It's no surprise to those who know me, I am a unit loving, hands on, crafty type of teacher. I thought I'd share some of the fun we had studying all things cloud + rainbow. I don't know about you, but I've definitely needed some rainbows. So, I will admit we emphasized rainbows much more than clouds during this study! ha.
Any great unit study begins with some really great picture books. Here are the books we read over the week. I always like to include a few readers at their level so that they can read independently about the subject for extra retainment. I have to say, "Rain Before Rainbows" had some of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen in a children's book. Truly magical!
A classic for sure--leave it to cotton balls to make the best clouds!
Using a cereal box, I freehand cut a rainbow shape. Then, the kids glued a variety of beans, making six sections to represent the six colors of the rainbow. After the glue dried, they painted each line of beans in the correct color order of a rainbow.
Of course, out of every activity we did, they loved this one the best. Anytime things involve sweets that they get to eat, it's a win. For this we used airhead rainbow bites, mini marshmallows, blue frosting an graham crackers.
Last, we made chalk paint using corn starch, food colorings and water. This was more of an art lesson because we talked about primary colors, the color wheel and what colors mixed together make other colors. They enjoyed using tape to create shapes!
We also did some fun science like making rain clouds in a jar and using a cd to create a rainbow.
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our unit fun! Please let me know if you have any questions!