Nature In Winter
&fib
MILL CREEK
..
Previsit Material (Grades 2 - 3)
This program is designed to teach students about how nature changes and adapts to
the winter season. They will learn what plants and animals do to survive the cold weather.
Please use the following material to help prepare your class for our visit to your school.
VOCABULARY
-
mlgrate move from one place to another, following the food supply and
warmer weather (for example - hummingbird, monarch butterfly).
hlbernatlon a deep sleep that some animals enter during the winter months
(for example - groundhog, turtle, bear).
dormant - inactive (for example -chipmunk, raccoon, skunk).
active - staying busy, as some animals must do in winter to find food
(for example - rabbit, cardinal, deer).
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ACTIVITIES
Groundhog Maze
The groundhog, or woodchuck, is a hibernating mammal and spends the winter months in an
underground burrow. A special nesting chamber is filled with a bed of dried leaves and
grasses and the groundhog nestles in here for the duration of its wintry retreat. For this
activity, make a copy of the groundhog maze for each student. They may wish to color it
once the maze is solved.
Weather Wise Riddles
Copy the enclosed activity sheet for each student. You may want to do this together as a
class, so that ideas may be shared. Follow with a discussion on the various weather factors
that make up our winter in northeastern Ohio. How might a winter in Florida be different?
Why? Have the students keep a record of the daily temperature and weather conditions for
one month. Allow each child to make observations and recordingsfor one school day.
Winter Is Comlng
Read the enclosed descriptive narration of winter's approach. Have each student imagine
being an animal found in our area. Tell the children to close their eyes as you read the
narration, actually listening as if they were the animals in their minds. Discuss hibernation
and migration and how various animals survive the cold.
SUGGESTED READING
Who Lives in the Snow?, by Powell Jones
Snow Comes to the Farm, by Nathaniel Tripp
When Will it Snow?, by Bruce Hiscock
North Country Night, by Daniel San Souci
Can you guess t h e riddles? (We've given you the first one.)
1. Warm air rising- ur,
. so hish
Cools, condenses, and
makes me "fly."
C L O U D
2. You cannot see me with
your eyes,
But I make trees move when
I go by.
6. Lavers of ice freeze till I fall.
small as a pea or big as a '
ball.
----
7. Lightning heats the air so
fast
,That you can hear my
high@ blast
----
3. We have six ~ i d &and manv
8. My eye is calm, but just
L-L
My winds mean
trouble-there's no doubt!
"IVUICI'J,
But each one's different from
all the others.
4. I fall to earth and then I
-..A
9. Two hundred miles an hour
I whirl,
Causing great damage
wherever I twirl!
-----
----- --
5. A million amps of
10. Up in the North is where I
prowl,
With blinding snow and
winds that howl.
- - - -- - - -
11. Most clouds form up high in
near the ground is
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RANGU1 RICK'S NATURESCOPE: WlLD ABOLTT WEATHER
Wnter is Coming
It is fall and all around you leaves are turning bright colors and dropping
tothe ground. The sun is rising later and setting earlier every day and the
morning air is cold. Fog forms over the ponds, lakes and rivers as the sun
rises. The mist disappears when the sun climbs high in the sky. You have a
great need to eat as many berries, insects and nuts as you can find, and you
are storing fat as you eat. Can you feel your body growing larger?
As each day goes by, the nights grow longer and colder. White frost
crystals cover the plants, turning many of them brown and lifeless. Food is
running low, yet you are using more food to keep warm. Ponds and lakes are
freezing over and you have to travel farther each day to get water. Winter is
coming fast! Soon the snow will blow, food will be hard to find and much of
the water around you will become ice.
You are a wild creature and winter is coming. What are you going to do
to survive?
Adapted fromKeepers of the Earth, by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bmchac. 1989.
Weather Wise Riddles
1. cloud
2. wind
3. snowflakes
4. sleet
5. lightning
6. hail
7. thunder
8. hurricane
9. tornado
10. blizzard
11. fog