Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №18/2007
FOR YOUNG READERS

Who Sees the Wind?

Do the trees see the wind
as it makes them sway?
Do the leaves see the wind
as it blows them away?
Do clouds see the wind
as it pushes them along?
Do chimes see the wind
as it plays their song?
Do kites see the wind
as they dance in the sky?
Does anyone see
the wind pass by?

 

Introducing the Poem

1. Write the poem on chart paper. Draw the outline of a kite around the words.
2. As you read the poem, ask children to pretend they are leaves, kites, trees, or other things being blown by the wind. Students can whirl, dance, and sway to the rhythm of the words.

Talking About the Poem

1. Explain to children that wind is moving air. Have them hold a sheet of paper in front of their mouth and blow. What happens? Can they see the mini wind they made by blowing air? No, but they can see what the wind does: it moves the paper.
2. Begin a discussion about all the things the wind can do. Have children seen the wind blow a kite, flag, leaves, or sailboat? Have they felt it blow their own clothing or hair? What did it feel like? What words describe the wind? Discuss how the wind can be both strong and gentle, loud and quiet, cold and warm.
3. What do students notice about each line of the poem? Point out the question mark at the end of each line. Can students tell you what this symbol means?
4. Ask what sound the word wind begins with. What letter makes this sound? Have children count all the times wind appears in the poem.

Working With Words

Initial Consonant Blow-Away: Make word cards for the following words: pig, bag, cake, ball, day, bell, pet, hide, tell, and fish. Snip off the initial consonants to create letter cards. Create another letter card for the letter w. One by one, show children the words. Hold the onset1 in your right hand and the rime2 in your left. Pronounce each phoneme. Ask children to blend the sounds together to say the word. Then ask them to pretend to be the wind “blowing away” the initial consonant. As children blow, remove the initial consonant letter card and replace it with the w letter card. Pronounce each phoneme again and have children blend the sounds together to say the new word. Children can continue to blow away initial consonants for the remaining words and replace them with the /w/ sound.

Shared Writing

Wind-at-Work Sentences: Ask students to think about some of the ways we “see” the wind. How can we tell that the wind is blowing? Write the following sentence frame on the chalkboard five or six times, and ask children to help you complete it by filling in the blank:
When the wind blows, it moves _________________.

Extending the Poem

Whirling Wind Dancers
Students can create colorful wind dancers to help them “see” the wind blow.

Materials: large paper plates; pencil; art materials (crayons, markers, paints, glitter, stickers, and so on); scissors; hole punch; yarn

1. Draw a spiral pattern on each paper plate. Give a plate to each child.
2. Have children color and decorate both sides of their plate.
3. Help students cut along the lines on the plate to create a dangling spiral.
4. Punch a hole at the top of each spiral. Help children tie a loop of yarn through the hole.
5. On the next windy day, hang the spirals outside in a place where they can be viewed from your classroom window, if possible. Or if the weather is warm enough, hang the spirals in open classroom windows. Children can watch the spirals dance and whirl in the wind. Can they tell how hard the wind is blowing by watching the spirals move? Can they tell from which direction the wind is blowing?

1 onset: phonetic term for the initial consonant or consonant cluster
2 rime: phonetic term for the portion of the syllable from the first vowel to the end