Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Materials Needed:
  - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett
   - paper (lined and construction)
   - pencil

Before Reading
Before reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, choose one of these activities to complete:
  1.  Become familiar with the different types of clouds.  Define what a cloud is and write down what kind of cloud is in the sky at the present time.  Make sure to note the characteristics that make that cloud what it is.
   2.  Put students into groups and have them talk about the different forms of precipitation that come down out of our sky.  Discuss what it would be like if there was something falling from the sky every day.  How would we handle that?  What types of things would we have to be aware of?

During Reading
    While reading, stop and predict what you think will happen and why.  Make a prediction every couple of pages and record it on a piece of paper.  At the end of the book we will go back and see if our predictions are correct.  Also, make a note of the different types of clouds spotted in the text.

After Reading
After reading, choose one of these activities to complete:
   1. Keep a running log for a week of the weather outside.  Print off the weather chart and make sure to write down the temperature, time of day, and what types of clouds were observed in the sky.  Discuss as a class what patterns you see with your observations.
   2. Write a short story about what the town of Chewandswallow would be like today.  Would there still be different foods falling from the sky?  What about the new land they set up their home in?  Do you think the falling food followed them to their new homeland?
   3.  Pick a natural disaster.  Choose from a flood, an avalanche, an earthquake, a hurricane, or a tornado.  Next, make a collage of words describing the different characteristics that go along with that particular one.  Maybe mention a famous storm of some sort and tell about what typically goes along with that disaster.

    Beyond Reading

     If you a question about clouds or weather ask Jeeves, he can tell you a lot of interesting things about weather.
    
 
 

Cyberlesson created by Carrie Poe