Apr. 14, 2008 - I've looked at Clouds...
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I've Looked at Clouds I am SO. GEEKED. I'm gonna learn about clouds. I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from win and lose, and still somehow it's cloud's illusions I recall - I really don't know clouds at all. ((From my junior year 70's folk song phase... when I used to wander in the woods on base and sing Joan Baez songs. Yes, I was a very odd young girl.)) Last year we showcased birds. I didn't even intend to, it just happened. We put up three birdfeeders - a finch feeder, a suet feeder, and a regular feeder (and in the summer, a hummingbird feeder). And they just... came! It was phenomenal. And I think we got more varieties because our backyard is only 15 feet wide (before you hit the woods), so coming to the feeder didn't mean exposing themselves too badly. We had house finch, yellow finch, black-capped chickadees, titmouses (titmice?), nuthatches, cardinals, bluebirds, cowbirds, rock pidgeon, grosbeak, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, hummingbirds and sparrows (of course). We took pictures for our nature notebooks, and even did the National Backyard Bird Count. This year, we didn't get into it as much. And I wondered what we should do for our science study. Oh, I have Discover & Do DVDs with 'in the kitchen' experiments involving air, water, and heat, but they're really hokey, and don't lend themselves to anything. I like things that we can use everyday, that have meaning. Usefulness. ((I'm pathetic.)) This morning on my survival posts, someone talked about predicting weather by cloud watching. It piqued my interest, lemme tell you. I know there are different clouds... like cumulus (that's the only one I know the name for, sadly!)... and I know "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" (red sunsets mean a beautiful next day) and "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning" (red sunrises mean rain's coming). I know that if it rain's on Sunday it rains three days after. I know that if it rains on Easter it will rain the next six Sundays. I know that if the rain starts before seven (a.m.), it'll end before eleven (a.m.). ((NoTe: Unless one of the previous rules apply.)) I know "Winds in the West, fish bite the best, Winds in the East, fish bite the least, Winds in the south, hook's in the mouth." I'm really good with those little addages. But reading clouds sounds FASCINATING!!! A great addtion to my little collection of ditties (which, btw, work WAY better than the meteorologist, I might add!) First, I went to the local library site and typed in 'weather', which brought up some children's books with experiments that had to do with weather. I ordered a few of them, then typed in 'weather identification', because it wasn't so broad a keyword. They had one of the books the survival site recommended, and a few that looked fascinating. I also found a weather DVD, so we could watch a movie and learn visually, too. It'll be here in a week... WooooT!!! So next I downloaded the powerpoint presentation from the Maritime site... but it's like a slideshow meant to accompany a lecture (that I don't have access to). However, Chart 4-25 (air circulation) was worth printing out, so I did that... and learned that "the Doldrums" is the belt at the equator that doesn't have much wind action. ((And here I thought 'the doldrums' was feeling blah! Now I know where that came from!!)) Then I pulled up Wayfinder's cloud identification page. I'm gonna condense it using Word, because there's good information there, and a KEWL chart showing the types of clouds, where they range in the sky, and what their names are. ((And who knows what else - I haven't read the sucker yet!)) But the chart is hand-drawn, and I would like REAL pictures of the different clouds for our notebooks, so, I went hunting for picture for our notebooks. ((uPDaTe: I like this picture of clouds...!)) There's also a cloud matching game for kids to learn the different names. I could use that, hello!! And how about this: A cloud identifier wheel for kids! ((I'd like to make that, too!!)) And how about make your own anemometer (wind measurer-er) out of dixie cups. And another wheel... a wind scale (like this, too!!) Going to Yahoo, I typed in "types of clouds" and this led me to pictures, kid sites, info sites... I have my work cut out for me today! But I'm really really excited about it!! Isn't research interesting!!?! |
Comments
Jun. 26, 2008 - clouds
Posted by Anonymous
Try looking at this site too:
http://cloudman.com/index.htm
Stephanie in AR
