___?”
“It is ___ today.”
“I can see the ___.”
“I need my ___.”
“Look ___!”
Page 8 · Song chorus poster
How's the weather?
Look outside and tell me now!
Sunny, rainy, windy, snowy,
Cloudy too — and that is how!
Page 9 · Ukulele song sheet
Whale Class theme song · ukulele · C (0003) · F (2010) · G7 (0212) · no Am this week · strum: Down, Down, Down-Up
Chorus — every day
CHow's the weather? How's the Fweather? C
FLook outCside and G7tell me now! C
CSunny, rainy, Fwindy, Csnowy,
FCloudy Ctoo — and G7that is Chow!
Monday · Sunny
CSunny, sunny, the sun is out, G7sunglasses on — Crun about!
Tuesday · Rainy
CRainy, rainy, drip-drop-drip, G7up goes my umbrella — Cdon't you slip!
Wednesday · Windy
CWindy, windy, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, G7it blows my hat — Cand shakes the bush!
Thursday · Cloudy
CCloudy, cloudy, grey and white, G7big fat clouds — Cwhat a sight!
Friday · Weather report
CSun and rain and wind and snow, G7what's the weather? — CNow I know!
Each day: chorus → today's verse → chorus, standing at the window. Friday: the whole song, top to bottom, in front of the filled-in weather chart.
Page 10 · Weather 3-part cards — control cards (keep whole)
Page 11 · Weather 3-part cards — cut apart (pictures + labels)
Pages 12–13 · Sunny day / Rainy day sorting signs (2 full pages)
Page 14 · Sorting cards — cut apart
The first six belong to a sunny day 晴天, the last six to a rainy day 雨天 — but never tell them that. The child looks at the card, decides, and lays it under the right sign. Control of error: once the class has sorted them together, draw a small yellow dot on the backs of the six sunny-day cards and a blue dot on the backs of the six rainy-day cards, so they can turn them over and check themselves afterwards. Then they tell you: “It is rainy. I need my boots.”
Page 15 · I Can action cards — cut apart
Page 16 · MY WEATHER WINDOW — worksheet (print one per child)
Look out of the real window first. What is the sky doing today? Draw it in my window — the sun, the clouds, the rain, the wind, the snow — and colour it in. Then tell me what the weather is and I'll write the word for you!
My name is
Today it is
Page 17 · “You are a star” awards — cut in half, one per child on Friday
This award goes to
This award goes to
Page 18 · Theme shelf guide (for you — tape inside the cupboard)
Four trays, left → right, easiest → hardest. Every tray is a circle-time prop that stayed out — what comes out of the Magic Box in the morning goes on the shelf the same day, already loaded with language.
| Tray 1 · The weather chart from MONDAY, and it never comes down | The five symbol cards (page 10, laminated) and a strip of the days of the week. Every morning, before circle, one child hangs today's card. Control: the window — go and look. This is Friday's reporter game made permanent, and it is the one piece of this week that should still be running in June. |
| Tray 2 · Pinwheel and blowing tray from WEDNESDAY's Magic Box | The pinwheel, two feathers, a dish of tiny tissue-paper scraps and a small tray to blow them across. Blow gently, blow hard, blow close, blow far. Control: it spins, or it doesn't — and it moves, or it doesn't. Language: “blow · fast · slow · far.” Bigs: “It is windy today.” |
| Tray 3 · Weather 3-part cards pages 10–11 | sunny 晴天 · rainy 雨天 · windy 刮风 · cloudy 多云 · snowy 下雪, Chinese and English. Littles match picture→picture on the whole control card; Bigs lay the labels underneath. Control: the uncut control cards. Beside it the action cards (page 15) face down: draw one, do it, say it — “I can splash!” |
| Tray 4 · Dress for the weather pages 12–14 | The two signs (pages 12–13) and the 12 sorting cards (page 14): sunhat and sunglasses under the sun, boots and umbrella under the rain. Control: a yellow dot or a blue dot on the back of every card, added by the class after we sort them together the first time. Beside it, crayons and the “Draw MY weather” sheets (page 16). Sheets go home Friday with the award (page 17). |
Laminate pages 10–15 if you can — the cards get handled every single morning. The row of 汉字 cards the class built up (晴 · 雨 · 风 · 云 · 雪) stays under the chart; that is the display, no extra work needed. Everything else comes down on Friday afternoon — except the chart, which stays up for the rest of the year.
