Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Overview: This is a fun end-of-unit activity. Students watch the video, which is a story about what would happen if food dropped like rain from the sky. Students use their imagination to think about what it would be like if different foods fell, what if they didn’t like the food that fell, or what would happen if too much came. This is a fun way for students to review the weather type and add some creativity.
Materials: “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” a copy of the book, chart paper, marker, paper for each student (lines at bottom), crayons, pencils
Objectives:
- The learner will watch the video looking for the types of weather discussed through our weather unit.
- The learner will participate in a whole group discussion by adding examples from the story of different weather types.
- The learner will be introduced to the idea of “fiction” writing, by discussing whether or not this story is realistic.
- The learner will use their imagination to create their own food and weather type, draw this, and then write at least three sentences about what happened.
Procedure:
1) Students listen to the reading of the story.
2) Have large group discussion listing food and weather types from the video. Refer to book when needed. (Some examples are: tornado tomato soup, milk rain, wind blew in hamburgers, clouds of eggs, drizzle of soda, pea soup fog, storm of pancakes, down pour of maple syrup.)
3) Discuss whether or not this story is true or not. Explain that this is fiction writing.
4) Students think of their own type of food and how it will come about (with what type of weather.
5) Students draw the weather type and are instructed to write at least three sentences about what happened. It can either fit in with this story or be a new story.
6) Teacher circulates to answer questions.
Closing: When ample time has been given, students share back their food types and these are displayed for others to see.
Barrett, Judy. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1982.
How this fits into the curriculum and Assessment of lesson: This lesson is seen as a fun way to end the lesson. The story is a funny tale about a town called Chewandswallow, where the weather brought in all kinds of food. Students are required to, make their own depiction of food brought in by a type of weather. Students are encouraged to use the weather web for help in spelling weather types. They are also required to use at least two types of foods. To assess this activity, I looked for the necessary requirements, including foods and weather. But, most of all, it is a fun and creative way to end this unit.
