CLOUDS

4th Grade Science Time: Date: SOLs Addressed 4.6 The student will investigate and understand how weather conditions and phenomena occur and can be predicted. Key concepts include a) weather phenomena; b) weather measurements and meteorological tools; and c) use of weather measurements and weather phenomena to make weather predictions. Instructional Objectives The student will: Paraphrase the process in which clouds are formed Classify, identify, and match cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and cumulo-nimbus clouds from both pictures and definitions Demonstrate an understanding of the different types of clouds by recreating their own clouds

Materials Laminated Brainstorm activity poster board SMARTboard Livebinder URL: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/846905?backurl=%2Fshelf%2Ffeatured&play_vie w=play (Keyword: weather) Construction paper Markers Cotton balls Glue Weather journals

Anticipatory Set If weather permitting, take the students outside to observe the clouds. Make them jot down observations in their weather journals. If there is bad weather, observe the clouds through a

window. If there are no clouds present on that day, bring up several pictures of different clouds on the SMARTboard and have them make similar observations. Procedure The teacher will open the lesson by having the students brainstorm and generate their previous knowledge about clouds. Prompt the students by asking some of the following questions: What are clouds? How do they form? What kinds of clouds are there? Then, have the students take out a piece of paper and draw a picture of a cloud. Have the students share their pictures with their classmates. What do you see? Generally, students will draw a standard white, fluffy picture of a cloud. Explain to the students that this is not the only type of cloud and there are actually many different types of clouds based on altitude, weather patterns, and structure. This will be the main focus of the lesson. The teacher will be using the LiveBinder titled, Weather Unit, located on the URL provided above. The focus of this lesson will be under the tab, Clouds. Go through each tab and discuss each of the topics. Under the What is a Cloud? sub-tab, read some of the facts about clouds to introduce the topic to the students. Then, continue on to the How Do Clouds Form? sub-tab. Watch the video provided on the website. Recreate what the video said in words for the students to write down in their notebooks. Have the students paraphrase the video themselves and then write their response on the board, filling in any missing information when necessary. Next, address the Types of Clouds-Overview sub-tab. This is just a short video introducing the three main types of clouds. The next sub-tab, Types of Clouds, goes into detail about the types of clouds, providing definitions and pictures. After thoroughly going over all the material, allow the students to complete the practice game located under the Match the Cloud-Practice Game sub-tab. Have the students volunteer to come up to the SMARTboard and pick the correct cloud for each picture. Restart the game as many times as seems fit, or until every student has had a chance to come up to the SMARTboard. Closure To close the lesson, students will be recreating the four main types of cloudsstratus, cirrus, cumulonimbus, and cumulususing cotton balls. Each student will get three pieces of construction paper (students may pick the color), a marker, glue, and 10-15 cotton balls. Using the cotton balls, students will stretch or clump them in order to mimic the physical appearance of each type of cloud. Then, students should draw in the associated weather that goes along with each cloud. For example, students could color in the cumulonimbus clouds gray and draw rain or lightning bolts coming out of them. Evaluation Students will be evaluated based on class participation and completion/correctness of their cotton ball cloud activity. Self Evaluation

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