March breezes

Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2002 by Hurst, Carol Otis

In the Library

The power of the wind appears in books, art, websites and more.

Most of us, when we think of March, think of wind. So, let's explore some things to do with kids, the wind before we even get into exploring wind in the library. First of all, you must feel the wind. If a windy day doesn't happen naturally in your area, create your own wind tunnel, hold out your arms, lift up your face and feel it. Put words to your feelings and describe them to each other. Start making lists of wind words: gust, breeze, blast and the like. Include words to describe the wind as well: gentle, blustery, refreshing.

Who has seen the vAnd?

Look around. Watch trees, birds and clouds in the wind. Hang clothes on a line and watch the effect of wind on those clothes. Use watercolors on large paper to record your observations.

Sail some kites. It's amazing how many kids have never held the string of a kite sailing high overhead. If the kids get really into it, a good science unit on the aerodynamics involved can be introduced this way. You'd better find the sheet music for "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins!

The wind in the arts

Take a look at how master artists have portrayed the wind. Look for photographs showing the wind at work and play. Find and display some paintings such as Winslow Homer's "Breezing Up" and Theodore Gericault's "The Raft of the Medusa." In both of these paintings, wind carries a craft.

Look at Eugene Delacroix's painting "Liberty Leading the People" and see the wind in the French flag. Another example of the wind in art is John Constable's "Stonehenge." In that piece, the violent wind and stormy sky are the background against which the megaliths stand. You can view Van Gogh's depiction of a windy day online at www.ibiblio .org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/fields/gogh. threatening-skies.jpg

A lesser-known but effective painting by Scoppettone, "Windy Day Paris" is at www.scoppettone.com/windydp.html Explore the Internet for other windy images. You can create mobiles in which air currents become part of the art itself.

Find some good storm music such as selections from Scheherezade and the Valkyries. Encourage kids to paint or move to the music.

Windy websites

Visit some websites such as http://sln.fi. edu/tfI/units/energy/wind.html which has links to other sites and www.ghcc. msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/ which features images from weather satellites.

It now may be time to turn to the words. Many, many poems for children use wind as their subject. Find as many as possible and, after allowing lots of preparation time, take turns sharing your favorites. Mine include Christina Rossetti's "Wind," available at http://alt. venus.co.uk/weed/writings/poems/cgrt w.htm Don't forget Robert Louis Stevenson's "Windy Nights."

Try putting the art and poetry together. You may not be able to find whole poems that match the artwork, but you'll surely be able to match single lines. Explain your choices.

Words about wind Turn to novels and read aloud some descriptions of the wind such as that first scene in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (Yearling, 1973, ISBN 0-44049805-8) and Gary Paulsen's description of the wind in his book Caught by the Sea (Delacorte, 2001, ISBN 0385-32645-9). For older readers, Paul Fleischman's novel Whirligig (Laurel Leaf, 1999, ISBN 0-440-22835-2) deals with more than the wind toys of the title. A teenager is responsible for the death of a young woman. The woman's mother asks him to build whirligigs across the country, in memory of the young woman. In doing so, he is transformed.

Some of your students might want to try their hand at constructing whirligigs. Visit From "Windmills to Whirligigs" at www.sci.mus.mn.us/sln/vollis/index/fr ontvollis.html

You might want to look at books and stories that deal with wind as a character such as "At the Back of the North Wind" and "Mother West Wind Stories" by Thornton Burgess.

It's an easy step from there into expressions about the wind. Don't forget the one about the ill wind blowing and the one about getting the wind at your back. "Look what the wind blew in!"

Breezy picture books

Next turn to the picture books that put images and words of the wind together. You might start with Jane Yolen and Ed Young's The Girl Who Loved the Wind (HarperCollins, 1972, ISBN 0-06-443088X). Kathryn Lasky and Janet Stevens' picture book The Gates of the Wind (Harcourt, 1995, ISBN 0-15204264-4) offers another female who relates to the wind.

Pat Hutchins' picture book The Wind Blew (Aladdin, 1993, ISBN 0-689-71744-X) is worth searching for. The same is true of Betsy James' Blow Away Soon (Putnam, 1995, ISBN 0399-22648-6), which has a lovely legend about the wind. Bill Martin Jr. and Barry Root's book Old Devil Wind (Harcourt, 1971, ISBN 015-201384-8) simply begs to be read aloud and chanted by a group.

The tall tale by Carol Purdy and Steven Kellogg, Iva Dunnit and the Big Wind (Dial, 1984, ISBN 08037-0183-7) together with James Stevenson's The Sea-Breeze Hotel (HarperCollins, 1992, ISBN 0-06443406-0) should open the door for even more windy tall tales - perhaps even some written and illustrated by your students.