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Circle of Seasons

How are the seasons one of nature’s most important cycles? Design the cycle of seasons as a circular calendar using Dry-Erase Crayons on a large plastic plate.

  • Grade 2
    Grade 3
  • 30 to 60 minutes
  • Directions

    1. Students investigate the seasons of the year. How does the tilt of the earth toward the sun affect the seasons experienced on different parts of the planet? Students identify the signs of the seasons and which seasons occur in which months where they live.
    2. With Crayola® Dry-Erase Crayons divide a plastic plate into four equal sections. Talk about different ways to describe the plate as it is divided. How many parts are in the whole plate now? What do you call each part? What do you call two parts? Three parts? Introduce the concept of fractions of the plate and parts of the year.
    3. Write the names of the seasons in each quadrant along the outside edge.
    4. Draw a second circle inside the first circle.
    5. Divide each fourth inside the inner circle into 3 equal sections so that the inner circle is now divided into twelfths. Discuss the months of the year and which months are associated with which seasons. Allow students to decide how to arrange the months around the sections of the plate. Explain that officially the seasons change on the 20th or 21st of December, March, June, and September, but seasonal changes are gradual, not always related to a date on the calendar.
    6. Model how to write abbreviations for the months in the sections of the calendar. Invite students to add color and symbols of the weather of the seasons to the calendar.
  • Standards

    LA: With prompting and support, read informational texts appropriately complex for grade.



    MATH: Reason with shapes and their attributes.

    MATH: Develop understanding of fractions as numbers.




  • Adaptations

    Invite children to research more about the seasons using their calendars as inspiration. Provide access to appropriate websites and video clips for children to navigate their way through the Internet to learn more about the seasons.

    Invite students to write season poems. Begin by writing a variety of class poems, such as haiku, acrostic, and a poem that uses color words to describe the seasons. Invite children to write their own poems. Provide poem structures, such as alphabet poetry templates or song ideas for children to use to write poems that follow a rhythm.

    Explore how and why trees change through the cycle of seasons. Divide a foam plate into four sections and draw a tree representing each season in each section using dry-erase crayons.

    Read aloud or gather multiple copies of Our Seasons by Grace Lin and Ranida T. McKneally. Create your own class book following a similar question-and-answer format.


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