End of Week Wrap-Up
Friday recap — read it at the last circle, then print it for the parent wall or WeChat photo.
Jan 11–15 · Theme: Weather · Sound of the week: f
What we did
Five mornings, five looks out of the window. On Monday a pair of sunglasses came out of the Magic Box, everybody tried them on, and we hung the first card on our new class weather chart. On Tuesday an umbrella went up and a spray bottle made real rain — the children stood underneath and heard it landing above their heads. On Wednesday we blew pinwheels and feathers and worked out that wind is something you cannot see, only something you can watch. On Thursday we lay on our backs and found shapes in the clouds, which was the quietest three minutes of the term. And on Friday every child stood up, pointed at the chart, and read the whole week's weather out loud like a television reporter.
Words we learned
Sentences to listen for at home
“How is the weather today?” · “It is sunny today.” · “I need my umbrella.” · “I can see the clouds.” · “Look outside!”
Our littlest friends say one word with a gesture — “Sun!” with a big circle drawn in the air, “Rain!” with fingers pattering down, or “Wind!” with a whoosh and a sway — and at 2 and 3 that is a big win.
Our song · “How's the Weather?”
“How's the weather? How's the weather? Look outside and tell me now! Sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, cloudy too — and that is how!”
We sang it on the ukulele every day and added a new verse each morning — sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, and on Friday the whole weather report. Ask your child to sing the chorus and watch their hands: they draw the sun, patter the rain, sway in the wind and make a big fat cloud, all in four lines.
Dark Phonics · the f sound
In our Dark Phonics work we met f — top teeth resting on the bottom lip and a long, quiet blow, like a little fan: fan, fox, fog, fly. Our silly line for it is “funny fox in my fan!” It is a weather sound too — fog is the one kind of sky we did not get this week, so watch for it on a grey Beijing morning and name it together. It is a sound you can hold for as long as your breath lasts: ffffffff.
Try this at home (2 minutes)
1 · Every morning this week, before anything else, ask at the window: “How is the weather today?” One question, ten seconds, and it is the whole week's assessment.
2 · Let them choose their own coat, hat or boots because of the sky — and say why out loud: “It is rainy. I need my boots.”
3 · Lie on your backs one afternoon and find shapes in the clouds. No right answers allowed.
4 · Hunt for the f sound with your teeth on your lip: fan, fox, fog, fly, fish, foot.
5 · Sing the chorus in the car. It has four actions and no hard words.
大寒 — Major Cold, the last solar term of winter — arrives on 20 January, next week: 大寒到，天最冷。These are the coldest days of the whole year, so this is the perfect fortnight to put a cold hand flat on a cold window and talk about it. Next week our theme is Beijing — our own city.
See you at the window on Monday — the Whale Class 🐳
Weekly rituals (same every week, only the theme changes)
- Attention grabber: “One, two, three — eyes on me!” → kids: “One, two — eyes on you!”
- The Magic Box: any box with a lid. The chant, the shake, the sniff, the dramatic peek. Whatever the week's theme is, its key prop lives in the box. By week 3 the chant alone will get you silence.
- The two-tier rule: littles succeed with one word + gesture; bigs get a sentence frame. Never make a little produce a sentence — they'll get there by watching.
- Whisper → shout closes: end every day chanting the theme line quiet-to-loud. Calms them, then releases them.
- Teacher fails on purpose: once a day, get something wrong so they can correct you. ESL kids who correct the teacher are producing language without noticing.
