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how2CLOUDS 
Context &
Connections. How did
you decide to explore the topic of clouds?
Clouds can be directly linked to two “umbrella” topics that are
appropriate for young children, namely, the water cycle and the weather. These umbrella topics provide context to
your exploration of clouds, and provide relevant child-world experiential references. There is, however, a hierarchal relationship
between the two umbrella topics that can be described as follows: Water Cycle > Weather > Clouds;
or, Water Cycle > Clouds.
Another way of thinking about this is that the subject of clouds has a
contextual relationship, relevance, to an exploration of the water cycle
and/or an exploration of weather. The
subject of clouds is not a stand-alone topic. Rather, it can and should be connected first and foremost to
the water cycle. Similarly, a
“cloud in a bottle” experiment is not a stand-alone demonstration. To provide context to the experiment,
explore the subject of clouds. |
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How To Develop
Your Clouds Science Story To develop content, begin by asking yourself questions
about clouds. This process will be useful in developing your science story
and will also provide you with questions for your in-class exploration.
Incorporate process development skills in your exploration using: same, but
different; compare & contrast; sort & match; and, what
if...scenario-type questions. Ask the same questions in different ways. In
the process of asking questions and filling-in the blanks you will develop
your science story. Depending on your familiarity with the subject of
clouds, you may or may not know that there are three main types of
clouds. A quick study of clouds using
a reference book with good cloud pictures, which you can use for your class
exploration, will provide you with this information. With this new knowledge about cloud types
you are now able to ask additional questions, refining your content as you
continue to develop questions.
As you will note, you can ask your class a subset
of these questions as you tell your clouds science story. In addition, the last few questions help
you to formulate a strategy and provide a framework for determining what kind
of experiments and demonstrations to include in your exploration. Read
more about
Types of Clouds...Same, But Different. There are three main types of
clouds. They are named in part based
on their shapes. The
names denoting shapes are: cumulus, stratus and cirrus. Cumulus clouds can be described as white,
fluffy and puffy. Depending on their size they may indicate fair weather (not
very tall and isolated) or a brewing thunderstorm (huge masses).
Stratus clouds form stacked sheets across the
sky like a thick blanket. These
clouds are often seen on overcast days and during rainstorms.
Cirrus clouds are located very high in the
sky and are made up of ice crystals.
Cirrus clouds have a curly or wispy appearance and tend to be
“sheer.”
FYI: How Clouds Are
Named. Clouds are named based on their shape and altitude
(height) in the sky. The altitude is
denoted as a prefix. Clouds above
20,000 feet are named cirro; mid-level clouds between 6,000-20,000
feet have the prefix alto. There are no prefixes for low-level clouds. How Clouds
Form... Why Does It Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail? Precipitation occurs when the air becomes
saturated with moisture. Depending on the temperature, the water
returns to the Earth in the form of rain, snow, sleet or hail. See more at: how2WATERCYCLE |
how2CLOUDS Contextual Activities To reinforce your exploration of
clouds, have your class create an activity
sheet, depicting each of the three main kinds of clouds. It is recommended that you explore the
water cycle before exploring clouds in order to deepen your class’
understanding of clouds and the role clouds play in the water cycle. As you explore clouds, you will have an
opportunity to review water cycle processes and can also include a simple
water cycle diagram on your activity sheet.
Where Do You See Clouds? The obvious answer and a good one is up in the sky, unless, of course, you live in an area that is routinely blanketed by fog. Clouds are rarely seen in the desert because there is very little water available for evaporation and which can be used to form clouds. Coastal regions, on the other hand, have more clouds and receive more rain in part because there is more moisture available that evaporates from the oceans. Have you ever seen a rainbow in the clouds? Ocassionally, shortly after sunrise when the sun is low in the sky and there is an abundance of cirrus type clouds, you can sometimes see a small rainbow in the clouds. In this case, sunlight is refracted by the ice crystals in the cirrus clouds (instead of raindrops as with a rainbow).
how2 Embed Opportunities For Further Learning-Using Observable Phenomenon.
The topic of
clouds is an easily observable phenomenon and within the child’s experiential
scope. When you explore clouds, you
can take your class on a field trip to observe what type of clouds happen to
be up in the sky, looking specifically for examples of the fluffy, layered
and wispy kind. By including the direct observation exercise at the
conclusion of your exploration, or at the beginning and end, you embed a cue
for your class to use their powers of observation to look up at the sky and
observe the clouds. Any day, every
day, the child can independently explore clouds. In addition, if your exploration is framed against the backdrop
of the weather, your class can continue to use their observations to
independently make assessments, determinations and hypotheses about the
weather. You can help to frame their
initial discovery experiences by posing the following questions: Is it sunny or cloudy? Is it rainy or clear? What is the temperature outside? If it’s cold (winter), what kind of
precipitation might you expect to see?
Does it look like it might rain outside? How can you tell?
Read more about Embedding |
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