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Brittany Basile

Cotton Ball Clouds

Grade: 1st or 2nd

Standards:

E.2.A.3 Students know weather changes from day to day and seasonally. I/S

E.2.A.4 Students know weather can be described by measurable quantities such as temperature,

wind direction and speed, and precipitation. I/L

N.2.A.1Students know how to make observations and give descriptions using words, numbers,and drawings. E/S

Materials: *All materials can be obtained at Wal-Mart, Target or the Dollar Store

1. Bags of cotton balls (1 bag per table)

2. Crayons

3. Glue

4. The Cloud Bookby Tomie dePaola (can be purchased on Amazon or Barnes & Noble)

5. Construction paper

6. Science journals

7. Paper/pencils

8.

Procedures:

Engage (10 min):

Students will be given a card with names of the different clouds in the sky (Cirrus, stratus,cumulus and nimbus). Students will then get into groups based on the name of the cloud on their

card. Each group will then be handed pictures of the different cloud types and asked to guess

which cloud type they think matches the name of their group name. Students will then be read

The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola

Explore (25 min):

Students will be asked to record the different characteristics of each cloud type in their science

journal. This may be done either by drawing pictures of the cloud and writing a describing word

or anything that will help them to remember it. We will go over this and have a whole class

discussion as I record some of the words that they used to describe the cloud types on the board.

I will then pass out a piece of construction paper, cotton balls, glue and crayons to each person in

the group. Students will create cumulus, stratus, cirrus and nimbus clouds using the cotton balls,

and then gluing them down to the construction paper. Students will label the type of cloud with

the crayons.

Explain (5-7 min):

Once students have completed their cotton ball cloud activities, they will make a Venn

Diagram in their groups comparing and contrasting the different cloud types. Once groups finish

their diagrams, we will make a class Venn Diagram.

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Elaborate (8-10 min):

Using what students now know about the different cloud types, students will be told to bring a

piece of paper and pen or pencil and follow me outside. Students will observe the clouds in the

sky and draw what they see. Once students are done drawing, we will go back inside and they

will be asked to name the cloud type that was in the sky today. We will talkabout what we

observed and some of the characteristics that we used to help us to determine what kind of cloud

we saw. Students may then color their cloud picture.

Evaluate:

The cotton ball cloud activity, group Venn Diagram and paper with their cloud drawing will all

be collected and used to evaluate students understanding of cirrus, stratus, cumulus and

cumulonimbus clouds.

Teaching Method: Students will engage in cooperative learning while working on their

cotton ball cloud activity and direct-instruction will take place when explaining how clouds are

formed and what they are made up of.

Safety precautions:

Do not put cotton or glue in mouth

Teacher Information:

What are clouds made up of?

A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so

small and light that they can float in the air

How are clouds formed?All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called

water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can't hold as much water vapor

as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air

and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together

they become a visible cloud.

Integration: Writing: Students will write a short story using the prompt: If I were a cloud Iwould be a ___________ because...

Math: Students will learn distances of the different cloud types in the atmosphere and put them in

order from lowest in the atmosphere to highest.

Extend: Students will log on to http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/index.html and click on the linkthat says clouds. From there, students can play the Cloud Matching Game, the Cloud

Concentration Game, and view real-life pictures of the different cloud types.

Students will also be encouraged to record a quick drawing and name of the cloud type in the sky

each day for a week in their science journals.

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/index.htmlhttp://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/index.htmlhttp://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/index.html