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The students will understand what a cloud is, how it is formed and the various types of clouds.
Materials:
Teacher Materials:
large jar, plastic bag filled with ice,
- warm water
- one sheet of black paper,
- flashlight
- matches
Student Materials:
- science journal, or paper to write responses
- blue paper
- cotton balls
Plan:
Time Required: 45 minutes - 1 hour
- Read It Looked Like Spilt Milk with the class and discuss what they know about clouds.
- Ask the students what they think a cloud is and how it is formed.
- Then, use the following site, Dan's Wild Wild Weather Page (http://www.wildwildweather.com/) to read with the class about the formation of clouds. Demonstrate this concept using a felt board and pieces or through illustrations on the board. [CAREFUL! You may need to adjust your volume for Dan's sound effects!]
- In small groups perform an experiment of making a cloud. (http://lessonplanspage.com/Sciencecloudslesson.htm) While the teacher is performing the experiment, the other students can be sequencing in their journals the steps of how a cloud is formed. This can be done with illustrations or in narrative form.
- Use Dan's Wild Wild Weather site to research what the following clouds look like: cumulus, nimbus, stratus and cirrus. It would be helpful to have a poster resembling the clouds. There are also some beautiful pictures of clouds in the links in the site.
- Have students fold the blue paper to form 4 boxes. Label each box with a different type of cloud and then use the cotton to make a particular cloud.
Assessment:
The teacher can evaluate the student's responses in the science journal and check for accuracy of the sequencing of the formation of clouds.
Follow-Up/Extension:
Share the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and have students write their own story about a crazy weather day. Comments:
Copyright 1999 by Susan Henshaw. All Rights Reserved.
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