What Season Is This?

Background Information for Teachers

Every place on Earth experiences different seasons over the course of a year. The mid-latitudes in the Northern and Southern hemispheres experience the classic four seasons that we call spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each of the four seasons is usually characterized by special weather conditions such as precipitation, sunlight, or temperature patterns that repeat every year. As the weather changes, living things such as plants change along with it, and animals, including humans, change their behavior to adapt to the varying conditions.

There are lots of animals that exhibit distinct behaviors during each season. For example, animals usually produce offspring in spring, either gather food for the winter or migrate to warmer places in fall, or hibernate in winter. An annual plant's life cycle follows a pattern that is dependent on the weather conditions in each season. They go dormant over the winter to survive the cold and come back to life in spring when the temperatures become warmer and the days become longer. They grow their flowers and fruit over the summer, so they are ready for harvest in fall. Once they have set their seeds, they are ready to go dormant for winter and the cycle starts again.

The table below shows some typical characteristics of each of the seasons in the mid-latitudes. Depending on the specific location on Earth, these characteristics might vary.

In this lesson, students will investigate seasonal patterns by matching various pictures to the different seasons. In small groups, students will analyze the pictures for clues to a specific season, describe what they observe, and explain what evidence they have found in each picture to identify the season. By discussing and comparing the images, students will be able to recognize patterns and identify seasonal changes over time.

Additional Background Links

• Spring, summer, autumn and winter - why do we have seasons?, from ABC
• Seasons and the Sun: Crash Course Kids 11.1, from Crash Course Kids at YouTube
• Trees Through the Seasons, from Limbwalker
• What causes the seasons?, from NASA

Prep Work (15 minutes)

• Print one copy of the four-season tree and the appropriate season wheel (northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere).
• Print one set of the season images for each group and cut them out. If the provided images are not appropriate for your region, find and use locally relevant images instead.
• For each group, label five paper plates, each with one of the seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) and one with "unknown". You can also draw a season symbol on each plate if students have difficulties reading.

Engage (15 minutes)

1. Start the lesson by showing students the picture of the four-season tree. Have students describe what they see in the picture. Then ask,

   What do you notice about this picture? How does the tree look different in each corner?

   Collect students' replies. Elicit responses that mention how the foliage of the tree looks different or how one bottom corner depicts snow whereas the other one shows green grass.

2. Ask students to pair up and then discuss with their partner,

   Why do you think this tree picture has four different parts?

   Let students exchange their ideas. Use their answers to explain that each corner of the picture shows the same tree during a different time of the year.

3. Have students guess which time of the year matches each corner of the tree picture. Point to each part of the picture and ask,

   What time of the year do you think the tree looks like this?

   Guide students to conclude that the four times of the year are spring, summer, fall, and winter.

4. Show students the appropriate season wheel (northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere) image and state that a year is divided into four different seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Have students write the names of the four seasons on their worksheet.
5. Tell students that today they will investigate how each of the seasons differ from each other and try to identify seasonal patterns.

Explore (30 minutes)

1. Divide students into groups of three. Provide each group with five labeled paper plates and one set of the cut-out season images season images. Explain to your students that they have to find out which season is depicted in each of the pictures.
2. Direct students to look at each picture carefully to find clues that help them sort the pictures. Have students take turns matching a picture to the right season. In each group, let students describe what they see in each picture and explain the reasons for why they chose to assign it to a specific season. They should discuss the following questions:

   What does the picture show?

   Why do you think this picture belongs to this season?

   What clues did you find in the picture that tell you the season?

3. Note: When looking at the pictures, encourage students to not only focus on what things look like in each picture. Sometimes a clue might be hidden in what someone or something does in the picture.
4. Each picture that has been matched to a season should be placed on the respective paper plate. If a student has difficulties sorting a picture, ask students to share their thoughts about the picture. Specifically, they should think about:

   What do you know about each season that could help us sort the picture?

5. Give students about 20 minutes to sort the pictures.
6. Once all groups are done sorting their pictures, gather all students and discuss as a whole group,

   What was difficult or easy about matching the pictures to the different seasons?

   Were there any pictures that you couldn't match to a specific season? If yes, why?

Reflect (15 minutes)

1. Have students look at the pictures on each of the plates. Discuss,

   What do you notice when comparing the pictures between plates?

   How are they different or similar to each other?

   Use students' responses to explain that each season is characterized by specific weather conditions such as temperature, rainfall, sunlight, etc. These conditions change from season to season, which makes each season different.

2. Ask students to name at least 3 characteristics for each season based on their observations from the pictures and list them on a sheet of paper (one sheet for each season). Encourage students to not only focus on how things look but also how things behave (animal or human behavior) and what the weather is like in each season.
3. Together with your students go through the list and ask,

   How do these things change from season to season?

   Can you make out a pattern?

   If students have difficulties with these questions prompt them to think about temperature or precipitation patterns, or how animal behavior changes with the seasons. You find some season characteristics in the table shown in the background section.

4. Based on your discussion and the lists you made, ask students to fill out section two of their worksheet.
5. Go through the images that groups placed on the "unknown" plate. Discuss,

   Why was it difficult to sort this picture?

   Based on the lists of words that we made for each season, can you sort the picture now?

6. If they still can't sort the picture, discuss what additional information they would need to be able to sort this picture.
7. Optional: Finish the lesson by asking students to draw a picture of a tree during each season. Use these pictures to reiterate what they have learned about the different seasons, how they differ, and what seasonal patterns they could observe.

Make Career Connections

Discussing or reading about these careers can help students make important connections between the in-class lesson and STEM job opportunities in the real world.

Meteorologist

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Career Profile

Meteorologists observe and measure the weather. They measure things like temperature, rain, and wind speed. They use their observations to help predict what the weather will be in the future. Read more

Climate Change Analyst

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Career Profile

While meteorologists try to predict what the weather will be like tomorrow or next week, Climate Change Analysts measure and predict how patterns in weather change over much longer periods of time, such as hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years. They study how human activity can cause changes in the climate and what we can do to prevent unwanted changes. Read more

Lesson Plan Variations

• Point out that not every part of the world experiences four seasons. For example, in the tropics there are only two seasons (wet and dry). Show students a world map that shows how the seasons differ between the arctic, the mid-latitudes, and the tropics.
• Focus more on how animal behavior changes between seasons. What do different animals do during each season? In which season do they have their babies? How do they adapt to each season?
• Explore with your students why we have four different seasons. The explanation is provided in the additional resources.