Materials:

• Material to make binoculars (two toilet paper rolls taped together, or two sheets of rolled-up construction paper)
• Stuffed animals (bear, rabbit, lion)
• Book: The Water Hole by Graeme Base (Doubleday Canada, 2001)

1. Before the lesson, tape the two rolls of paper together in the shape of binoculars, marking the ‘up’ side.  Draw two small pictures on white paper to fit the “lenses” of the binoculars:  a sun and a rain cloud.  Tape the pictures to the end of the binoculars.  
   
   
2. Review with the class what they have already learned about the seasons.  Show stuffed animals (or pictures) of Canadian mammals to review how animals change in winter.
   
   
3. Show a picture of a lion, or some other African mammal.  Ask what this animal does in winter; wait to see if anyone points out that there is no winter in the places where lions live (“it’s too hot”).
   
   
4. Explain that unlike our four seasons, lions only have two!  Make a T-shaped chart on the board for these two seasons but leave it blank.  The class will first have to explore what those seasons are like.  Putting on an “exploring” hat, the teacher brings out the binoculars and invites the children to look through them.
   
   
5. Ask the children not to describe what they see in the binoculars until everyone has had a turn.  While they wait their turn, get the children to expand their prior knowledge by naming other animals that live in hot countries. 
   
   
6. Once everyone has had a turn, return to the T-chart and ask the class to describe what they saw and to give a name to these two seasons (ex.: rainy and sunny).  Ask if anyone noticed how the rain cloud seems to cover the sun as their eyes cross; by focussing their eyes, the students can also uncover the sun from the cloud.  This shows how seasons change in hot countries.
   
   
7. Ask the class to predict what several months without rain would be like.  How would it affect people or animals?  Conversely, what would several months of rainy days be like?  Write the things that would benefit from the weather under each column, i.e. “ducks” and “fish” under rainy season.

Application:

1. Give the children time to make two drawings in a half-page journal, one showing their house if there was nothing but sunny days, the other if there was nothing but rain.  As they are drawing, help them think of sentences to write in the lines below the drawings that describe the picture.  Discuss how school and vacations would be affected.  Write down some of their sentences on a flipchart and keep for when the guest comes in.

2. If desired, the children can make their own “seasonal” binoculars with pre-rolled sheets of construction paper.  Provide strips of paper with small circles in which children can draw opposite weather patterns that “collide” when their eyes cross over (after they cut out the circles, the teacher can help tape the circles in place).

3. Ask a volunteer or parent from a tropical country to come in and talk about their experience of wet and rainy seasons.  Encourage the children to use their ideas from their journal as questions for the guest.

Assessment:

The teacher will use informal observation of how children answer and pose questions during the guest speaker’s visit, as well as during their jouranalling.  The teacher can also check if their drawings for the binoculars show understanding of the cyclical nature of seasons.

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