Unit 6 — Weather, Seasons and Numbers Calendar, Dates, Birthdates
Description
Students learn weather, season, number, and calendar vocabulary with ongoing integration throughout the year. The unit emphasizes appreciation for climate and seasonal differences across the world, including the contrast between hemispheres. Students explore birthday celebrations and calendar conventions in Spanish-speaking cultures, such as not capitalizing months and days. Instruction includes recognition of climate variations, seasonal opposites in South America, and cultural significance of holidays.
Essential Questions
- How do seasons and climate differ in different parts of the world?
- How does the calendar differ throughout the world?
Learning Objectives
- Identify memorized and practiced weather, season, number, and date vocabulary in oral, viewed, and written language when supported by visual cues
- Respond to simple questions about weather, seasons, numbers, and dates using memorized words and phrases
- Share basic information about weather and numbers using memorized vocabulary with gesture or visual support
- Communicate preferences and feelings about weather and seasons using memorized words and phrases
- Present very familiar personal information about dates and birthdays using repeatedly practiced words and phrases
- Recognize differences in climate, seasonal patterns, and calendar conventions across target cultures
Supplemental Resources
- Calendar templates for creating birthday and holiday calendars
- Chart paper and markers for season posters
- Picture cards showing different weather conditions and seasons
- Number line or flashcards for counting practice
- Printed images of seasonal weather from different Spanish-speaking countries
Interpersonal Mode
Interpretive Mode
Presentational Mode
Students engage in conversations, listen to dialogues and authentic materials, read and write about Spanish language topics including family, clothing, colors, and weather. Students develop vocabulary and comprehension skills through reading Spanish texts and responding with written and spoken language.
Students explore cultural practices, traditions, and values of Spanish-speaking countries. Students learn about family structures, celebrations, holidays, and how culture impacts daily life including clothing choices and weather-related practices across different regions.
Students count and identify numbers in Spanish, work with calendars and dates, and create data-based representations such as calendars, posters showing weather and seasons, and bar graphs of birthday information.
Students create visual representations including family tree projects, posters of seasons and weather, drawings based on descriptions, and engage with authentic songs and dances as cultural expressions of Spanish-speaking peoples.
Formative Assessments
- Identification of weather and season vocabulary in descriptions and pictures
- Number recognition and counting activities in Spanish
- Dialogues about weather, seasons, and dates
- Listening comprehension of weather and seasonal descriptions
Summative Assessment
Create a calendar and put birthdays of your 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 questions
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through pointing to pictures or symbols while the teacher reads weather and season vocabulary aloud, or by responding to yes/no questions about seasons and dates. Visual supports such as labeled weather and season charts, number lines, and calendar reference sheets may be provided throughout the assessment.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For this unit, students benefit from visual supports such as weather and season picture cards, number charts, and illustrated calendar templates to anchor new vocabulary to concrete images. When responding to questions about weather, dates, or birthdays, students should be encouraged to point, gesture, or use picture supports alongside or in place of full verbal or written responses. Directions for calendar or poster tasks should be broken into short, numbered steps, and students may dictate responses to a scribe or use drawn images to demonstrate understanding. Pre-teaching key vocabulary in small group settings before whole-class instruction helps build the familiarity needed for participation.
Section 504
Students in this unit benefit from extended time on calendar and poster tasks, as well as preferential seating during whole-group weather and season discussions to minimize distraction and support focus. A printed copy of vocabulary terms with visual cues should be available during assessments so that access to language does not become a barrier to demonstrating content knowledge.
ELL / MLL
Because this unit is taught in Spanish, teachers should consider the home language backgrounds of multilingual learners and leverage any Spanish familiarity while building vocabulary for weather, seasons, numbers, and calendar terms. Visual cues such as weather symbols, seasonal images, and illustrated number and month charts provide essential meaning-making support, and simplified oral directions paired with modeling help students understand task expectations before attempting them independently. Connecting vocabulary to shared cultural experiences — such as familiar seasonal celebrations or birthday traditions from students' own backgrounds — can deepen comprehension and engagement with the unit's cultural content.
At Risk (RTI)
Students benefit from repeated exposure to weather, season, and calendar vocabulary through predictable daily routines — such as a brief oral check-in about today's weather or date — that build familiarity before more formal tasks are introduced. Connecting new vocabulary to personally meaningful contexts, like a student's own birthday month or a familiar holiday, provides an accessible entry point into the unit's content. Poster and calendar tasks may be scaffolded by providing partially completed templates so that students can focus their energy on demonstrating vocabulary knowledge rather than managing the full organizational demand of the task.
Gifted & Talented
Students who have quickly internalized the core weather, season, and calendar vocabulary can be invited to explore how seasonal language and climate concepts differ across Spanish-speaking regions, particularly the contrast between Northern and Southern Hemisphere seasons, with greater depth and nuance. Rather than simply labeling seasons or weather conditions, these students might compare and discuss why the same month carries different seasonal meaning in different countries, connecting language to geography and culture. Their calendar or poster products can reflect this expanded cultural and geographic perspective, incorporating hemispheric contrasts or culturally specific holidays from multiple Spanish-speaking countries.