Weather 1

Lesson Context

The children will begin the lesson playing 'das Kartenspiel', which will help them prepare for the use of clothing vocabulary needed this lesson. The children have learnt the verbs 'is' and 'have' (and 'have on' last week), but this lesson will really give the children an understanding of different German verbs and how they can work differently to English - for example:

• Die Sonne scheint - the sun shines (instead of the sun is shining)
• Es regnet - it rains (instead of it is raining)
• Es schneit - it snows (instead of it is snowing)

The children will combine their new weather vocabulary with their existing clothing vocabulary into functional sentences and they will finish the lesson learning a German song about the weather. 

 

Resources

Power point presentation

Hand outs which the children can take home for revision

Kartenspiel cards of Clothes and Parts of the Body

A4 Weather Symbol Sheets to be stuck above the IWB 

 

At this point of the year I bought fabric calendars for the classes so that the children can independently learn and update the calendar depending on the day and weather. 

Main Introduction

Slide 2

Communicate LO and SC

 

Slide 3 - Starter activity - Das Kartenspiel - revision of Parts of the Body and Clothes

The children should know how to play the flashcard game by now so explain that they should be using the 'Lob' words on slide 3 and let them get on with it. The clothes vocabulary will be useful in today's weather lesson.

 

Slides 4 - 7 - 'Wie ist das Wetter heute' practise with Secret Signal

Sag mir nach the vocabulary on these slides. Throw in some translation questions using vocabulary that the children already know such as from 'praise', 'colours', 'clothes' and 'animals', for example how would you say:

• The sun is wonderful
• The sun is yellow
• The coat is wet
• The polar bear is cold

After each slide play a game of secret signal, so for slide 5:

 

Ask one child to leave the room and agree with the rest of the class on a secret signal, such as touching your nose. Choose a child to perform this signal at any given moment. Bring the first child back into the room and ask the class to say 'die Sonne Scheint' (the first item on the list) in a chant. Every time the class sees the designated person do the agreed secret signal, they move onto the next phrase in the list - 'Es ist sonnig' The child has to guess who is doing the signal before the class gets to the bottom of the list. If the child who went outside guesses correctly, they earn a reward. If the class get to the bottom, the 'signaller' and somebody else from the class, earn a reward

 

Slides 8 - 10 - Wie ist das Wetter heute?

On each slide get one child to ask you what the weather is like today and give 2 answers to the question. For example, for the sunny slide (slide 8) you could say 'die Sonne scheint' und 'es ist heiß'. Now that you've modelled the task, go back to slide 8 and ask a randomly selected child 'wie ist das Wetter heute'. The child has to give two sentences in reply, depending on which weather slide is on the IWB. If the child gives two relevant sentences to the slide, they earn a reward.  

 

On their tables with a partner, once child points at a weather symbol and asks 'wie ist das Wetter heute?' The partner replies with 2 sentences relevant to the question. The children need to use the hand out for this task. Struggling children can use the symbols on the front of the sheet as the vocabulary needed is next to the symbols. More confident children can use the weather symbols at the top on the back of the sheet. Remind the children to use 'Lob' such as 'fantastisch' or 'prima' when their partner is correct.

 

Slides 11 - 25

Sag mir nach the vocabulary on slide 11 and move onto revise the clothes vocabulary from slide 12. Ask a variety of differentiated questions relating to the clothes such as:

Was ist das?

Welche Farbe ist das?

Ist das die rote Bluse?

 

Slide 26 (same as slide 11)

You will need to use the 3 A4 weather symbol sheets for this activity and they should ideally be stuck above the IWB. Sag mir nach the vocabulary on the slide once more, then perform the following 3 acts:

1. Ask the heading question - 'Wie ist das Wetter heute?'
2. Press backwards a few times to select and item of clothing
3. Point at one of the weather symbols above the IWB

Choose a child to answer your question. Their answer should make sense so if you are pointing at snow and the sunglasses are on the board, the child should answer with 'das ist falsch'. They can also extend with '... ist besser' and even '... für das Wetter heute'. Encourage and reward children who extend and practise a few times with different clothes and weather symbols. 

 

Slide 27 - Who is speaking

Ask a child to come to the front of the class and stand with his/her back to the other children. Someone from the class then says something in German from today's lesson (in a funny voice if they wish) and the person at the front has to guess who said the sentence. If the person at the front guesses correctly then they stay where they are, if not the 'speaker' gets to go to the front. The person at the front has the chance of earning a bonus reward if they are also able to correctly translate the sentence into English. Tell the children that you will reward anyone who tries a sentence where German structure is different to English e.g.

 

• Die Sonne scheint - the sun shines (instead of the sun is shining)
• Es regnet - it rains (instead of it is raining)
• Es schneit - it snows (instead of it is snowing)

 

Slide 26 - 'Wie ist das Wetter' song

Sag mir nach each line of this song. Ask the children if any of them can translate the song into English. You can give the children a couple of minutes on their own to do this and then randomly select a child using lollipop sticks. Sing the song to the children to the tune of Frère Jacques and demonstrate some actions. Then sing the song as a class and if time permits, have an inter-table singing (and actions) competition.

    

Assessment and Evidence

Observe and ask questions

Refer back to the success criteria after the 'Wie ist das Wetter' song 

Check achievement of the Success Criteria by questioning randomly selected children (using lollipop sticks)