A Bird’s Eye View—Lessons with Washington’s Weathervane

Just in time for teachers to create a lesson for Washington’s birthday on February 22, I promised I would add a little to Reita Adam’s lesson on making weathervanes. The following are some of my ideas for history math, science, art, language arts, and even a song. I love Washington’s “Dove of Peace” weathervane!
Language Arts: Have students write a story, “A Bird’s Eye View” about what the weathervane saw on a certain day at Mount Vernon. The weathervane might see Washington leaving for the presidency or Lafayette coming to visit, or something happening on the Potomac, or observing the animals on the grounds, or????
Art: Have students create a weathervane of one of Washington’s animals—Ossabaw Hogs, Hog Island Sheep, Nelson (his horse) , Sweet Lips (one of his dogs), Snipe (Martha’s parrot), etc. There are many versions of how to make weathervanes online—from paper to tin ones.
Math: Put degrees of a circle around the weathervane and have students figure the degrees of East, South, and West or even northeast, southeast, etc.
History: Many online sites tell the history of weathervanes. The ancient Greeks used one in Athens and the Vikings also had a version. Early Christian churches were required to have a rooster on them to remind Christians of Peter’s betrayal “before the rooster crowed three times.” “George Washington ordered his Dove of Peace weathervane from a Philadelphian named Joseph Raikstraw in 1787. It is made from copper with an iron frame and a cast lead headpiece. In a letter dated August 12, 1787 George Washington specifies that ‘the bill of the bird should be painted black … and the olive branch in the mouth of it must be green.’ While no record remains for the original body color, tradition and two paintings by Edward Savage in 1792 strongly suggest that it was covered in gold gilt. Unfortunately, because of the increased air pollution around the metro D.C. area, the original Dove of Peace had to be permanently removed in 1993. Today an exact replica rests in its place (Mount Vernon web site).”
Science: The website http://ferroweathervanes.com/kids_vanes/science.htm has a wonderful chart for students to record the direction of the wind each day and the weather. After several weeks the students can discuss any conclusions that they observed. Did a certain direction of wind indicate warm weather? Cold weather? Inclement weather?
Song to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” (Feel free to change my lyrics—I am not very musical!)
How many times did George view his roof
Before he began every day
How many times did he check his gold dove
To see which way the wind strayed
How many times did he check the wind vane
Before boating the Ches-a-peake Bay
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many times did George look up
To see the vane in the skies?
How often did he check directional wind
By looking at the way the vane flies?
How many times did it take ‘til he knew
With east winds a storm might arrive
The answer my friend is the ever-changing wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times did George look above
Proud of what he perceived
How many times did he ar-rive home
Glad at Mount Vernon to be
How many times did he gaze at the dove
Above the land of the free
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
Some interesting sites on weathervanes:
http://www.ummbf.com/MTJHA/09.%20Weather%20Lesson.pdf
http://www.denninger.com/history.htm
http://www.weathervaneandcupola.com/history.html