In Like a Lion...

The old adage "In like a lion, out like a lamb" is often used to describe the blustery days of March. The change in seasons offers the perfect opportunity to learn about art and science of weather. What techniques does a painter use to portray the changing landscape? How have composers captured Mother Nature’s ever-changing moods? How can creative movement help us understand more about the atmosphere, wind and rain? This month’s collection of images, audio and text will introduce a number of ways to integrate the arts into weather-related lessons.

Lessons:

Above our heads nature directs an atmospheric drama unparalleled here on the ground. This lesson focuses on students using movement at different levels (low, medium and high) to understand and convey concepts such as layering, air-density and particles.

In this lesson, students use hand-sculptures and body shapes to create tableaus of the constantly changing shapes of clouds. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from this lesson relating movement and dance activities to atmospheric properties, cloud types, and the wind.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the heating and cooling, expanding and condensing properties of air masses. Students will use movement skills and dance to learn and communicate information about the patterns of wind cycles, and the attributes of the atmosphere.

Students will learn about how weather influences culture, daily life, and mood by examining paintings depicting different types of weather. Students will demonstrate their understanding by painting a picture depicting a particular weather condition.

The movement of the wind causes trees to sway, grass stalks to bend, and flowers to quiver in its wake. In this lesson, students are introduced to the Beaufort scale for measuring wind force, and learn techniques for portraying the concept of moving wind in painting, pantomime and poetry.

Look·Listen·Learn:

This player presents three pieces—Presto from Vivaldi's "Summer," Grofe's "Cloudburst," and Beethoven's "Storm." Get a new view on weather as you listen to these storm-inspired works!