FOCUS: Winds, or flowing air currents, are caused by warm air rising and cool air flowing in to take its place. Winds pick up moisture from bodies of water, and clouds form when the moisture in them condenses into tiny water droplets. Depending on the conditions of wind, moisture, and temperature aloft, different kinds of clouds take form. Together clouds and wind interact to bring us all kinds of weather. Wind power can be harnessed for our use, with old and new technologies.
INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about wind and clouds.
Have children lie on their backs, on a tarpaulin if the ground is damp, to observe the wind and clouds. Ask them to close their eyes, and ask them how the wind feels and sounds. Ask them to open their eyes to look at the clouds. Ask them to describe the clouds. Do all of the clouds look the same?
Materials: Optional: large tarpaulin.
CLASS CLOUD SORT
Objective: To look for patterns of similarities and differences in photographs of clouds.
Lay out a large tarpaulin and divide children into small groups around each corner. In small groups, have children examine a set of cloud photos, noticing similarities and differences. Then have them sort them into piles, placing similar clouds together. How many different piles did they make and what are characteristics they noticed for each group?
Materials: large tarpaulin; for each small group, photos of different kinds of clouds.
PUPPET SHOW “Head in the Clouds”
Objective: To learn about wind direction and the different cloud forms, and to consider their connection to weather.
Perform the puppet show, or have a group of children perform it for the class. Afterward, ask questions to review the key details and vocabulary in the story. How are winds named, and what can wind direction tell us about the weather? Review the four main kinds of clouds introduced in the puppet show and how they differ. With what kind of weather is each connected?
Materials: puppets, props, script, stage.
MY CLOUD CHART (Grades K-2)
Objective: To make a graphic display of cloud types and height in the sky.
Explain that stratus and cumulus are low clouds while cirrus are high clouds. Give each child or pair of children a sheet of blue craft paper and three cotton balls. Begin by having the children use crayons to draw in a landscape, which could have mountains, lakes, cities, or whatever they choose. Ask them to put three kinds of clouds in their pictures – cumulus, stratus and cirrus. Show them how to form the cotton balls into the three types of clouds. Unroll one cotton ball to make a stratus cloud and use some fine strands of cotton for the cirrus clouds. Make a puffy heap with the others for the cumulus cloud(s). Glue the stratus and cumulus clouds near the ground and the cirrus clouds at the top of the page. They may want to write the cloud names on their cloud charts. For reference to familiar sights, they may wish to add a flying bird near the ground, a jet plane near the top of the page, and a hot-air balloon in the middle.
Materials: for each child or pair of children: blue craft paper, crayons, three cotton balls, white school glue.
CHARTING THE CLOUDS (Grades 3-6)
Objective: To use a graphical display to understand the naming system for the ten main cloud types.
Provide each pair of students with a set of five Cloud Name cards. Explain that clouds are named using five Latin words: cumulus = heap; stratus = layer; cirrus = high, curl; alto = mid-level; nimbus = rain. Display the Naming Clouds poster to help with remembering these meanings.
Use a white board to represent the sky, marking off ground-level and three cloud regions above the ground: low (roughly 1 mile or below ), mid-level (between about one and four miles), and high (roughly four miles and above). Point out the heights where you might see birds flying (low), airplanes (high), or hot air balloons (mid-level).
Begin by putting the three basic cloud types on the board: cirrus (high), cumulus, and stratus (both low), asking the children to describe their characteristics.
Explain that all other clouds have combination names. Describe each of the other clouds from the chart below, without using its Latin name. Ask the students to suggest the cloud’s name from their cards. For example, if you ask what you’d call a high cloud that is made of little puffy heaps, they’d suggest “cirrus” and “cumulus”. To make a compound name, change the ending of the first word to ‘o,’ as in cirrocumulus. After they have named a cloud correctly, attach the cloud cut-out to the white board at the appropriate altitude.
Materials: White board or large poster board, dry marker, Cloud Cutouts, tape, Naming Clouds poster; for each pair of students: set of Cloud Name cards.
ALL IN VANE
Objective: To use a model to investigate how wind vanes show wind direction.
Ahead of time, prepare a wind vane base for each child or pair of children. Push a small straight pin through the middle of a plastic straw and then push it vertically into the eraser on an unsharpened pencil. Push the pin in as far as possible, but make sure the straw can still spin freely. Make a half-inch slit, vertically, in each end of the straw. Provide each team with an index card to cut into squares or triangles to fit into the slots.
