You are on page 1of 6

Types of Clouds in the Sky Lesson Plan

Getting Ready for the Lesson a. Review: Students should already know: How clouds are formed explained in the water cycle The complete water cycle Precipitation Runoff Evaporation Condensation Precipitationetc. Clouds are formed in the condensation part of the cycle The four types of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, hail The review is an overall understanding of the water cycle and shows an understanding of where clouds are placed in the water cycle and sets the students up to study clouds in more depth. b. Purpose: The ability to distinguish between different types of clouds in the sky will help the student predict what the weather is going to be like c. Objective(s): Instructional: Using pictures of the sky and looking at the actual sky, the student will be able to draw, create, and identify the four different types of clouds with 80% accuracy. By looking outside at the clouds, the student will be able to identify characteristics for each type of cloud to predict what the weather will be like with 100% accuracy Expressive: I can identify the four different types of clouds that appear in the sky. I can tell what the weather will do by looking at the clouds in the sky. d. Anticipatory Set: Process: Ask the students if they are ever curious about what the weather will be. Do they find themselves wondering, Is it a good day to play outside and go to the pool? Or is it going to be a good day to play a game inside while it is raining, then go puddle jumping once the sky clears up? Tell the students that they can all become their own personal weatherman or weatherwoman like the people on TVall they have to do is look out their window! Read the book Clouds by Anne Rockwell. Purpose: To spark their interest about being able to predict the weather by looking up at the clouds in the sky. Lesson Content a. Input: [Students begin taking notes here / AND teacher model for each type of cloud with food at the end of the explanation of each type of cloud]

There are four different types of clouds: 1. Cumulus What does this cloud look like? Shape: Tall and puffy Example: Look like towers and cauliflower Color: When the sun hits the clouds, they look solid bright white. When the sun is not shining, there is a light gray shadow. What is the weather going to do? The water collects in tiny, round water droplets. The droplets are getting bigger, but they arent quite heavy enough for precipitation to fall down, so the day will be partly cloudy, with sun shinning through the breaks in the clouds. 2. Stratus What does this cloud look like? Shape: Flat and all different kinds of shapes, can be thick or thin Example: Look like pancakes. Sometimes they look like stacks of pancakes and sometimes they look like single pancakes. Color: White when the sun is shining, and light gray when the sun is not shining. What is the weather going to do? The water collects in small, round water droplets. There is not enough moisture in the stratus cloud to develop precipitation, so the day will be partly cloudy with the sun shining sometimes through the clouds. 3. Cirrus What does this cloud look like? Shape: Curls and waves with no clear shape. You can see a lot of the sky through these clouds. Example: Look like curls of hair, string, or noodles Color: White or light blue with no shadows. There is not enough water in the cloud to make a shadow of gray. What is the weather going to do? These clouds are the highest kind of clouds, usually at an elevation of 18,000 feet. Since the temperature is colder the higher you go in the atmosphere, the water droplets in the cirrus cloud have turned into tiny pieces of ice. This means the day will mostly be sunny with no precipitation. 4. Cumulonimbus What does this cloud look like? Shape: Tall, wide, and fluffy, flat on the bottom, and larger than cumulus clouds. Example: Looks like cotton candy, a wall, mushrooms Color: light or dark gray What is the weather going to do?

The water droplets in a cumulonimbus cloud are so big that they cant stay in cloud any longer because they are so heavy. This means if you see these big gray monsters in the sky, you can expect any kind of precipitation to fall. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail can fall from these clouds. Thunder and lightning and sometimes tornados come from these kinds of clouds as well. Be prepared to stay indoors or carry and umbrella when you see cumulonimbus clouds in the sky, and put on your rain boots when they pass so that you can splash in puddles! b. Modeling: Materials needed: Cauliflower Plate of 3-4 pancakes Plate of cooked noodles Mushrooms (umbrella kind) Pictures of each kind of cloud While explaining each type of cloud, use the corresponding food that is noted in the content section of the lesson plan under examples for each type of cloud. Hold the food in the air like a cloud along with the printed picture of each cloud so that the students can identify with the visual prop that is associated with the cloud in additional to pictures and word descriptions. Be sure to explain how each food relates to each cloud, use the following relationships to help guide you: Cumulus Cauliflower: Explain how the cauliflower is plump, fluffy looking, and white like a cumulus cloud. Pass around the cauliflower so that students can see the details up close. Stratus Pancakes: Explain how stratus clouds form in the sky like a group of pancakes on a plate. They are layered sometimes and have a row pattern. Cirrus Noodles: Place cooked noodles in a swooping and twirling formation loosely on the plate. Explain how cirrus clouds form in a similar pattern in the sky. Cumulonimbus Explain how a mushroom is tall, wide, and has a flat bottom and also is a gray color like a cumulonimbus cloud. It is key for the students to know this is the one cloud that produces precipitation. To help make this stick, you can relate the idea that the mushroom looks like an umbrella so the students remember that cumulonimbus clouds bring rain. Food is a powerful motivator, and hopefully, the students will be able to relate certain kinds of food to remember the specific types of clouds. c. Checking for Understanding: Once input and modeling is complete (or during modeling if deemed necessary), ask individual students to orally answer the following questions (choose a different student for each question): Which cloud looks like strands of noodles in the sky?

