1. Five Day Unit Plan on Clouds
Cloudy With A Chance…. A Lesson
On Clouds
By: Lindsey McSweeney
2. West Virginia 21st Century Science for Second Grade
Content Standard And Objectives
SC.O.2.1.08 design and conduct simple investigations;
observe, collect and record information using a variety of
classification systems; describe trends of data; and make
predictions based on that data (e.g., seasonal changes and
plants or temperature and weather).
SC.O.2.3.02 use models as representations of real things.
SC.O.2.1.01 interpret science as the human’s search for an
understanding of the world by asking questions about
themselves and their world.
SC.O.2.1.04 demonstrate curiosity, initiative and creativity by
observing, classifying, comparing and analyzing natural
objects in the environment.
3. West Virginia 21st Century Skills and Tools
21C.O.PK-2.1.LS.1 Student uses text, people and electronic resources (e.g. interactive books, educational software, CD-ROMs, elementary
multimedia encyclopedias and search engines) to locate information for classroom assignments and is able to identify the author and purpose for
each source located.
21C.O.PK-2.1.LS.2 Student can accurately interpret and create simple visuals (e.g. charts, maps, graphs and models) and use this information to
solve problems and communicate information.
21C.O.PK-2.1.LS.3 Student articulates thoughts and ideas, representative of real and imaginary experiences, clearly and effectively through oral,
written or multimedia communication.
21C.O.PK-2.1.TT.7 Student, working in a teacher-led whole group project, uses presentation software to illustrate concepts and communicate
ideas.
21C.O.PK-2.1.TT.10 Student begins to locate information in a variety of developmentally appropriate technology resources (e.g., interactive
books, educational software, CD-ROMs, elementary multi-media encyclopedias and web-based search engines) to support classroom
assignments.
21C.O.PK-2.2.LS.3 Student engages in a problem solving process using objects to solve problems and demonstrates learning by explaining how
they solved the problem
21C.O.PK-2.2.LS.4 Student engages in discovery, exploration and experimentation to reach unexpected answers. Student makes unusual
associations and provides a variety of solutions to problems.
21C.O.PK-2.3.TT.1 Student identifies and practices the responsible use of technology systems and software
21C.O.PK-2.3.LS.5 Student uses clearly defined teacher directions and interpersonal skills to move others toward the goal.
21C.O.PK-2.3.TT.5 Student demonstrates positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology. Student identifies appropriate and
inappropriate use of computers and describes how to work collaboratively with others when using technology at home or in school.
5. A Analyze Learners General Characteristics: Second Grade, Classroom: 20 students, 9 boys, 11
girls: 90% White, 10% African American.
Specific Entry Competencies: One student has ADHD.
Learning Style: Students know of clouds, but have no prior knowledge.
S State Objectives Students will identify the types of clouds that are in the sky with 95% accuracy.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge through working on a WebQuest,
creating posts on Facebook, and creating a classroom wiki.
S Select Methods, Media, and Materials Available Materials: Working as a group with the teacher, computers, and
internet.
Modify Existing Materials: WebQuest assignment.
Design New Materials: Creating a wiki on wikispaces.com and making a post on
Facebook.
U Utilize Media and Materials Preview Materials: Make sure the WebQuest has all the material needed for the
lesson. Makes sure all websites work prior to assignment. Instruct students where
Facebook posts will be located and show students. Have wiki accounts set up.
Prepare Materials and Environment: Have WebQuest up on computers prior to
student’s assignment. Have Facebook account set up for students use and have a
class on creating a wiki. Have appropriate permission slips to create accounts.
Prepare the learner: Start the class with introducing clouds. Have students
brainstorm on what a cloud is and what the purpose of a cloud is. Encourage
questions. Ask them when they see dark clouds; what do they expect the weather
to be like. If they know, then have them pretend they are running for cover. If the
clouds are very light and the sun is shining: what would this weather be like.
Have them pretend like they are sun bathing.
