Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Written by: Judi Barrett & Illustrated by: Ron Barrett
A Science-based set of internet reading activities designed for grade four :)
Background:
Book Summary:
In the land of Chewandswallow, which exists only in the bedtime stories of two children, the weather takes a very unusual and tasty form! Instead of thunderstorms with rain, the residents here experience precipitation in different forms of food, such as hot dogs and hamburgers! But what will the people do when the weather becomes too intense and the food begins to damage the town?? With a variety of different clouds and weather forms, this book is a fun way to learn about weather and precipitation.
About the Author:
Judi Barrett has written several beloved children's book. She teaches kindergarten art class in Brooklyn, New York. Her husband Ron illustrates the pages of many of her books.
In order to learn more about clouds, and to better understand this story, complete these online reading activities ;)
Pre-Reading Activities
Activity One: Weather Search!
Use Weather Channel's Website to research today's weather in at
least 5 different U.S. cities. Using the search box at the top left of the page,
make sure to choose cities from all over the country! Make a list of the
forecast for that day, including temperature, cloud cover, wind and
precipitation, if any.
www.weather.com
Activity Two: Learn About Clouds
Before starting this activity, make a list of 5 facts you already know about clouds on this page. Now check out these two links!
1.) Read this quick page on cloud types, which includes a picture of each type. http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.html
2.) Read this short summary of cloud information. http://www.weatherwizkids.com/cloud.htm
Now, make of list of 5 new facts that you have learned from reading these, and also tell why you found these facts interesting.
During-Reading Activities
Activity One: Make A Journal
While reading the story, use this journal page to fill in ideas as if you were one of the children that lived in Chewandswallow. Put yourself in their shoes, and put your reactions to the different clouds and precipitation that is taking place. Also, summarize your feelings in a one-paragraph journal entry.
Activity Two: That cloud does what???
First, open this worksheet. For this activity, please refer to this link to see real photographs of all the different cloud types. As you are reading "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", type up a list of the different cloud types you can see throughout the story, and based on the online guide in this link, decide what type of cloud you think that could be. Include page number, cloud type, what weather you think would result in real life, and a small drawing of the clouds. http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/cloudsat_puz2.shtml
After-Reading Activities
Activity One: Interactive Quiz!
Follow along with this activity, as it explains, one last time, clouds and their different types. At the end, please take the quiz that comes up, and retype the questions and your answers in a word document. http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~elem/interactivities/clouds/cloudsread.html
Activity Two: Weather Crossword!
After completing the previous activities, complete this crossword that contains information about all types of weather, as a final review. http://www.weatherwizkids.com/crossword.htm
