Clouds!

We start our day with Science which usually gets the kids excited because we do an experiment and craft. It seems to start the day with a positive attitude. We have been studying the Solar System and in particular Jupiter and now Saturn. The lesson moved into why Jupiter and Saturn look like giant clouds. They both spin very quickly and take about 10 hours to spin around once. This fast spinning makes their clouds line up in colored bands, so the planets look striped. One of the most incredible things about Jupiter is that it has a large storm called the Great Red Spot. It is three times the size of Earth! The Solar System by Rosalind Mist is an excellent book!
Our experiment was to fill a plastic cup half full with water and add glitter. The kids stirred the water around and around and watched the glitter follow in swirls. This gave them a visual of how the clouds form and look colorful with the spinning of the planets and the light.
So of course we moved into the types of clouds we see in our atmosphere and how they are formed. We talked about three specific types: Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus.  The kids then got to draw each type with a white crayon on blue paper. I found a couple sites online where they read a little more on each type and looked at more pictures.