All about CLOUDS

The water cycle and clouds are some of my FAVORITE things to teach. I am not sure why.  I honestly think it is because of this song that we learn and sing. and sing. and sing.  Kind of constantly.

This post is going to be ALL about clouds and some fun things you can do in your classroom as you learn about different types of clouds- plus lots of TPT freebies to share.

I am writing another post about The Water Cycle- with more freebies.  My kids love learning about this- and there are so many fun things to go along with it!

Here are some of my favorite books about clouds:

I have a few others that I really like, but they are really about the water cycle, so I will post them in that post. These are all about clouds.

Clouds- Let's Read and Find Out by Anne Rockwell

The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola



Little Cloud by Eric Carle

We used Little Cloud in the beginning of the year when we had White Day.  We painted white paint on light blue paper, and made fork marks through it.  Then, we cut shapes out of the paper to make "Eric Carle clouds" for our project.

Little Cloud is one of the featured books on my Eric Carle Prezi.

I chose 21 of his books, and found links to go with each, so that I have those resources together.  Here is the Little Cloud part of that Prezi, just so you can get an idea of what I did. (WHY won't it let me embed Prezis anymore?) So instead, here is the picture of the Little Cloud part. 

This is where I have my favorite cloud videos.  I went through all of the Youtube videos and found the best ones about clouds, pictures in clouds, and the water cycle. Underneath each of the books I put on the Prezi, I just included some other books that go well with that book. (Like a mini Amazon- "If you liked this book, maybe you would like..."   I fall for that every. time.)

Here are some other fun books to use when you talk about clouds. 
The Cloud by Hannah Cumming

My class always loves this book!  I think they can all relate to it on some days.

from Amazon:
Everyone has bad days, and children are no exception. When a black cloud descends on a little girl at school, support from a classmate with a great deal of imagination helps to brighten up everyone's lives.

Shapes in the Sky by Josepha Sherman



Clouds (Ready to Read) by Marion Dane Bauer

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

 

This was the sky on White Day, when  we went out to look for shapes in the  clouds! HA!  Right about NOW- I would be thrillllllled with that sky! But this is exactly why I have the cloud videos on the Prezi, just in case it is the one day of the year that the sky is perfect and blue in Apalachin, NY. 

Kindergarten Craftiness shared It Looked Like Clouds to go with It Looked Like Spilt Milk.

Katherine Sutton shared this It Looked Like Spilt Milk class book activity.

In case it isn't a perfect blue sky, and you DO have some clouds to see, here are some fun FREEBIES to use with your class. 

This Cloud Writing Freebie is from Polka Dots Checks and Stripes.



I love these cloud viewers! The kids would have a ball with them. 

Sarah Calvert shared this Cloud Viewer .

Knowledge Nuggets shared this Cloud Identification Viewer.





 

Molly Hernandez has these great pictures of clouds to share at her TPT store.

How much fun would this Cloud Hunt Bingo by Green Grubs Garden Club by Mrs. Hug-a-Bug be? The children would love this.



Hide and Seek Fog by Alvin Tresselt is another fun book to share with the class.  The illustrations show just what it looks like when fog rolls in.  It is perfect to use to explain that fog is actually a cloud.

The book was written in 1965, and some of the text just made me laugh.  Look at these two pages!

  

"The fathers read books and took naps.  Then they got out of their cars and drove the mothers into town so they could do their marketing..."

"The fathers scowled and complained about spending their vacations in the middle of a cloud.  The mothers tried to cheer everyone up. They put on gay bright clothes, and they helped the children make scrapbooks by the driftwood fire."

I like to make Fog Pictures with my class after we read this story.  One day when I was taking cookies off the cookie sheet, I thought the waxed paper looked like fog, so of course, I had to figure out how to use that for something in school!

I have the children draw a picture, then I put waxed paper over it to make it look like fog.

 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett is just a fun, silly book- and great for class discussions! 

I made a quick little cloud sheet to help the children remember the key concepts of each cloud.  Cirrus- ice crystals, Cumulus-cotton, Stratus- stretch like a blanket.  I printed this on blue paper. The children can make clouds on it using cotton balls for each- making it wispy for the Cirrus, puffy for the Cumulus, and stretched out for the Stratus. This year, I am going to have them paint the Cirrus cloud with white paint and a feather, use puffy paint to make the Cumulus cloud, and dip a cotton ball in gray paint to dab a line of gray for the Stratus cloud. I am going to have each table be a cloud station, and the children will go around to each one to make their cloud. I will add a picture after we do this activity.   If you would like a copy of this paper, just click on the picture below.

To make puffy paint, mix liquid glue and shaving cream in a large bowl.  I use 1/4 cup glue to about 3/4 cup shaving cream, and it works well.  The more shaving cream, the puffier the paint is.

Here are some other good cloud sheets FREE at TPT!



Moore Fun in Kindergarten shared this All About Clouds worksheet.



This Three Types of Clouds Worksheet is by Kayla Hubbard.

Rosy730 made a cute rhyming book to help the children remember each type of cloud. 



I made a Cloud and Raindrop Sight Word Center for my class.  My daughter had TONS of these little glass stones from her wedding.  I wrote sight words on some of them, and added them to some cotton ball clouds in a bin. The children have to find the sight words on the raindrops and record them on a sheet.

If you would like a copy of the recording sheet, just click on the picture below.

 

I also wrote several number sets of  0-20 on  "raindrops" so the children can order them and sort them.

 

Miss Kaili Bug made this little Cotton Ball Cloud Counting Worksheet that would be a fun math center.  I have so many glass stones, that I may have the children see how many raindrops can fit into each cloud.

Don't forget, you can use cotton ball clouds with Ten Frames, as counters for addition and subtraction problems, and as Bingo Counters for any Bingo game.  

 

Sharon R. Skills shared these Cloud Sight Words. These would be great for reading and writing the room. 



Denise Scaccia shared this cute Rainbow Compound Words Activity.

Clouds are a fun way to introduce poetry writing in the class.  It is fun to write a class poem and brainstorm different descriptive words about clouds that you can make into a poem. 

 I like to make a shape poem with all of our words around the outside of a cloud shape. 

 It is also fun to introduce couplets and have the children come up with two lines that rhyme.  

Acrostic poems are another fun, easy poem to write as a class.  The children love coming up with a word or sentence to describe a cloud using each letter.  They always seem to want to say "cloud" for "c"  -  of course, I guess- but I try to explain that we are describing a cloud with a "c" word.  That helps them understand the idea of the poem, too.

We talked about the "ou" sound in cloud, and made this poster together:

Lanternfish has FABULOUS free flashcards- anything you could want.  That is where I found these ou-ow flashcards for our anchor chart. 

For some science fun, Growing a Jeweled Rose has this  Rain Cloud in a Jar. This is fun and easy to do.

Kristen Smith shared this Cloud in a Jar Observation Packet at her TPT store.



House of Baby Piranha shared this Cloud Racing Game. So easy and so much fun!

All you need is straws and cotton balls- and some breath!  



Finally, I will leave you with these Cloud Parfaits by Mrs.Happy Homemaker.  I have seen others, but I loved hers because they were e.a.s.y.    Ingredients= prepared blue jello and cool whip.  I like that!

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