Clouds and water cycle

1/23/2023

Read Aloud- The Cloud Book by Tomie de paola

This book was great at showing and explaining to the students about the three basic cloud types. The end of the book has some legends about clouds mentioned so for the purpose of this lesson, I only presented the different types of clouds and where they can be located in the sky.

Cotton ball cloud models

After we finished the read aloud, I printed this Cotton Ball Model out on blue cardstock and had the students gently pull apart cotton balls to make them look like the different types of clouds that we learned about.

Cirrus clouds are clouds found highest in our sky and they look like wispy horse's tails so we made our cotton balls wispy.
Cumulus clouds are in the middle of the sky and they are more fluffy and so I had the students just glue cotton balls together for this section.
Finally, the stratus clouds are lower to the Earth's surface and look like blankets so we stretched out cotton balls to make them look like flat blankets.

The Water Cycle Song

While they were gluing their clouds on their paper, I drew a Water Cycle diagram similar to the one in the Water Cycle Cut and Paste sheet. I then introduced the Water Cycle through this song.

Sung to the tune of ‘She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain’

'Water travels in a cycle yes it does, clap, clap, clap
Water travels in a cycle yes it does, clap, clap, clap
It goes up as Evaporation,
Then forms clouds as Condensation
Then falls down and Precipitation, yes it does, clap clap clap

Water Cycle Demonstration

Using a half gallon mason jar, boiling water, saran wrap and ice, we demonstrated the water cycle.
I filled the mason jar halfway up with boiling water and placed a piece of saran wrap over it.

The students should observe the steam/water vapor making the saran wrap look cloudy. This is representative of evaporation.

I then, placed some ice on top of the saran wrap and bubbles of water were found all over the sides and top of the jar representing condensation.

The students were able to observe several drops of water falling back into the water representing precipitation.

Cloud in a jar Demonstration

From the same equipment as we used for the water cycle demonstration and including a match, we made a Cloud in a Jar.

I added a little more boiling water, struck a match and threw it in the water.

Covered the jar with the lid upside down and place ice on top. We noticed a cloud forming inside the jar.

I explained that water vapor cannot be seen and so in order for us to see clouds, the water vapor has to attach to particles of dust in our atmosphere. This is the purpose of throwing in a match.

Water Cycle Bracelets

In order to remember the parts of the water cycle, I had the students make water cycle bracelets.
I handed out chenille stems and one type of bead at a time, reviewing the parts of the water cycle.
Yellow represents the sun
Green represents the Earth that the sun warms causing
Clear beads of Evaporation. From the Evaporation,
Clouds form from Condensation which are the White beads and then last, the Blue beads that represent precipitation.