Principal coverage map (if she asks)
| Science: observing and recording the real world | Every single morning the class looks out of the actual window, says what the sky is doing and hangs today's symbol card on the chart — five days of first-hand observation, recorded by the children, kept on the wall |
| Science: air is real even though it is invisible | Day 3 — wind cannot be seen, so we watch what it moves: a feather across the mat, tissue scraps off a palm, the pinwheel near and far. Every child blows something and every child sees it move |
| Sensorial: touch and temperature | Day 2 a fine water mist on open palms · Day 3 the fan on the skin, 冷不冷? · Day 4 cotton wool pulled thin and wispy or rolled thick and lumpy · Day 5 a cold hand flat on a cold window for 大寒 |
| Language: 3-part cards, two scripts | Tray 3 sunny 晴天 · rainy 雨天 · windy 刮风 · cloudy 多云 · snowy 下雪 — Littles match picture→picture on the control card, Bigs lay the English labels underneath |
| Classification: dress for the weather | Tray 4 — twelve sorting cards under two signs, 晴天 or 雨天. Control: a yellow or blue dot on the back of every card, added by the class after we sort them together. It teaches cause and effect (“It is rainy, so I need my boots”) without a worksheet |
| Maths: counting real quantities | Day 2 counting the heads squeezed under the umbrella after every music stop · Day 3 counting the spins of the pinwheel out loud, which quietly proves that a long slow breath beats a short hard puff · Day 4 counting the real clouds in the real sky, where “too many to count” is also a correct answer |
| Practical life + self-care | The whole week points at one habit: look at the sky, then choose your coat, hat, boots or sunglasses because of what you saw — and say why. Tray 4 is that decision, on the shelf, in cards |
| Chinese 中文 · 大寒 | One 汉字 card a day under the chart: 晴 · 雨 · 风 · 云 · 雪, read as a row on Friday · 今天是晴天 (D1) · 下雨了 · 雨伞, and the falling strokes inside 雨 (D2) · 刮风了 · 冷不冷? (D3) · 晴天 · 多云 · 下雨 chorused in order (D4) · 大寒到，天最冷 for the solar term arriving on the 20th (D5) |
| SEL: stillness and attention | Day 4 cloud watching — three minutes flat on our backs, one cloud each, no corrections and no “are you sure?”. A cloud looks like whatever the child says it looks like, and protecting that is the point |
| Public speaking | Day 5 the little weather reporter — every child takes the pointer, faces the class alone and reports one day of the week, and every child gets clapped. Littles report one word; Bigs give the full sentence |
| Key phrases, age 3 | “Sun!” · “Rain!” · “Wind!” · “Cloud!” · “Snow!” — each one drilled with its gesture (big circle arms · fingers pattering down · sway and whoosh · big round arms · fluttering fingers falling) |
| Key phrases, age 4–5 | “How is the weather today?” · “It is sunny today.” · “I need my umbrella.” · “I can see three clouds.” · “On Monday it was sunny.” — the question asked properly every morning, one frame introduced per day |
| Movement game | Day 1 weather charades — act it, the class guesses · Day 2 run in the rain, music stops, everybody under the umbrella · Day 3 blow the pinwheel, longest spin wins · Day 4 cloud watching outside on our backs · Day 5 little weather reporter at the chart |
| Songs | One song, deliberately: “How's the Weather?” at every circle — chorus daily as a finger-play, one new verse per day (sunny · rainy · windy · cloudy · the weather report), full-song finale Friday in front of the filled-in chart. C · F · G7 on the ukulele; no Am this week, the same three shapes as December |
| Books | Sun Up, Sun Down — Gail Gibbons (D1) · The Rain Came Down — David Shannon (D2) · The Wind Blew — Pat Hutchins (D3) · Little Cloud — Eric Carle (D4) · The Snowy Day — Ezra Jack Keats (D5) — optional 3-min read-alouds |
| Phonics (Dark Phonics) | f — top teeth on the bottom lip, a long quiet blow you can hold as long as your breath lasts: fan, fox, fog, fly. “Funny fox in my fan!” The week's own words carry it: fog, fan, feather, falling snow |
| Assessment: age 3 goal | Look out of the window and produce one weather word with its gesture, unprompted — checked on Day 5 in the quick-fire prop round out of the Magic Box |
| Assessment: age 4 goal | Answer “How is the weather today?” in a full sentence, and give one thing they would wear because of it — checked at the chart on Day 5, in front of the whole class, as the weather reporter |
Whale Class 🐳 · This page updates each week with the new theme.