The Cloud Book Mentor Text

I am always on the lookout for good books to add extra interest to the Science units that I teach. The Cloud Book by Tomie DePaola is an oldie but a goodie.  I have been using it for 20 years with classes from first to fifth grade, and the kids always enjoy it and learn a lot.

The book is full of wonderful illustrations in typical engaging dePaola style. There is a lot of information about different types of clouds, often presented through an artist's eyes. A couple of examples are "Stratus clouds are like wide blankets of grey" and "Cumulous clouds are puffy and look like cauliflowers".  Many of the pages have a humourous comment, as well as historical information.
After reading The Cloud Book I have some favourite activities that I love to do.

The first, of course is to get outside and see what kind of clouds we can spot. April is a great month for this because the weather is so changeable that over a couple of days you're likely to see several kinds.

The second is the old standby "make a cloud in a jar" demo. The kids never cease to be amazed by it.you've never done this activity (or even if you have) you can see how it's done in this clip on
YouTube. I have a big two liter glass jar that I like to use instead of soda bottles.

         I often read either 

It looked like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw               or                The Little Cloud by Eric Carle.

Then we do an art project.

I recently found this wonderful resource that has suggestions for a whole bunch of books that can be 

used in connection with Science and Math lessons. Each book that is recommended has a picture of 

the cover, a book summary, and a lesson suggestion. 

You can navigate to this site by clicking here.  

I am joining Collaboration Cuties  this week for their Mentor Texts for Science link up. Thanks for hosting!