Cloud Day

Objective:
The students will make maps of a familiar room.

Materials

• Paper or Cloud View Worksheet

• Writing utensils (crayons, pencils, colored pencils, etc.)

• Examples of maps (some can be found at www.maps.com, if needed.)

Procedure

1. Show examples of maps to the students.  Discuss how map makers draw things from a "cloud's eye view".  Some good aerial photos can be found at http://www.city-scenes.com/ .

2. Pass out the paper or Cloud View Worksheet and writing utensils. 

3. Have the students draw a map of their bedrooms, the classroom, or some other familiar place. 

4. As an alternative for younger children or as a bigger whole class project, a classroom map can be made  together on a large piece of butcher paper.  The children can make cutouts of their desks, tables, bookshelves, etc. and then work as a class to glue them in the correct place.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Use newspaper weather maps to locate cities with hotter and colder temperatures than the students' city.

2. Have a meteorologist come in and give a presentation on what his/her job entails.  This could also tie into a science lesson on using cloud types for predicting the weather.