"Observing Weather" 
A Two Week Unit

Designed by: Nancy Boggs-Walker     School: A.C. Moore Elementary

Grade Level: 1      Subject: Science 

Core Curriculum Objective(s): 
Observe and identify weather conditions (1SES1). 
Identify and describe characteristics of several weather changes (1SES4). 
Measure weather conditions and record data (1SES5). 

Overview: The teacher will read Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw, Little Cloud by Eric Carle, and The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola. Any other books concerning weather and clouds can be read also during a period of approximately 2 weeks. The students will be prompted with questions to research and investigate about changes that occur in the sky after each reading. The teacher will start the research with a KWL chart. The students will find out how clouds are formed. They will learn about the types of clouds. They will learn about the water cycle and what part the sun and clouds play in this cycle. They will use real meteorologist's reports to graph data. They will use the Internet to observe cloud photos, weather maps with current temperatures and weather vanes. They will make cloud pictures, a water cycle picture, graphs of daily weather, shape comparisons, compositions and books, photo essays and visual presentations.

Focus/Essential Question(s):
What are weather conditions and how do we observe and identify weather conditions (rainy, sunny, snowy, etc.)? 
What tools do we use to identify and describe weather conditions? 
Why do changes occur in our weather system? 
What role do the sun and clouds play in the weather?

Time Frame: 2 weeks (or longer if teacher chooses to do more investigating).

Resources/Materials: 
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett 
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
Little Cloud by Eric Carle 
The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola 
Computer with Internet access and printer 
Computer drawing software such as MS Paint/Kidpix/Kidworks 
Writing paper
 Drawing paper 
Pencils 
Crayons or colored markers 
paint 
Cotton balls 
Glue 
Construction paper 
Math link shapes that are open and closed 
Graph paper or type of data recording sheet for class use 
Camera (opt. For photo essay/data collection) 
Student journals 
Bulletin Board paper for class collage 
Magazines and newspapers to be cut for collage 
Scissors for ea. student 

Web sites: 
SCORE cyberguide
 http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cloudy/cloudytg.htm http://www.whnt19.com/kidwx/clouds.htm 
http://www.photopixels.com/ 
http://www.vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html
http://www.earthwatch.com/CURRENTLY/currently.html http://www.wunderground.com/ 
http://www.www.denninger.com/whatis.htm#Weather 
http://www.weathervanes.com/ 
http://www.mcps.org/ces/ca/index.htm

Culminating Assessment: 

A total of 105 points can be accumulated. 
96-105 =:):):)+Wow-Excellent! 
86-95 =:):)Satisfactory 
76-85=:)Okay 
Below 75=:( Needs improvement

Instructional Activities: 
Day 1: 
Discuss this project with the students and what they will be expected to know by the end of the unit. Discuss assessment and what types of points they will be given - allowing for student input and choice. 

1. Read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. Ask the students what they would like to see fall out of the sky. Discuss what things could really fall out of the sky and what couldn't. Discuss fantasy/reality and fiction/non-fiction. Tell students that they will be investigating weather using real (non-fiction) sources. Discuss different types of precipitation that really could fall from the sky (hail, sleet, rain, snow). 
2. Do a KWL chart about what we know about the weather, what we want to know, and what we've learned. 
3. Tell students that they will be keeping a log of the weather everyday. They may keep this in their journal and take it home everyday to fill it out. The log will consist of information given by the t.v. weatherman or the newspaper (sunny, rainy, cloudy, high temperature, low temperature, wind force...). They will need to keep this data for at least 10 days. 
4. Give an example of a log and model how the data could be written. Students may want to draw or take short notes instead of writing everything out. 

Day 2: 
1. Read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs again. Review with the students what type of precipitation really falls from the sky. 
2. Students will be given magazines and newspapers to search for items that really fall from the sky and items that don't really fall from the sky. 
3. Have bulletin board paper already divided into 2 parts (real items/fantasy items). 
4. Tell the students that they will be working in groups to make a class collage of items that fall from the sky (real precipitation) and items that can't really fall from the sky (the fantasy items could include items that they would like to see fall from the sky). 
5. Tell students that different people in each group will be assigned different jobs, such as data recorder for the class graph, supply manager, cleanup captain, note taker and speaker. The jobs will rotate over the course of this unit. 
6. Have each group cut and glue items into their section. Afterwards, have each group's speaker share what they contributed to the collage. 
7. Discuss what was learned and add this new information to the KWL chart. 

