Just a few days ago it was a slight bit turbulent in the atmosphere around here. While we hadn't had any major storms over us they were certainly around us. I walked out on our back deck to see if the skies were clearing up as I had noticed the sun was shining again. I looked to my left, and I felt I was in a movie scene from Independence Day (remember that movie?). A mighty Thunderhead Behemoth stood from horizon to upper atmosphere before me.

I stood wide-eyed as I slowly started bending backward as if it were beginning to loom over top of me. Yeah, it was that enormous! I have personally never seen such a large cloud formation. And the rather odd thing is that the sky almost all the way around was clear other than this.

I zoomed in to try and capture some detail of it's beauty. It was truly breathtaking.

It wasn't long before my son was out being mesmerized by it also.

I've long since seen the symbolism of God's peace in the beautiful clouds, but now I realize that His mighty power is being shown through them as well.

Some of the most beautiful and breathtaking skies I have ever seen have been after a storm. And this evening's sunset which directly followed a storm was no exception.

I could tell that something spectacular was brewing on the eastern horizon as well, as the sun was setting.

And it wasn't long before the sky morphed into something even more than spectacular. I'm fairly sure that is a Lenticular Cloud in the photo below; the one under the moon. I have never noticed one of them before. It was amazing!

As the sun set further in the western sky, the eastern sky turned more and more rose-colored. And so did the Lenticular cloud.

 All I could do was sit and stare in amazement for the few moments before everything faded to black.

What is a Lenticular Cloud?

Why does the sunrise and sunset reflect different colors?

Don't you just love when the delivery man comes with a package of new books?!  When I'm breaking open the packaging I'm transported back to my childhood Christmas mornings!  This last week I've begun ordering a few books for the next school year, and I also picked out these two which I'm totally thrilled about.

Cloud Dance, by Thomas Locker

A Drop Around the World, by Barbara Shaw Mckinney

A Drop Around the World has the makings of a great unit study, especially full of lots of Science and Geography.  I also ordered the available Teacher's Guide, thinking of possibly incorporating it into our studies for next year.

Speaking of clouds, we had a very windy day here, with a lot of "cloud dancing".  So I snapped some photos while at my son's baseball game.

I love to take photos of the clouds and then try to find images in them.  After reading all the Bible verses during our cloud study, where God appeared in the clouds to His people, and knowing that our Savior will return in a cloud, I can't help but pay special attention to them now.  The next time you are outside or near a window, take an extra special moment to take notice.

Blessings for your weekend.

We have officially finished up on our cloud study!  Here are some miscellaneous things we’ve done recently to finish up.

Bible Devotion:

We read Matthew 17:1-8 (The Transfiguration) – again God chose to appear in a cloud.  One look in a concordance and I was amazed at how many verses there were to do with clouds; and especially God appearing in them (invisible to man, made visible through nature)

Art Studies:

We sat in front of our computer and went through Amanda's Clouds in Art Show.  First the kids picked their favorite painting from the show and filled out the notebook page; and then they put their hand to trying their version of that picture.

Alex’s Version of Lawren Harris – Clouds, Lake Superior

Hannah’s Version of Claude Monet – Water Lilies (The Clouds)

Also, Hannah and I completed another art assignment from the book Monet and the Impressionists for Kids, by C. Sabbeth called “Painting the Shimmering Sky”.  We used crayon to make cloud images in the background.  And then we painted over the background with watercolors (the wax clouds resisting the watercolor).  Also we filled in the grass with watercolor.  Then, on a separate piece of paper we sketched non-detailed images of a person of our choice and colored it in with either crayon or colored pencil, cut it out and glued it to our background.  Hannah, of course, chose Wonder Woman, well at least she put her in an elegant skirt!

Vocabulary and Science:

We have been keeping up with some cloud vocabulary, our latest focus being the word “condensation”.  I had them write the word and definition in their absolute best handwriting. 

And then we did two different quick demonstrations of how condensation happens:  1)  blew hot air from our mouths onto a cold spoon, and 2) poured an ice cold glass of lemonade and observed the glass sweating.

We have also been continuing to periodically fill out our Cloud Identification Pages.  And I’ve gotten myself in the habit of asking the kids what type of clouds are out each opportunity that I have, whether on a nature study, or even driving in the car.  Often, they've been bringing it up to me!