Have the children attach one cut-out to one end of their wind vane, and hold it up overhead. Which end points into the wind? (the smaller end) What happens when you put two equal-sized cut-outs at either end of the straw? (spins around like a pinwheel) What makes it stay in one place? (using just one cut-out, or one big and one small) How do we want a wind vane to behave? (stay still, pointing into the wind, so it will tell us the wind direction)
Materials: For each child or pair of children: a wind vane base made from an unsharpened pencil, plastic drinking straw and straight pin; scissors, tape, index card or other stiff paper.
WHAT’S ALOFT?
Objective: To make observations about wind speed, wind direction, and cloud type, looking for evidence connected to the weather.
Have children work in three small groups with an adult. Give each group a What’s Aloft Investigation data sheet and have them visit three stations: Wind Direction, Cloud Type, Wind Speed. Have children bring their wind vanes with them. Set up stations in an open location where you can easily see the clouds and the school flag if possible, and where the wind isn’t being blocked by a tall building or other obstacle. Place a thermometer out of direct sunlight, near where the children will be working. Afterward, have groups gather to compare findings.
WHAT’S ALOFT INVESTIGATION
Wind Direction
Place the Compass Rose on the ground, using the compass to orient it so the N is pointing north. Stand facing north and hold your wind vane as high as you can.
Winds are named for the direction they blow from. What is the wind direction today? ________
Using soap bubbles to test wind direction:
Point the way you think the bubbles will drift.
Now blow some bubbles. Was your prediction correct? ______
Are their buildings, hills, mountains or other obstacles you can see that might affect wind direction? __________________
Now find a place where the bubbles won’t blow away – a place protected from the wind.
Materials: What’s Aloft Investigation sheet, pencils, clipboards, wind vanes from All in Vane, Compass Rose, compass, soap bubbles.
Cloud Types
Lie on your back on a tarpaulin and look up at the clouds. Describe them:
Are they puffy, layered, wispy? What color are they? Are they all the same kind?
Are they moving? Which way are they going?
Are the clouds moving in the same direction as the soap bubbles? ______
Grades 3-6: Use the Cloud Key to figure out cloud types:
Read each question aloud and answer it together, measuring with fist or thumb and looking for shadows and other clues, as instructed on the key.
From the key, what kind(s) of clouds are in the sky today? ____________
Materials: What’s Aloft Investigation sheet, tarpaulin, Cloud Key.
Wind Speed and Air Temperature
What is the air temperature today? (Be sure thermometer is not in direct sunlight) ____________
Use the Wind Force Scale to estimate wind speed in your location. ____________ (Start with the highest and read the description for each level until you reach the one that matches today’s conditions.)
Materials: What’s Aloft Investigation sheet, thermometer, Wind Force Scale.
Weather Report
Gather the group together to compare results. Look up an official weather report for today. How do your results compare?
Air temp: ____Wind direction: ______Wind speed: ______ Clouds: ______
Why might they be different? _____________
Did you find evidence that supports the official forecast for tomorrow?________
Materials: a local weather report from a newspaper or website.
JOURNAL ACTIVITY
Objective: To think about different weather we’ve experienced.
Have children draw a picture or write a story about the most exciting weather they’ve ever experienced. Afterward, in small groups, share their pictures and stories with others.
Materials: science journals or paper and clipboards, pencils, optional: colored pencils.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Objective: to review the different types of clouds.
Have children complete this sentence: If I could be a cloud in the sky I’d like to be a _____________(type of cloud) because ___________________.
A STEP BEYOND
Weather Map Reading: For older children, bring along a large poster showing a weather map, or visit a weather site on the internet. Have children research the meaning of different symbols used by meteorologists on maps, and watch active radar displays to learn to read them.
Harnessing Wind Power: Make a simple wind turbine with a milk or juice carton and a pinwheel (see Make a Pinwheel Turbine instructions.) Attach a string to the pinwheel axis and suspend some paperclips or other small weights from it. Blow on the pinwheel to make it spin, or use a hair dryer, and watch what happens to the weight. Notice how the turning pinwheel powers the lifting and lowering of the weights.
Nearby Nature 