Provide the learning experience: At the beginning of the lesson, students will
be questioned on what they know about clouds. After the discussion is complete,
students will then get on WebQuest using zanul.com and go to the appropriate site
that I have created. Students will be grouped into three’s. Students will research
what clouds are. Once they have completed their assignment, they will then make
a post on Facbook about what clouds are and then have other students comment
on their post. Students are required to post a comment on at least one original
post. Students will then stay in their groups and create a wiki about clouds on
wikispaces.com Students will get to present their wiki to the class.
6. R Require Learner Participation In-Class and Follow-Up Activities So Learners Can Process
the Information: Students will be creating a wiki so that
learners process what they learned on the WebQuest. For
follow-up activities, students will read the posts from other
students on their Facebook post about clouds. This way,
students can receive new information from other students.
E Evaluate and Revise Before, During, and After Instruction: Before instruction,
students may be familiar with what clouds are, but do not know
exactly what the purpose of a cloud is. During instruction,
students will explore the various websites on the WebQuest to
come up with information on what exactly is a cloud. After the
instruction, students will have the knowledge of what clouds
are and they will be able to make a wiki on wikispaces.com to
present to the class.
Assess Learner, Media, and Methods: Using Facebook posts
and the group’s wiki, I will assess the knowledge that the
students have obtained.
8. A Analyze Learners General Characteristics: Second Grade, Classroom: 20 students, 9 boys, 11
girls: 90% White, 10% African American.
Specific Entry Competencies: One student has ADHD.
Learning Style: Students know of clouds, but have no prior knowledge.
S State Objectives Students will demonstrate knowledge about the three most common types of
clouds with 95% accuracy through storytelling and reading , creating their own
blog, and creating a picture of clouds using Photoshop.
S Select Methods, Media, and Materials Available Materials: Working as a group and working with the teacher,
computer, and internet.
Modify Existing Materials: Watching YouTube videos and reading/working on
blogs.
Design New Materials: Students create their own desktop publishing using
powtoon.com , create their own blog using blogger.com, and create a unique
picture of clouds using Photoshop.
U Utilize Media and Materials Preview Materials: Make sure websites are easily accessible for students.
Prepare Materials and Environment: Have each student create an account with
powtoon.com and blogger.com. Have a class on how to create and navigate each.
Have appropriate permission slips from parents to create accounts.
Prepare the learner: Discuss what the students have learned so far about clouds
and if they can recall any clouds that they may have learned about on the previous
day. Tell students about the three clouds they are going to talk about: cirrus, alto,
and stratus clouds. Talk about how each cloud has a purpose.
Provide the learning experience: To get the lesson started, we will all look at
some YouTube videos on the types of clouds. I will show them a YouTube video
that I created for the class to get them started on their discovery of the clouds.
Next, students will break into groups. Students will read blogs from blogger.com.
Students are also encouraged to use zunal.com to look for information about the
types of clouds. Once information has been obtained, students will get to create
their own blog about clouds. After this is completed, students will create a picture
of cirrus, alto, or stratus clouds by using Photoshop. Students will then embed
their pictures into their blog. Once this is complete, students will get to create a
story using powtoon.com. Students will get to present their story and their blogs
to the class.
9. R Require Learner Participation In-Class and Follow-Up Activities So Learners Can Process the
Information: The in-class activities that will help learner’s process information
will be by gathering information on the blogs. Students will also use zunal.com
to get information about the types of clouds. The follow-up activities will be
their blogs on blogger.com and their story on powtoon.com.
E Evaluate and Revise Before, During, and After Instruction: Before instruction, students will know
about be familiar with what clouds are, but may not know that each cloud has a
name. During instruction, students will learn about cirrus, alto, and stratus
clouds. After instruction, students will demonstrate their new knowledge of each
cloud using their blogs and their story they created.
Assess Learner, Media, and Methods: Students will be assessed based on their
blogs created on blogger.com , their picture using Photoshop, and their story on
powtoon.com. These will help assess students knowledge on what they learned
about the types of clouds we are studying.