We read more from Take a Cloud Walk.  Most recently we read the section on hail, and completed the yummy demonstration of how hail forms using chocolate covered strawberries.

 I think this was the kid’s favorite demonstration!  I just left them for a minute, Ridiculous!!!

Math:

Alex did a math activity to reinforce grouping and counting by tens.  He took an outline of a water droplet that had 100 smaller droplets on the inside.  He first gave his estimate of how many droplets he thought were in the drop.  And then he circled groups of tens and then counted them up to see how many there actually were.

Language Arts (Creative Writing):

Hannah wrote story about her favorite type of cloud.  I got her started using the following sentence:

Once upon a time there was a (type of cloud) cloud named __________.

Photography:

And, we’ve continued to take more photos of different types of clouds to add to our nature journals.  Here are a few of our recent additions!

 This photo has numerous cloud types

(cirrus, altocumulus, and stratocumulus were the ones we could see)

Cumulus Clouds - Fair Weather!

Stratus Clouds (Fog)

To see my original post, click Clouds Unit Study.

Charlotte Mason said, "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without."

This summarizes up the last few days for us!  We have most certainly been rightly without doors!  I've lived in this area of the country all my life and I know by now that there is not always an opportunity weather-wise to be in the great outdoors; this winter brought that back readily to my mind.  And the spring rains are sure to return.  BUT for the last few days the weather has been perfect!  Not a shiver, not a sweat..... just divine.  So, the children and I have been basking in the beauty almost every moment! 

We have, however, still been on a slow road with our clouds study and I wanted to update you with that.  We have had some great cloud watching days!  We have been blessed to have great varieties to observe.  The past few days we have seen all sorts of cirrus, stratus, and cumulus clouds.

Yesterday, for our cloud study, we observed three different varieties of clouds in the sky at once!  So we filled out our Cloud Identification sheets.  And just spent some time sitting with the warm breeze and watching the clouds in their beauty.  We remained outside and read the book that I mentioned in the previous post, The Man Who Named the Clouds.

WANT TO KNOW the coolest thing we studied so far about clouds??? -  We read in the Bible, Exodus 16:10 "While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.  Then we read the side note on page 21 of Let's Take a Cloud Walk where it talks about how clouds are really just invisible air becoming VISIBLE!  This was a great Bible lesson to talk about that maybe that's why God choose clouds to appear in because they were symbollic of the invisible Lord appearing visible to them!  There are sometimes if I take more than a moment to gaze at the beauty in the clouds, I too can feel and see Him.

Stratocumulus Clouds - a photo I just took from our deck

1)  While sifting through books from my library I found another great read for studying clouds:

 The Man Who Named the Clouds

by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub

About this book:  Born in England in 1772, Luke Howard began keeping a weather journal when he was 10 years old. He maintained an interest in weather and clouds all his life, though he supported himself and his family as a chemist. In 1802, he proposed a system of classifying clouds into seven types, basing their names on the Latin words cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. His system was adopted and, in adapted form, is still used today. This colorful book balances biographical and historical information with basic weather science, presented in the form of a modern child's monthly weather journal. Artwork includes reproductions of a portrait of Howard and his own paintings of clouds.

2) Also, Lori from Camp Creek Press thoughtfully lead me to this absolutely fantastic and FREE e-book:

Take a Cloud Walk

 by Jane Kirkland

I've added both of these resources to my original Clouds Unit Study post.

Our first Clouds Unit Study day went very well (to find all my original plans for this unit study, scrolll down or click on the LINK). 

Here's an overview of what we did for our first day:

•  Bible:  Genesis 9:13 - God set His rainbow in the clouds as a sign.

•  Read four pages from:   Clouds, by C. Webster

• We made our “cloud finders” using the guide found here:  Cloud Identification Key

• We weren't able to "cloud watch" yet because we've had crystal clear blue skies!

• We read the poem "The Cloud" by Percy Bysshe Shelley; studying the meaning of the first stanza and beginning memorization of the first stanza.

• Science Experiment - Make Your Own Cloud.  I'll post the photos from this in a different post.

