Look Up!

Grade Level: K-4

Source: The Weather Channel. Adapted with permission.

To learn to read, write, and appreciate language and communication, it's helpful to find subject matter that's appealing, inspiring, and personal. The sky is a never-ending source of material that is available everyday to everyone.

Get ready to set a course for sky exploration! The following activity is designed to help you learn to listen, read, and communicate in both written and oral formats about the sky.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Turn your notebook into a personal "Sky Journal." This notebook will hold your personal observations and thoughts about sky happenings and the feelings these events evoke.

  2. Create an appropriate cover for your journals - with your own drawing and writing. Consider sky collages or computer-generated titles and graphics.

  3. To make the sky and your journal an important part of your daily routine, make an entry each day for a few weeks as part of your homework. Discuss with your family what you see in the sky and how you are recording your observations in words and pictures.

  4. For each notebook entry, consider: What time of day is it? Does the air feel warm or cool? Does it feel moist or dry? How does it sound and smell? Is it raining or snowing? Can you see the sun or the moon? What are the shapes and colors of the clouds? Are they high or low? Thick or thin? Moving or still?

  5. If you're in an early-elementary grade, take a few minutes each day to share with classmates your brief "Sky Tales," such as "I saw a rainbow in a puddle," "I saw a sun dog," or "I watched the sunrise."

  6. If you're in a later grade, take several minutes each day for a "Sky Solo." Watch, listen, feel, and smell the sky around you. Experience how the sky makes you feel when you are alone. If you like, share your "Sky Solo" feelings with classmates.

  7. View the cloud chart online at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/cldchart.html and print a copy if necessary. Compare the types of clouds depicted in the chart with what you see in the sky. Find and share as many types of clouds as possible. Record your cloud observations in your notebook. Discuss with your classmates and teacher why clouds might be shaped particular ways.