Activity 01
Seasonal Sorting Circle
Place four large hoops on the floor, each labelled with a season. Give small groups of children a collection of picture cards showing clothes, activities, weather, and nature (e.g., snowman, swimming togs, falling leaves, daffodils). The children work together to sort the cards into the correct season's hoop.
Identify the season we are in now.
Facilitation TipEncourage pupils to explain their reasoning for placing a card in a particular hoop.
What to look forDuring a class discussion, ask pupils to name the month that comes after the current one. Use think-pair-share to have them discuss one thing they like to do in winter.
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Activity 02
Our Class Birthday Train
Create a long 'train' on the wall with twelve carriages, each labelled with a month in order. Each child decorates a small card with their name and birthday and places it in the correct month's carriage. This creates a visual, year-long timeline of the class.
Explain how the weather changes from winter to summer.
Facilitation TipRefer to the train throughout the year to mark birthdays and reinforce the current month.
What to look forProvide pupils with a worksheet that has four boxes, one for each season. Ask them to draw one picture in each box that shows something that happens in that season.
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Activity 03
A Year on a Paper Plate
Each child gets a paper plate to divide into four equal sections, one for each season. They can draw a picture in each section that represents that season in Ireland, for example, a snowman for winter or a sun for summer. This helps them visualise the year as a cycle.
Compare the activities you do in autumn with the activities you do in spring.
Facilitation TipProvide examples and a word bank of seasonal ideas on the board to support all learners.
What to look forGive children a simple 'I can' statement sheet with pictures, for example, 'I can name the four seasons'. They can colour in a smiley face next to the statements they feel confident about.
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Generate Complete Lesson→A few notes on teaching this unit
Begin with the familiar, focusing on the current month and season to ground their learning. Use a large, interactive classroom calendar as a daily focal point. Songs and rhymes are invaluable for memorising the sequence of the months, while regular 'weather watch' and nature walks will connect the abstract concepts to tangible, real-world changes.
Upon completion, your pupils will be able to confidently name and order the months and describe the unique character of each Irish season.
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
The months are just random names and can be in any order.
The months of the year always follow the same special order, just like numbers when we count. We use this order to know when things like holidays and birthdays will happen. A song or rhyme can help us remember the sequence from January to December.
A new season begins exactly on the first day of a certain month, for example, summer starts on 1st June.
We often group months with seasons, like June, July, and August for summer, but the change in weather is gradual. The seasons are long periods, and the weather slowly changes from one to the next.
The weather associated with a season is the same every single day of that season.
While winter is generally cold, we can still have some milder, sunny days. And even in summer, we can get rainy days in Ireland. The season tells us the most likely weather, not the weather for every day.
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