• Sensory Activity - use a can of shaving cream to let the kids make different kinds of clouds with, we did this and wow was it, of course, a hit!  I know I'm crazy!  The cloud chart I purchased from our local school supply store.  And for the storm clouds we added in some food colorings.

(photo from our backyard in spring 2007 of cumulus clouds)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the

work of his hands" - Psalm 19:1

I've been busy with preparing the CM Carnival, but also have been working hard planning a mini unit study on clouds.  We plan on wrapping up our structured school year by spending the next week or so studying clouds and then moving on to a unit study on oceans (since we will be visiting one lovely big ocean for vacation this summer!).  We're getting started today on our study, however will go at it low key to start, because after a week of cloudy weather, the last couple of days have been clear blue skies!

Following are the basic plans for our clouds unit; my hope is to post each day as to what we actually ended up doing.

~ The main book that I will be using to read from everyday will be (it's the closest thing to a "living book" that I could find):

Clouds, by C. Webster

~ There are gobs of internet sites on weather and clouds out there, these are the ones that caught AND kept my attention:

www.weatherwizkids.com/cloud.htm

www.wildwildweather.com/clouds

www.eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.html

~ We will “cloud watch” for several minutes each day and fill out a Cloud Identification sheet (you may click on this link to download the worksheet I made - in Mircrosoft Excel).

~ To aid in identification we will also be using our “cloud finders” which we will be making by using the guide found here:  http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/cloudkey.pdf

~ Watch the excellent video:  The Wonders of God's Creation - Planet Earth, Sanctuary of Life, by Moody Press

~ Poetry – The Cloud, by P. Shelley. Study, appreciation, and memorization.

The Cloud

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,

     From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

     In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken

     The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,

     As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,

     And whiten the green plains under;

And then again I dissolve it in rain,

     And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I sift the snow on the mountains below,

     And their great pines groan aghast;

And all the night 'tis my pillow white,

     While I sleep in the arms of the blast.

~ Science Experiment ~ “Make Your Own Cloud”

Wild Science Projects About Earth's Weather, by R. Gardner

We will fill out a Science Journal page (you may click on this link to download the worksheet I made - in Mircrosoft Excel).  We have already completed a few other appropriate experiments in recent weeks that you can read about here: Science Experiments.

~ One whole day devoted to ART!

We will start out the day using Amanda’s (from Hearts and Trees) Clouds Art Show, and fill out the Clouds in Art Notebooking Pages.

Skies and the Artist, by E. Sloane

Using the above book, we will have an art lesson on how to draw clouds and give our hand at trying it ourselves.

Monet and the Impressionists for Kids, by C. Sabbeth

And then we'll try our hand at painting them using the activity “Painting the Shimmering Sky” on page 26 of the above book. 

Last, but certainly FIRST, is Bible Study.  I was amazed and in AWE, which I shouldn't have been because of Psalm 19:1, of how many verses I found where our Lord used(s) clouds for His purposes ~ to guide, to appear in, to come to, to cover, to see, to return in, to go...AMAZING.  Here is just a list of the verses we will be reading and studying:

Genesis 9:13 - God set His rainbow in the clouds as a sign

Exodus 13:21 - God went ahead of the Israelites in a cloud to guide them

Exodus 16:10 - The Glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud

Exodus 19:9 - God came to them in a dense cloud

Leviticus 16:2 - God dwelled in a cloud over the atonement cover

Luke 12:54 - Jesus used clouds in His lesson

Luke 21:27 - Jesus will return on a cloud

1 Thessalonians 4:17 - we will be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds to go to Heaven

ADDITIONS:

4/17

Sensory Activity - use a can of shaving cream to let the kids make different kinds of clouds with, we did this today and wow was it, of course, a hit!

4/20

 Books -

 The Man Who Named the Clouds

by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub

Lori from Camp Creek Press thoughtfully lead me to this absolutely fantastic and FREE e-book:

Take a Cloud Walk

 by Jane Kirkland

OTHER POSTS IN REGARDS TO THIS STUDY:

Clouds Unit - Day 1

Clouds Unit - Two More Great Resources

Clouds Unit - Day 2 - Beautiful Bible Lesson

 Cloud Study - Finishing Up