Days 3-5: 
1. Read The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola. Discuss whether this book was fiction or non/fiction. Are the clouds formed in this book real? What falls from these clouds? 
2. Discuss the illustrations. Discuss what dark clouds mean (rain). What are the different types of clouds mentioned in the book? 
3. Write new information learned on the KWL chart. 
4. Explain to the students that they will be using the Internet to observe pictures of clouds and different types of weather. They will be answering the questions, "How are clouds formed and what do they look like?" and "What tools are used to get these pictures on the Internet?", and "What tools do the meteorologists use?" 
5. The teacher will set up a manageable system for using the internet so that some groups will be using the computer, while others are writing their summary of what they learned from The Cloud Book (write and illustrate with at least 3-5 sentences). Rotate with computer groups over the next few days.. 
6. The teacher will set up the computer so that it will be ready and bookmarked or put in favorite places with these sites: 

Clouds  - http://www.whnt19.com/kidwx/clouds.htm 

Cloud Picture  - http://www.photopixels.com/ 

Cloud Photos -  http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html 

7. Students will observe the weather for today on these computer sites (listed above) and record information. The teacher can print data also so that students can observe and compare different types of images and information collected. They will answer the questions in their journal about how weather can be observed and measured with tools. Then teacher and students will discuss findings and record on KWL chart. 

Days 6-7 
1. Teacher will read Little Cloud by Eric Carle and It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. One book may be read one day and the other book the next day. Tell students to listen and observe carefully because they will be comparing and contrasting these books. The note taker from each group may want to take notes during the discussion after the read aloud. 
2. Compare and contrast the two books by using a venn diagram. Students should be able to identify that both books are describing what the clouds look. The teacher will list the items that clouds looked like in each book. 
3. What types of clouds do you think these were? The teacher will use previous information gathered from the Internet and The Cloud Book to answer questions. 
4. The students will make their own shape clouds out of cotton balls and glue on construction paper. The students will make the stratus clouds fluffy. The cumulus clouds will be very big. The cirrus clouds will be billowy. 
5. Students will share their individual cloud picture with the class. The student sharing will not tell the others whether they made a cumulus, stratus or cirrus clouds. The other classmates will guess which type of cloud it looks like and why they think it is that cloud (for example, "I think it's a stratus cloud because it's really fluffy"). 
6. The teacher will record new information learned on the KWL chart. 

Day 8 
1. Review It Looked Like Spilt Milk with the students by showing them the pictures once again. 
2. Tell them that some cloud shapes looked like "open" figures and some looked like "closed" figures. Model to the students by drawing on the board some open figures and some closed figures. 
3. Use link shapes or 3-D solids (math manip.) for closed items and string or Wikki-Stix for open items to compare and contrast on a large venn diagram on bulletin board paper or chart paper. Closed shapes are circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, etc. Open shapes are items such as the letter C, or the letter S, or the letter U. 
4. Compare the cloud shapes from books and the Internet with open and closed figures. 
5. Discuss what types of clouds would make these shapes. 

Days 9-10 
1. Students will use data and information gathered to make a bar graph consisting of how many days were sunny, rainy, cloudy, snowy, etc. 
2. They will discuss how clouds are formed by making a water cycle drawing. It should have the words precipitation, condensation, and evaporation on the drawing. 3. The teacher will model this by drawing the water cycle picture on the overhead or the board. The terms used will be defined and discussed. 
4. Students may use MS-paint or Kidpix to make their picture or they could type the text and paint their picture on their own. 
5. Students may also want to gather pictures they have taken from their observations of the weather (or that the teacher has gathered), or photos from the Internet for a Photo Essay. 
6. Students will compile their data about what they have learned about weather and clouds and present it to the class in the form of a visual (photo essay, graphs, clay model, poster). 
7. The teacher and students will discuss what was learned after writing new information on the KWL chart. 
8. Teacher and students can share what they've learned in a school library display. They can also set up a center in the room for weather observations. They will also share all of their information and visuals with their parents when they share their assessment/rubric.