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Hey You, Get Off My Cloud (Grade 2)

Master Teacher

Deborah Palmer

Overview

This lesson is intended to familiarize second- graders with the three main types of clouds and how they are formed. Through identifying and describing clouds, students will more accurately determine current weather conditions, and the role that clouds play in those conditions.

SC Science Standards Met

Area III—Earth Science, Weather

Strand A, Change: 1a, b

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

observe and identify weather conditions and their causes
describe and classify cumulus, cirrus, and stratus clouds, and explain how they are formed

Materials

For the teacher:

black tempera paint (dry)
paper lunch bag

Per partnership:

10_15 cotton balls
glue
12"x18" sheet of blue construction paper
cloud record sheet
pencil
scissors

ITV Series

Backyard Safari, Program 4: "Clouds"

Previewing Activity

Approximately a week prior to this lesson, the teacher will complete a cloud chart with students. The chart will list the day of the week, a student-created description of any clouds present on that day (example: Monday/like white cotton balls, some sky showing), an illustration, and a blank column to be filled in later with the name of the cloud type.

Review the partially completed cloud chart with students, and ask them to predict what type of weather might occur with each cloud type. Ask students how they think clouds are made.

Focus for Viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing, ask them to watch for clouds that look like the ones on the class cloud chart. They will also need to listen for the names of those cloud types, what makes them, and what types of weather each creates.

Viewing Activity

Play the introduction to the program, beginning with the host changing clothes for various types of weather. Pause when the program title appears. Ask students to describe the types of weather they saw and discuss where each might be coming from.

Fast forward through the program opening until the title appears again. Play until the animated cloud appears. Pause and ask students if they saw any clouds that look like the ones on the class cloud chart, and have them describe them. Then ask them to describe any others they saw that are not listed on the chart.

Fast forward the video to the end of the segment where the man and woman are lying on the grass and he claps his hands. Play and then pause the video each time the name of a cloud is given. Ask students to repeat the name aloud and write it on the board for future reference.

Pause after the man says, "Let me see if I can spot different clouds," and ask students to name the type of cloud shown (cumulus). Play until the woman laughs and says, "Yep." Ask students to name the cloud type they see now (cirrus). Play again until the woman says, "You're getting pretty good at this." Again, ask students to name the cloud type (stratus).

When the man and woman reappear, fast forward to the point where he runs off with a net. When the woman says, "I do know what it takes to make a cloud," pause and ask students to share their ideas about what makes clouds. Play through the segment in the bathroom, and pause again when the woman waves. Ask students again what makes clouds (water), and how they think water can make clouds. Play the kitchen segment, pausing when the woman puts down the glass. Discuss with students how water makes clouds. (Hot and cold air meet to make water droplets. Millions of droplets make a cloud.)

Fast forward until an orange tree appears, meanwhile discussing what the students have learned so far. Pause periodically through the song segment and call on students to identify the names of the different clouds shown.

Post-Viewing Activities

1. Review the names of the three cloud types. Add each name to the cloud chart next to its description.

2. Discuss the weather conditions created by clouds and how clouds are formed.

3. Demonstrate making the three different cloud types using cotton balls. Add a small amount of black tempera paint with the cotton balls in a paper lunch bag and shake well to make stratus clouds. Pull off small thin pieces to make cirrus clouds. To make cumulus clouds, pull the cotton balls apart slightly to make them larger and puffier.

Distribute materials to each set of partners and have them make and label their own cloud charts.

Action Plan

1. Have students keep a daily cloud record (distribute Activity Sheet 1) for one week. They will write the name of the cloud type they see each day and draw a picture.

Extensions

1. Technology: Explore the "Weather Dude" Web site at . From the main page you can click on the musical meteorology link and then the lyrics to "Cloud Cover" link. This page displays the words to a cloud song (that can be heard with Real Audio). The blue words cumulus, cirrus, and stratus in the song are links to pictures and descriptions of each cloud type.

2. Art/Language: Go on a cloud watch. On a day with lots of cumulus clouds, take blankets outside and lay in the grass. Read It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. Have students look at the clouds and choose one to draw and write about in their writing journals. Publish in a class book.

3. Math: Make a class pictograph of clouds seen in the sky each day for a month or so. At the end of the month, convert it to a bar graph and have students interpret the information in their math journals.

Activity Sheet (PDF)

Activity Sheet 1