(Cirrus) o For this cloud, what kind of weather can you expect? (Sunny) Which cloud looks like a stack of pancakes on a plate? (Stratus) o For this cloud, what kind of weather can you expect? (Partly cloudy/sunny) Which cloud looks like a mushroom? (Cumulonimbus) o For this cloud, what kind of weather can you expect? (Thunderstorm with rain, snow, hail, or sleet) Which cloud looks like cauliflower? (Cumulus) o For this cloud, what kind of weather can you expect? (Partly cloudy/sunny) Activities a. Guided Practice/Extension: Constructing A Cloud (25 minutes) Targeted Objective: In a group using pictures of the clouds from notes, the students will be able to create the four types of clouds Purpose: The students are collectively creating a piece of art that will help them remember the different types of clouds. Materials needed: Blue construction paper Cotton balls Glue Gray marker Process: 1. Break students up into groups of four and also them to use the notes they took during the input and modeling section part of the lesson 2. Give each group four identical cloud cut outs with each one labeled either Cumulus, Stratus, Cirrus, or Cumulonimbus 3. A student will choose one of the types of clouds to create with the rest of the groups help 4. On the opposite side of the labeling, the student will use cotton balls and glue to create the type of cloud that is specified on the opposite side of the cloud cut out 5. Before the students go to work, the teacher should briefly demonstrate how to stretch the cotton balls into different shapes to simulate each type of cloud and also mention that the cotton balls will be colored gray for only one type of cloud 6. Once the students have completed their cloud, they will share their cloud with the rest of the group and share 2 characteristics of that specific cloud and write the characteristics below the name on the opposite side of the cloud 7. Teacher will hang the clouds from the ceiling during a break in the class so the students can see their work for the remainder of the weather unity

Product: A cloud made out of cotton balls with the type of cloud labeled on the back with two characteristics. The cloud will hang from the ceiling of the room for the remainder of the weather unit. Evaluation: If the group of students created four different types of clouds that look similar to the actual type of clouds and list two characteristics, they have mastered that particular objective b. Independent Practice: Watching The Sky (25 minutes) Targeted Objective: Students will be able to draw and identify the four different types of clouds that are in the sky. Purpose: Students need to be able to differentiate between types of clouds in the actual sky. This will develop the students ability to draw and identify the four different types of clouds in the sky Materials needed: Crayons (white, black, and gray) Light blue construction paper Access to outside Something hard to write on outside Process: 1. Give each student a light blue piece of construction paper, crayons, and something hard to write on 2. Tell your students that we will be going outside for an 15 minute cloud watching activity 3. Have students draw the different clouds they see and label the clouds with the appropriate type of cloud (remind them that there can me many of the four different types of clouds in the sky at the same time) 4. Encourage the students to make it fun and try to find different shapes in the clouds such as animals, food, faces, objects, etc. 5. After 15 minutes of silent cloud watching, the student should have a paper full of clouds with the type of cloud written next to the cloud 6. Come back inside and we will discuss the different cloud formations we saw. Use the following discussion topics as a guideline for conversation. Relation to weather: It is okay if not all types of clouds were in the sky. However, for the clouds that are in the sky, discuss with the students how the predicted weather patterns for those types of clouds paralleled with how the weather actually was. Identifying clouds: Did you find any shapes in the clouds? If so, what did the shapes look like? What kind of clouds looked liked these shapes? Were there any clouds you had a hard time identifying? Describe the cloud to the class and we will try to figure it out together. 7. Turn in your canvas of clouds so that the teacher can assess the students understanding of the four types of clouds. Product: A piece of construction paper with students drawing and identification of clouds.

Evaluation: Use the product that was collected in class to determine the students mastery of the subject. If 80% of the information seems to be mastered, then that student has mastered the objective for that given day. Wrapping-up the Lesson a. Closure: Ask the students to stand up if they can identify all four types of clouds that appear in the sky. Pick four of the students standing to identify one of the four types of clouds as you hold up the pictures that you used earlier in your lesson. (Cumulus, Stratus, Cirrus, Cumulonimbus) b. Assessment: Use the product from the independent practice that was collected in class to determine the students mastery of the subject. If 80% of the information seems to be mastered, then that student has mastered the objective for that given day. c. Homework: Assignment: Youre the Weatherman! Congratulations! Since you are now an expert on the clouds, you get to become the weatherman or weatherwoman in your neighborhood for the night!!! Directions: Before the sun goes down, look at the sky and determine what the weather is going to be like tonight. Draw a picture of the clouds you see in the box below and label what types of clouds they are. Write a brief description on the lines below your picture about what the weather is going to be like and something you recommend your viewers to do due to the weather. Think of things that you hear your weatherman say when it is sunny or raining outside. (Example: Tonight, we have dark cumulonimbus rolling in. This means there is a chance of rain, thunder, and lightning. Make sure you dont travel too far without an umbrella and rain boots!)

You might also like