PROGRAM 4

Cloudsu GET READY TO WATCHDiscuss the question, “Where do clouds come from?”

Before viewing the program, make a daily clouds chart. Every dayfor several days, take the students outside for a short period of timeto observe the clouds. When you return to the classroom, ask theclass for words that describe the clouds they saw and record themon a chart next to the day of the week.

u TALK ABOUTAfter watching this episode, revisit the clouds chart and record thenames of the types of clouds next to the students’ descriptions.

Ask students if any of their ideas about the origin of clouds havechanged based on information from the program.

Discuss with students how clouds help us and how they may bedangerous to us. How do clouds help predict the weather?

u CURRICULUM INTEGRATION ACTIVITIESScienceMake fog. For this experiment you will need a clean glass bottle orjar, ice cubes (that are frozen together), a pan of water, and a desklamp with a 100-watt bulb. Boil the water. Dip the bottle in the hotwater to warm it and prevent it from cracking during the experi-ment. Set the lamp next to the bottle and turn it on. Pour a smallamount of the boiling water into the bottle. Quickly place the icecubes over the mouth of the bottle and keep them there to preventthe steam from escaping. Shine the lamp on the bottle. The moistair and cool air will meet, forming tiny drops of water as in fog. Thelight will make the fog created in the bottle appear to be swirlingaround.

u Program Description

Celia and Bud look for “cloud pictures” in the sky and identify different types ofclouds. Characteristics of low, puffycumulus clouds, flat, wide stratus clouds,and high, wispy cirrus clouds aredescribed. Celia demonstrates thatclouds are made from hot, moist air meeting cold, dry air, and explains howair drafts cause turbulence. Crinklerootshows how clouds influence the weatherthrough storms, snow, hail, hurricanes,and tornadoes. Viewers also see how to set up a window weather station usinga thermometer, pinwheel, and a jar.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

23C L O U D S

Clouds Chart

Monday

Tuesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

thick, gray, no skyshowing through

like features, white,hardly any clouds

Wednesday

Have students make cloud mobiles and incorporate health andsafety tips for various types of weather. Use cotton balls glued toconstruction paper to represent the three cloud types mentioned inthe program. (To show gray in the clouds, students can rub the cot-ton balls in pencil shavings.) Using yarn or string and illustratedcards, suspend different kinds of weather that may be predictedfrom each of the cloud types. Have students write short health orsafety tips to keep in mind during the kinds of weather and hangthese below the weather cards.

Language ArtsHave students work in small groups and prepare a weatherreport. The groups will need to decide what type of weather theywill report, and make the necessary props (e.g., a map). Allow timefor each group to present its weather report to the class.

Encourage the students to brainstorm charts on appropriateweather days (e.g., “On a rainy day, you can...” or “On a windy day,you can...,”) of things they can do in that kind of weather. Displayeach chart in the classroom so students can add items to it. Usethe charts as a basis for additional activities, such as making a classbook for which each student chooses an item on the list to illustrate,or making a bulletin board for which students make pictures.

Make a weather words big book. Have students brainstorm a listof weather concepts they have learned about, and decide whichones they would like to put in their big book (possibly one wordper child or one per partners). Label each page with the weatherword and have students illustrate it. On a “clouds” page, they mightillustrate and label the three types of clouds from the program.Before they begin their drawings, discuss ways in which they mightshow the concepts.

MathKeep a daily weather pictograph in the classroom. Have studentsdraw an assortment of small pictures that represent different typesof weather. Each day, add a picture next to the appropriate type ofweather. At the end of the month, have student volunteers transferthe information to a bar graph. At the end of the school year,compare the number of sunny, rainy, snowy, cloudy, etc. days.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

u Crinkleroot’s Corner

In a matter of minutes, a cloudcan grow several miles wide

and 40,000 or more feet high!

24 C L O U D S

StratusClouds

Snowstorm

Don’t stayoutsidetoo long

Wear warmclothes

Drink hotcocoa Keep your

feet dry

25C L O U D S

After it rains, take a walk outside and find puddles of differentsizes. Have the students outline the puddles with chalk. Wait anhour and draw around the puddles again. Discuss the new size ofthe puddle. Measure the distance between the two lines. Have stu-dents estimate how long they think it will take for the puddles to dryup completely. Visit the puddles again in another hour and draw anew line. Keep checking the puddles to verify the estimates.

Social StudiesClip several weather maps from newspapers. Discuss with stu-dents the symbols for the different types of weather found on themap. Have students locate areas where it is rainy, sunny, snowy,etc. Have available larger, more detailed maps of the United Statesfor the students to refer to in this activity.

ArtTake the students outside to lie in the grass and look forshapes in the clouds on a day when the cumulus clouds are largeand puffy. Come back inside and paint the cloud pictures withwhite paint on blue construction paper.

Make weather collages. Divide a large chart or bulletin board intosections for various types of weather, such as snowy, windy, rainy,sunny, foggy, etc. Have students look through magazines and cata -logs, and cut out pictures of clothing and other items that would beappropriate for the types of weather, then glue them on the chart.

u CRINKLEROOT SAYS, “DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?”

Check out the local library or bookstore for these books about clouds:

Ariane. Small Cloud. Illus. by Annie Gusman. Dutton, 1984.

Burningham, John. Cloudland. Crown, 1996.

Carle, Eric. Little Cloud. Philomel, 1996.

dePaola, Tomie. The Cloud Book. Holiday House, 1975.

Fowler, Allan. What Do You See in a Cloud? Children’s Press, 1996.

Greene, Carol. Hi, Clouds. Children’s Press, 1983.

McFall, Gardner. Jonathan’s Cloud. Harper & Row, 1986.

McMillan, Bruce. The Weather Sky. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991.

Merk, Ann & Jim. Clouds. Rourke, 1994.

Ray, Deborah Kogan. The Cloud. Harper & Row, 1984.

Rayner, Mary. The Rain Cloud. Atheneum, 1980.

Renberg, Dalia. Hello, Clouds. Harper & Row, 1985.

Shaw, Charles G. It Looked Like Spilt Milk. Harper & Row, 1947.

Silver, Norman. Cloud Nine. Illus. by Jan Ormerod. Clarion, 1995.

Singer, Marilyn. Sky Words.Illus. by Deborah Kogan Ray. Macmillan, 1994.

Spier, Peter. Dreams. Doubleday, 1986.

Wegen, Ronald. Sky Dragon. Greenwillow, 1982.

Wyler, Rose. Raindrops and Rainbows.Illus. by Steven James Petruccio. Julian Messner, 1989.

u Sass’s SceneFor an easy experiment to doat home, make a cloud in a bottle.Hold a bottle with a narrow mouthover a candle flame for a few seconds, and then blow into thebottle. The warm moisture fromyour breath will condense andform a cloud inside the bottle.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

Additional ResourcesBringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. Reading Rainbow video. GPN.

Come a Tide. Reading Rainbow video. GPN.

Weather. Eyewitness Living Earth video. DK, 1996.

Dan’s Wild Wild Weather Page: An Interactive Weather Page for Kids. Internet site: http://www.whnt19.com/kidwx/index.html

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois. Cloud Catalog. Internet site:http://covis.atmos.uiuc.edu/guide/clouds/html/oldhome.html

Plymouth State College (NH) Meteorology Program. Cloud Boutique. Internet site:http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

26 C L O U D S