Design a unit, incorporating books about animals during reading workshop time. Begin reading the books to your pupils first to help build background knowledge. Begin talking about the things that animals do in winter: hibernate, migrate and adapt. Cut out a large piece of butcher paper and draw a forest scene. Have pupils glue paper pictures of the animals onto the paper showing the animal hibernating, migrating or adapting. You can create cards for your pupils to sort into the three groups.
Planting seeds is a fast way to show growth. In clear plastic cups have the children fill two-thirds of the way with potting soil. Allow students to sprinkle a teaspoon of fast growing grass onto the top of the soil. Have students sprinkle soil on top and give the seeds a small drink of water. Place the cups near your classroom window. Give pupils a data sheet to record observations. Each day, have the children write and draw what they see. Discuss what is causing the seeds to grow and what the plants need. Another variation is to soak dried lima beans overnight. Have the children wet a paper towel and place the lima bean inside. Put the paper towel and bean in a plastic bag and hang in the window. The bean will grow a small shoot as the bag creates a greenhouse effect.
Gather together different sizes of magnets. Use these sizes of magnets to test which magnet is the strongest. Have the children make paper clip trains, by clipping one clip to another. The students should record how many paper clips each magnet picks up. Another science activity to do with magnets is to have a variety of metal and non-metal items. Provide a strong magnet for the children to use. Show the children how they should test the items to find out if items are magnetic.
Break your class up into small groups of five. Give each group an ice cube and have the pupils observe what happens as the ice cube sits in the classroom. Make a sequencing sheet for pupils to record what they observed, as the ice cube went from a solid to a liquid. Use the scientific terms of solid and liquid while describing the process. Have a melting race where two cups of water are set out. In the first cup, place one large ice cube. In the second cup, place small pieces of ice. Ask the children to predict which ice will melt faster and why. Observe and record what happened.