11. A Analyze Learners General Characteristics: Second Grade, Classroom: 20 students, 9 boys, 11
girls: 90% White, 10% African American.
Specific Entry Competencies: One student has ADHD.
Learning Style: Students know of clouds, but have no prior knowledge.
S State Objectives Students will develop the knowledge about how to determine the weather based
on clouds with 95% accuracy by using Twitter and creating a robot.
S Select Methods, Media, and Materials Available Materials: Internet, working as a group and working with the teacher,
and computers.
Modify Existing Materials: Using Twitter.
Design New Materials: Creating a robot on clouds.
U Utilize Media and Materials Preview Materials: Make sure that twitter account that is going to be followed
has appropriate and accurate information.
Prepare Materials and Environment: Have appropriate permission slips signed
for creating account on Twitter. Make sure all robot materials are out and
accessible to students. Have the stations each labeled. Make sure all robot
packets have all the materials that students need and that all of them work.
Prepare the learner: Have a class on how to create a robot and how to use all of
the materials that we will be using. Go over what we have learned the past two
days. See if students can brainstorm about how the clouds help them determine
weather.
Provide the learning experience: To start the lesson, we as a class will explore
what we have learned on the previous two days and look at the clouds we have
learned about. We will first look at a cirrus cloud and determine what weather
comes from them. Next, we will look at the alto clouds and discuss the weather
we might see from them. Finally, we will look at stratus clouds and determine the
weather we would see from them. After we have completed this, we will go to
Twitter and follow @TheWeatherChannel to look at all the different clouds that
they have tweeted. Students are encouraged to reply, but it is not required. We
will then break into groups of three or four and start working on our robots. The
robots are a simple, but functioning robot on the three types of clouds that we
learned about. Students are allowed to be crafty with their robots and decorate
however they would like. Stations will be set up with different arts and crafts.
For example, there will be a recycling station to start their robot, a station with
pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, etc. After students have completed their robots,
they will show the class their creations.
12. R Require Learner Participation In-Class and Follow-Up Activities So Learners Can Process the
Information: The in-class activity that students will use to process the
information will be through our discussion and browsing @TheWeatherChannel
Twitter site of the different clouds and what weather that cloud creates. The
follow-up activity will be the robot that they create.
E Evaluate and Revise Before, During, and After Instruction: Before instruction, students will know
about the types of clouds and what the clouds are. During instruction, students
will learn that each cloud can help you determine the weather. After instruction,
students will demonstrate their knowledge of the types of weather each cloud
creates by the group activity and their robot.
Assess Learner, Media, and Methods: Students will be assessed on their
knowledge by the group activity and creating and talking about their robot.
14. A Analyze Learners General Characteristics: Second Grade, Classroom: 20 students, 9 boys, 11
girls: 90% White, 10% African American.
Specific Entry Competencies: One student has ADHD.
Learning Style: Students know of clouds, but have no prior knowledge.
S State Objectives Students will demonstrate their knowledge about the location of clouds with a
95% accuracy by creating a poster and creating a PowerPoint presentation.
S Select Methods, Media, and Materials Available Materials: Working in groups, working with the teacher, computer,
internet, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Modify Existing Materials: PowerPoint presentations.
Design New Materials: Creating a Poster using PowerPoint.
U Utilize Media and Materials Preview Materials: Make sure PowerPoint is working on all computers.
Prepare Materials and Environment: Make sure all students know how to get
on PowerPoint and show them how to use it.
Prepare the learner: We will go over everything we have learned so far.
