It was our plan for me to make a real visit for the whole day on Friday 22nd March,
However although I had listened to the weather forecast that week and understood there was going to be some strong winds on Friday, we got much more than we bargained for. I awoke to blizzards of snow and the trip was postponed. In Belfast it was very bad snow and wind, but in Crossmaglen, at that point, Mrs Carolan told me over the phone there was none!
However Mrs Carolan, in my absence, introduced the poem to the children as a point of discussion, as to how we can try and ‘see’ the wind? Of course it is invisible, but the effects of the wind are what were going to set out to explore, once I could come down to the school.
Eventually I made it down, hoping once again for some windy weather. We have to be careful what we wish for….
So Friday 19th April I arrived for our final all-day session and we had a great day, although chilly, it was dry and a little windy, but good for our planned activities.
I had sent Mrs Carolan a link to a great website from USA which actually shows the map of the United States of America showing the wind direction across the country at different times. Have a look at this site and see the live map and weather system:
Although Mrs Carolan was able to link on to this away from class, it was a different matter in the classroom – we could get onto the site, but not see the ‘live’ wind direction flows. In preparation for the children to understand what the map was and a possible activity to plot the wind direction round the school, Mrs Carolan had discussed with the children the ideas of a plan as a shape that represented buildings, but she felt this was very difficult concept for the children. However we did have a closer look at the static images of the wind map from USA on the whiteboard in the classroom.
Our first task was to go outside and see how we could track the wind direction and the children had ready some bubble mixture and bubble blowers.
Everywhere across the school grounds, the children were working very hard to blow bubbles…. they blew and blew….
And blew…..
And finally …………
The children took great delight in seeing the bubbles zoom away in the wind…
By tying ribbons to the trees, the children were able to see exactly which direction the wind was blowing – “its blowing that way!” they said but none of us had a compass to chart it!
Back in the classroom we discussed what we had experienced outside and how we could again track the direction of the wind….. We decided to cut out shapes of clothes and hang them on a ‘washing line’ between two big trees.
I had come that day armed with some very special crepe paper… In black and amber….
It could only be the colours of the Crossmaglen Rangers Football Club!
Look at these fantastic shapes of shorts, shirts, swimsuits that were first drawn out on the whiteboard, then cut very carefully out of crepe paper….
First the children drew their clothing designs onto the back of the paper the next task was to cut the designs out and the concentration was great!