Our Weather Unit

Lesson and Photos

Objectives

• Students will be able to:1. Identify and label the steps in the water cycle.2. Explain why the water cycle is important and how it affects our

weather3. Use online resources like www.wikipedia.com4. Find a water cycle song through teachertube.com or youtube.com5. Create a dance or play of the water cycle.6. Identify and name the 3 different types of clouds.7. Observe different types of clouds in portraits and photos through an

online museum at: http://www,artsconnected.org/resource/102521/clouds-and-weather

8. Keep a weather journal for one week.9. Create a drawing or model of 4 different clouds

Day 1-3: The Water Cycle

• Students will use www.wikipedia.com to find information and diagrams of the water cycle. We will discuss vocabulary and take notes together.

• Students will use www.teachertube.com to find a song or video of the water cycle to share with the class.

• Working in a group of 3-4 students will create a dance or skit of the water cycle using: kid-made rain sticks, construction paper, paint, markers, towels, sheets, pillowcases, cookie sheet, Tupperware, rice, rocks, pans. (I video taped this to show, but I could not get it to convert to a flash file to get it onto my website.)

Our Water Cycle Movie

Day 4-8: Clouds and Weather

• I will introduce students to different types of clouds through www.wikipedia.com .

• I will read, The Cloud Book, by Tomie dePaola.

• We will create and model how to fill out our Weather Watcher journals. Students will watch, document , and make predictions about the clouds and weather.

Clouds and Weather

• Students will observe and discuss portraits and photos of clouds through an online museum that I previously put together: http://www.artsconnected.org/resource/102521/clouds-and-weather

• Students will create a model or drawing of four different clouds using: construction/tissue paper, paint, salt, rice, cotton balls, matting, coffee filters, and markers.

• Students will create a haiku to describe the clouds.

• Students will be assessed by the rubric.

Rubric

Category 4 Exemplary 3 Proficient 2 Basic 1 Below Expectation

Participation in class

Works Well With Others

Understanding of Content

Kept a daily Weather Watch Journal

Created a drawing of Clouds with understanding

Created Haikus on Clouds

Reflected on what was learned

Making Our Weather Watcher Journals

Students kept track of the clouds and Weather for one week in their Weather Watcher Journals. They documented the current weather with pictures and predicted the weather for the end of the day based on the clouds they saw in the morning.

Our Cloud Drawings

Students used cotton balls, paint, markers,tissue paper, construction paper,glue to create models and drawings ofthe different types of clouds: stratus,cumulus, and cirrus.

This student made a diagram of the water cycle using markers and construction paper.

Cloud Photos

Here are some of the photos the students took of clouds they saw during the week.

We Are Meteorologists

This was a website we visited to learn more about clouds and weather!

Overall I feel that I incorporated a lot more of the arts into my weather unit. Before this I did not have my students create a skit of the water cycle. This was A favorite part of the students. It was fun to see how they worked together and saw The water cycle unfold. This also will be helpful when dealing with multiple intelligences.

I also liked the idea of allowing the students to take their own pictures of real cloudsThe see. This incorporated a technology component other than just using websites to Research.

I feel that the students that participated in this project with me will remember theDifferent types of clouds and the steps in the water cycle. I did this project with twoPrevious students of mine, an upcoming 3rd grader, and my 4 year old daughter. I couldBelieve how much the kids remembered and how excited they were to keep theJournals and take pictures. Even my daughter remembered, “Hey, those are those flatClouds, right mom?” This was really neat. I would like to create more rubrics to go alongWith the individual assignments.