Students will have previous knowledge of where the clouds are located. Provide
the learning experience: Students will work in a class group about the location
of each cloud. We will do a group activity altitude means. We will discuss about
where the clouds are based on altitude. I will go over with the students that
altitude means the height of an object in relation to the Earth. We will do
examples of what altitude means by using objects as the clouds and the floor as
the Earth. The further away the object, the higher the cloud, the closer the object
is to the floor, the lower the cloud is to the Earth. The highest cloud away from
the Earth is cirrus, the middle cloud from Earth is alto clouds, and the closest
clouds to Earth are stratus. Students will be in groups of two and then go to the
computers to create a PowerPoint presentation of cloud location. After they have
completed this, students will then work individually to create Poster using
PowerPoint with the location of each cloud studied. Students will get to present
their posters to the class.
15. R Require Learner Participation In-Class and Follow-Up Activities So Learners Can Process the
Information: The in-class activities that the students will use are: the group
activity and the group PowerPoint presentation to process the information they
learned about the location of clouds. For the follow-up activity, students will
create their own poster based of the cloud location of each cloud we are
studying.
E Evaluate and Revise Before, During, and After Instruction: Before instruction, students will know
what clouds are, the types of clouds we are studying, and that each cloud can
help you determine the weather. During instruction, students will learn the
location of each cloud. After instruction, students will have the knowledge of
the location of each cloud we are studying and will demonstrate their knowledge
using PowerPoint presentations and by creating a poster.
Assess Learner, Media, and Methods: Students knowledge will be assessed
using their group participation on learning about location of clouds, the group
PowerPoint presentation, and the poster that they create.
17. A Analyze Learners General Characteristics: Second Grade, Classroom: 20 students, 9 boys, 11
girls: 90% White, 10% African American.
Specific Entry Competencies: One student has ADHD.
Learning Style: Students know of clouds, but have no prior knowledge.
S State Objectives Students will demonstrate how to identify the three clouds that they have learned
about with 95% accuracy by doing a cloud observation, using Zello, and creating
a blog about using character education to teach about clouds.
S Select Methods, Media, and Materials Available Materials: Cell phones, working as a group with the teacher, the
outdoors, computer, internet, popsicle sticks, pictures of clouds, glue.
Modify Existing Materials: Have appropriate permission slips signed to use cell
phones and to download/use Zello app.
Design New Materials: Create cloud observation identifier.
U Utilize Media and Materials Preview Materials: Have students download and create their channel for the
class on the Zello app. Make sure students can use it correctly. Check the
weather to make sure there is no chance of rain.
Prepare Materials and Environment: Have all pictures and materials out to
create the cloud observation identifiers. Show example of how to use a blog and
websites to research character education to teach about clouds.
Prepare the learner: Review everything that we have learned all week. Talk
about the things that most interested the students. Talk about how they are going
to be able to identify their own clouds today and that they get to discuss them
using their phones.
Provide the learning experience: Students will first research how teach clouds
through character education. Students will work individually on a blog about
clouds. They will take the knowledge that they have learned and place it and
publish it on blogger.com. Students will then comment on one other blog.
Students will use the critical part of character education. By doing this, they will
positively critique the blog. They will offer any suggestion or comments that
could help the blog become better. Once we have completed this, students will
then get to create their own cloud observation identifier. Students will take a
popsicle stick and glue an open square onto it. Then they will get to chose from a
various assortment of different cloud pictures and glue them onto their identifier.
After they have completed this, we will go outside and observe the clouds.
Students will take their phones out with them and we will use Zello to discuss
what clouds we see. If students do not have a phone, they will buddy up with
someone who does.
18. R Require Learner Participation In-Class and Follow-Up Activities So Learners Can Process the
Information: The in-class activities that students will use to process the
information will be creating the group blog. The follow-up activity will be using
the cloud observation identifier and discussing what they see.
E Evaluate and Revise Before, During, and After Instruction: Before instruction students will know
about clouds and the various aspects of the clouds we are studying. During the
instruction, students will get to write a blog about what they have learned about
clouds and critique one other students blog. After instruction, students will
know how to accurately pick out the different types of clouds in the sky and
discuss with others what the cloud they observed is.
Assess Learner, Media, and Methods: Students will be assessed using the
Zello app for discussion and the group blog.
