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Japanese Weather

Fourth graders learn to describe the weather (てんき, tenki) in Japanese — はれ (hare, sunny), あめ (ame, rain), ゆき (yuki, snow), and more. They sort words for bright, nice days from wet or cold ones.

Grade 4Weather40 minutes1 class periodACTFL / World LanguagesExplicit teaching4 StandardsACTFL
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Say Japanese weather words.
  • ✓Tell nice from wet/cold.
  • ✓Sort the weather.
  • ✓Describe the day.
Essential Question

Is it sunny or rainy today? Let’s learn to talk about the weather in Japanese.

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Sort It · Interactive

Nice or Wet/Cold Weather?

Project this and sort each Japanese weather word into Nice (sunny/warm) or Wet or Cold.

☀️ Sort each — nice or wet/cold weather?Try it
☀️ Nice (sunny / warm)
🌧️ Wet or Cold
Tap a word, then tap a box.
The Lesson · Language Flow (Warm-Up · Present · Practice · Speak · Reflect)

40 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Warm-Up — How’s the Weather?

5 min

Is it sunny or rainy? Let’s talk about the weather in Japanese.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Look outside.
  • Ask the weather in Japanese.
  • Set the goal.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Look.
  • Guess.
  • Get ready.
2

Present — Weather

11 min

Students learn.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to Nice or Wet/Cold?
  • Sort each one.
  • Say them aloud.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Sort.
  • Say.
  • Repeat.
3

Practice — Practice

11 min

Students practice.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Say today’s weather.
  • Name sunny & rainy.
  • Say warm or cold.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Say it.
  • Name it.
  • Say it.
4

Speak — Speak

9 min

Students speak.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Say “Kyō wa hare desu” (today is sunny).
  • Describe the sky.
  • Ask a partner.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Say it.
  • Describe.
  • Ask.
5

Reflect — Reflect

4 min

Students close.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Say a weather word.
  • Say today’s weather.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Say one.
  • Say it.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (Novice-Low).

ACTFL
Communication 1.2

Interpretive: understand weather words.

ACTFL
Connections 3.1

Connect to science (weather).

ACTFL
Comparisons 4.1

Compare weather vocabulary.

ACTFL
Communication 1.1

Interpersonal: describe weather.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Weather cards with romaji.
  • Sentence frame: “Kyō wa ___ desu.”
  • Use weather symbols.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with hare & ame.
  • Sort one at a time.
  • Use symbols.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Add kaze (wind).
  • Keep a weather chart.
  • Report the weather.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Screen / board
  • ☀️Weather cards
  • 💻Nice or Wet/Cold?
  • 🗺️A weather chart
  • ✏️Notebooks
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

てんき (tenki)weatherはれ (hare)sunnyあめ (ame)rainゆき (yuki)snowくもり (kumori)cloudyあたたかい (atatakai)warmさむい (samui)coldにじ (niji)rainbow
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
How do you say “sunny” in Japanese?
はれ (hare).
QUESTION 2
How do you say “rain”?
あめ (ame).
QUESTION 3
What does さむい (samui) mean?
Cold.

Reflect: weather.

Have students say today’s weather in Japanese (like “Kyō wa hare desu”). A printable Japanese weather sheet is in the World Languages library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Japanese WeatherFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Japanese WeatherQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
0%

Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Japanese WeatherPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: あたたかい (atatakai), あめ (ame), くもり (kumori), さむい (samui), てんき (tenki), にじ (niji), はれ (hare), ゆき (yuki)
  1. cold
  2. warm
  3. sunny
  4. weather
  5. cloudy
  6. rainbow
  7. snow
  8. rain

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. How do you say “sunny” in Japanese?
  2. How do you say “rain”?
  3. What does さむい (samui) mean?
Answer key — Part A: 1) さむい (samui) · 2) あたたかい (atatakai) · 3) はれ (hare) · 4) てんき (tenki) · 5) くもり (kumori) · 6) にじ (niji) · 7) ゆき (yuki) · 8) あめ (ame)
Part B: 1) はれ (hare). 2) あめ (ame). 3) Cold.