Unit 6 — Weather, Seasons and Numbers Calendar, Dates, Birthdates
Description
This unit is woven throughout the year with ongoing instruction in weather, dates, and birthdays, while seasons receive focused two-week instruction. Students appreciate differences in climate, seasons, and calendars around the world. They learn to describe weather and seasons, count and identify numbers, and state birthdates. Students create calendars including family birthdays and major holidays, create season posters with weather descriptions, and read paragraphs about holidays and celebrations. The unit integrates social studies, visual and performing arts, English language arts, and math. Students explore how climates differ across countries, how seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite to the Northern Hemisphere, and how calendars and celebrations vary culturally.
Essential Questions
- How do seasons and climate differ in different parts of the World?
- How does the calendar differ throughout the world?
- How do we describe the weather and seasons?
- How do you count and identify numbers in Spanish?
- How do you say your birth date?
- How do we write dates?
Learning Objectives
- Identify memorized words related to weather, seasons, numbers, and dates in authentic materials
- Respond with physical actions to simple directions about weather and seasons
- Recognize weather and climate vocabulary in contextual oral texts
- Recognize typical seasonal and climate products across cultures
- Respond to simple questions about weather, dates, and numbers using memorized phrases
- Express preferences and information about weather and seasons using memorized words and gestures
- Present personal information about birthdays, dates, weather, and seasons using memorized phrases
- Understand cultural differences in birthday celebrations and calendar systems
Supplemental Resources
- Chart paper for creating season and weather posters
- Printed images or photographs showing different seasons and weather
- Markers and colored pencils for calendar and poster creation
- Sentence strips for labeling seasons and weather conditions
Interpersonal Mode
Interpretive Mode
Presentational Mode
Students engage in reading, writing, and speaking activities across units. Students read dialogues and answer comprehension questions, write descriptions and narratives using memorized words and phrases, and perform dialogues with peers, developing listening and speaking skills in the target language and building vocabulary connections to their native language.
Students count, identify numbers, and work with shapes, sizes, and colors in Spanish. Students compare and order objects by size, recognize and create shapes, organize data about weather and seasons, and tell time and dates using numbers and calendar concepts while building mathematical vocabulary in the target language.
Students explore cultural diversity and family structures in Spanish-speaking countries. Units address how families differ across cultures, how climate and geography affect clothing and customs, how holidays and celebrations vary globally, and how to interact respectfully with different cultural practices and perspectives.
Students create family tree projects, draw pictures based on descriptions, create posters about seasons and weather, and engage with authentic songs and dances as cultural reflections. Students use visuals, drawings, and creative projects to reinforce vocabulary and express understanding of target culture.
Formative Assessments
- Identifying weather conditions from descriptions and visuals
- Responding with appropriate gestures for different seasons
- Counting and identifying numbers in Spanish
- Stating birthdays and important dates
Summative Assessment
Create a calendar and put birthdays of family and major holidays. Create a poster that includes the four seasons and shows the weather for each season and present it to the class. Read a paragraph about various holidays and birthdays and answer comprehension questions.
Benchmark Assessment
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Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of weather, seasons, and numbers through matching activities, pointing to pictures, or selecting from visual choices instead of written or verbal responses. Teachers may provide vocabulary cards, simplified sentence frames, or real objects to support comprehension and expression.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students benefit from visual supports such as picture-based weather and season cards paired with spoken Spanish vocabulary to reinforce oral comprehension and expression. For calendar and poster tasks, allow students to respond through drawing, pointing, gestures, or dictation rather than requiring written output. Directions for multi-step tasks like creating a calendar should be broken into smaller, numbered steps with a visual model of the finished product available for reference. Providing a vocabulary reference sheet with pictures and corresponding Spanish words for weather, seasons, numbers, and months will support both processing and retrieval during formative and summative tasks.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time to complete the calendar and season poster tasks, and may benefit from working in a low-distraction setting during oral presentations or listening activities. Preferential seating near the teacher during whole-group weather and calendar instruction supports attention and auditory access to spoken Spanish. Visual timers can help students manage transitions between the ongoing daily calendar routine and focused seasonal activities.
ELL / MLL
Teachers should make Spanish weather, season, and calendar vocabulary tangible by pairing all new terms with images, realia, and physical gestures, which also supports students whose home language is not Spanish. Simplified oral directions in short phrases, along with opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding through pointing, sorting pictures, or physical response, reduce language-production pressure while building comprehension. Where possible, drawing connections between how seasons, weather, and celebrations are described in a student's home language and in Spanish can activate prior knowledge and affirm cultural connections. Labeling classroom weather and calendar displays in both Spanish and the student's home language provides ongoing visual reinforcement.
At Risk (RTI)
Instruction in weather, seasons, and calendar concepts should begin with vocabulary and ideas students already know in English, using that familiarity as a bridge into Spanish expression. Formative tasks such as identifying weather from visuals or responding with gestures offer accessible entry points that allow students to demonstrate understanding without relying heavily on reading or writing. For the calendar and poster tasks, reducing the number of required entries or providing a partially completed template helps students focus on mastering the core vocabulary and phrases rather than becoming overwhelmed by the scope of the task. Frequent check-ins and positive feedback during the daily calendar routine help build confidence with numbers, dates, and weather expressions over time.
Gifted & Talented
Students who quickly acquire weather, season, and calendar vocabulary in Spanish can be invited to explore how seasonal vocabulary and climate descriptions differ across Spanish-speaking countries and regions, particularly examining how the Southern Hemisphere's reversed seasons challenge assumptions about the calendar. For the poster and calendar tasks, students can be encouraged to go beyond memorized phrases by crafting original descriptive sentences that compare weather or seasonal celebrations in two or more countries. Independent research into how different cultures mark birthdays, holidays, or seasonal changes — and how those are reflected in their calendar systems — offers meaningful depth. Students might also explore how regional Spanish dialects use different terms for weather or seasonal phenomena.