Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Objectives

• Students will identify things which fall from the sky. (Knowledge)
• Students will generate ideas of what animal they want to base their work on. (Synthesis)
• Students will design a picture to demonstrate their chosen object. (Synthesis)
• Students will write a paragraph to accompany their picture. (Synthesis)

Materials

• Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett (Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1978)
• About 14 sheets of white paper
• A set of crayons, markers, or colored pencils per group
• About 14 sheets of lined paper

Procedures

1. Ask students to name some things that fall from the sky. Remind the children of the saying, ÒItÕs raining cats and dogs.Ó Ask students what it would be like if cats and dogs really did fall from the sky. Explain that in the story Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs , something very unusual falls from the sky.
2. Read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs to the entire class, making sure everyone gets a chance to see the illustrations.
3. Follow up by asking critical-thinking and discussion questions.
   • What are some advantages and disadvantages of living in the town of Chewandswallow? Would you like to live there? Why or why not?
   • Show the children the picture of the children sledding with their grandpa at the end of the book. Why do you think the children thought they saw a giant pat of butter and could smell mashed potatoes? What did they really see?
   • One day, Gorgonzola cheese, overcooked broccoli and brussel sprouts fell from the sky. The people did not enjoy these foods. What food would you be dissatisfied with if it fell from the sky?
   • If you could choose any kind of food to fall from the sky, what would you choose? How could you store it if too much fell?
4. Explain to the class that they will be producing a book in which animals fall from the sky instead of food. The students will be responsible for pairing up and creating a picture and paragraph to go along with the animal of their choice to fall from the sky. Brainstorm possible animals which could fall from the sky in our make-believe class story. Record student ideas on board.
5. Write, "On April __, it poured down..." on the chalkboard. Explain that each pair will be assigned a day from which their animal will fall. The date will determine the order of their picture and paragraph in the story. Each group will begin their paragraph with this sentence. The first group (which will be assigned randomly) will begin their paragraph, "On April 10, it poured down..." The next group will be the 11th and so on.
6. Tell the students that they will be responsible for choosing their partner quietly and to brainstorm an animal to draw and write about. Allow each student to find a partner. Assign a day to each group.
7. Hand out a piece of white paper to each group for the illustration, and hand out lined paper to each group for the paragraph. Stress that both names in the pair must be put on both pieces. The names must be written neatly on the bottom, front of the picture.
8. When each group is finished, each will share their part of the story and illustration with the class. After the groups have shared their work, the work will be collected and bound in a class book.

Evaluation

1. Were students listing real elements which actually fall from the sky? Did they list things such as rain, snow, hail and sleet?
2. Did each group come up with an object to base their work on which was related to the animal theme?
3. Were the pictures representative of each groups object? Did the pictures relate to the written paragraph?
4. Were the paragraphs coherent and grammatically correct?

Extensions

1. Have the class complete, in their journal, the following statement: "I would/would not like to live in Chewandswallow because..."
2. Have students write a weather report that could have been heard in Chewandswallow after being exposed to actual weather forecasts.