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Maggie Noctor

Clouds Lesson Plan

Introduction

Lesson Topic: Investigate and understand weather phenomena (clouds).

Length of Lesson: 40 mins

SOL: 4.6 The student will investigate and understand how weather conditions and phenomena

occur and can be predicted. Key concepts include

b) Weather phenomena (fronts, clouds, and storms).

Cognitive Objectives

Students Will:

Identify and name the four types of clouds (cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and cumulo-nimbus clouds).

Differentiate between cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and cumulo-nimbus cloud types

Materials/Technology and Advanced Preparation

Materials:

The Book of Clouds by John A. Day

24 pieces of blue construction paper (one per student)

White and grey crayons

Cloud PowerPoint Presentation

Glue

Advanced Preparation:

1. Glue one picture of the different types of clouds to a colored piece of construction paper
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2. Label the cloud paper large enough for the class to see

3. Repeat with other three pictures of the clouds

Teaching and Learning Sequence

Introduction/Anticipatory Set:

• Ask students “What is the weather was like today?” “What was the difference in weather

today and yesterday?”

• Take The Book of Clouds book from the front desk

• Read The Book of Clouds by John A. Day

• Ask students about the different clouds mentioned and pictured in the book “What were

some of the clouds shown in the book?”

• Make sure that students recall all four types of clouds (cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and

cumulo-nimbus clouds)

• If a cloud is not mentioned help students by flipping to a page that shows the picture of

that cloud and ask, what cloud is on that page

• Have students take out notebooks

Lesson Development:

• Show the students the Cloud PowerPoint presentation.

• Show one cloud at a time, stopping on that slide to tell the students information about the

cloud.

• Repeat with the rest of the powerpoint presentation.

• Pass out one piece of construction paper per student

• Explain to the students that they will be drawing their own clouds on construction paper
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• Draw on the board a picture of each cloud that the students will create (cirrus, stratus,

cumulus, and cumulo-nimbus clouds)

• Instruct the students to hotdog fold, then hamburger fold their piece of paper

• Tell the students to now unfold their paper so that they have their paper divided by

fourths

• Instruct the students that they should draw the picture of each cloud and color it in.

• Instruct the students to draw the four different types of clouds and to label them

• Walk around the classroom to check for correct cloud formations and incase students

need help

• When students have completed drawing their clouds, have the students write a sentence

about each cloud formation.

Closure:

• When finished creating clouds, have a couple of students stand and share their cloud

formations

• Have class line up quietly

• Walk class outside

• Explain to class that they should use their knowledge about cloud types and look at the

sky

• Have students identify cloud types in the sky today

• Line class up and quietly walk back inside

• Ask class “What types of clouds did you see outside today?”

• After students respond ask class “What do these types of clouds mean for possible

weather?”
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• Hand out Homework worksheet

• Go over instructions for homework worksheet

Homework: Complete Types of Clouds Chart

Assessment:

Formative:

• Listen to answers given when asked what clouds were in the sky today and what that

means for the weather. Are the students naming cloud forms that correspond with the

right type of weather?

• Watch while students create their cloud model; are they using the correct forms of

clouds? Do they look confused or wait to form the clouds after seeing their classmates?

Summative:

• Look at the cloud formations that students made, are the formations correct? Are the

formations labeled correctly? Does the sentence the student wrote reveal correct

information?

• Collect the homework assignment and correct incorrect answers, review homework

together so that students may get a better understand of clouds if there was some

confusion among the different types of cloud formations.

References:

T-4 Jordan School District. (2010). Fourth Grade Science; Clouds.

http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/view/183/32/.