Unit 6 — Weather, Seasons and Numbers Calendar, Dates, Birthdates
Description
Students develop vocabulary for weather, seasons, numbers, and calendar-related terms while exploring climate differences across Spanish-speaking regions. The unit emphasizes that seasons are opposite in South America and that calendar conventions differ between cultures (for example, months and days are not capitalized in Spanish). Students practice numbers through songs and games, create calendars, and discuss birthday celebrations and holiday traditions.
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 weather, season, number, and calendar words in oral and written materials with visual support
- Respond with physical actions and gestures to simple oral directions related to weather and seasons
- Recognize memorized words related to weather and climate in target and own cultures in contextualized texts
- Recognize cultural practices related to birthday celebrations and holiday traditions
- Recognize that calendars and date conventions differ across cultures
- Tell others basic preferences about weather and seasons using memorized phrases
- Share memorized words and phrases about climate change in target and own cultures
- Present familiar personal information about birthdays and seasons using practiced phrases
Supplemental Resources
- Chart paper for creating season posters
- Printed calendar templates for birthday and holiday calendars
- Index cards with number words for matching and sorting activities
Interpersonal Mode
Interpretive Mode
Presentational Mode
Communication Modes
Students develop vocabulary and language conventions through dialogue creation, written paragraphs describing classroom objects and family members, and reading comprehension activities using Spanish text.
Students apply numerical and geometric concepts when learning Spanish numbers, counting to 1000, identifying shapes and sizes, measuring time and dates on calendars, and creating visual representations with colors and shapes.
Students explore cultural diversity and global perspectives through study of Spanish-speaking countries, family structures and traditions across cultures, clothing and dress customs, calendar and holiday celebrations, and climate differences in various regions.
Students investigate weather patterns, seasons, and climate differences across Spanish-speaking regions and their own environments, including how seasonal and weather variations affect daily life and cultural practices.
Formative Assessments
- Oral recitation of numbers and days of the week
- Listening activities where students identify weather words from descriptions
- Creating weather symbols and labeling them in Spanish
Summative Assessment
Create a calendar with family and major holiday dates marked, create a poster showing the four seasons with weather for each and present to the class, and read a paragraph about various holidays and birthdays while answering comprehension questions
Benchmark Assessment
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Alternative Assessment
Students may respond to weather and calendar vocabulary through pointing, matching pictures to words, or arranging word/image cards in the correct order instead of verbal responses. Number recognition may be demonstrated through physical responses such as holding up the correct number of fingers or selecting numbers from a visual array.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For this unit's focus on oral vocabulary and visual-spatial tasks such as labeling weather symbols and creating calendars, students may benefit from picture-supported word banks pairing Spanish weather and season terms with images to reduce the language-processing load. Oral responses, gestures, or pointing should be accepted as valid alternatives to written output, particularly during number recitation and weather identification activities. When presenting calendar or season posters, students may use practiced sentence frames or recorded speech rather than fully improvised language. Directions for multi-step tasks like calendar creation should be broken into smaller numbered steps and accompanied by a visual model of the finished product.
Section 504
Students in this unit may benefit from extended time when completing written calendar tasks or labeling weather symbols in Spanish, as the dual demand of foreign language vocabulary and written production can increase processing time. Preferential seating near the instructor during oral recitation activities and listening-based weather identification tasks supports focus and reduces distraction. A clean, uncluttered reference card with key Spanish terms for weather, seasons, and calendar vocabulary may be kept on the student's desk during formative and summative tasks.
ELL / MLL
Because this unit introduces Spanish vocabulary for weather, seasons, and calendar conventions that may also differ from students' home-country experiences, teachers should use realia, photographs, and short video clips to build concrete understanding of how climate and calendar customs vary across cultures. Students whose home language is Spanish may be encouraged to draw on that background to deepen meaning and make connections, while students from other language backgrounds benefit from visual glossaries pairing Spanish weather and season words with images. Simplified, direct directions for tasks such as calendar creation should be paired with a completed example so students understand the expected outcome before beginning.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support in this unit can be connected to prior knowledge by first discussing familiar weather and seasonal experiences before introducing Spanish vocabulary, giving them a meaningful context for new words. Providing a partially completed calendar or a labeled season template reduces the complexity of the summative task while still allowing students to demonstrate understanding of key concepts like seasonal differences and cultural celebrations. Number songs and movement-based games offer low-stakes, high-engagement entry points for students who are building confidence with Spanish oral production.
Gifted & Talented
Students who have quickly internalized core weather, season, and calendar vocabulary can be challenged to investigate how Spanish-speaking countries in different hemispheres or climate zones experience seasons differently, moving beyond the textbook contrast of North and South America. They may explore how regional holidays or cultural celebrations are connected to specific seasons or climate patterns, synthesizing language and cultural knowledge in a more complex way. Encouraging students to craft a short bilingual comparison of calendar or birthday traditions—drawing on research rather than practiced phrases—pushes toward higher-order thinking and more nuanced cross-cultural analysis.