How Can You Make Your Own Rainbow?

Grade range: K-3

Time to complete: 20-30 minutes

Subjects/skills addressed: Science, Math

Objective: Students will create a rainbow with sunlight and water.

Materials needed:

Garden hose with an adjustable nozzle attached

Photographs of naturally occurring rainbows

Picture of a right triangle or angle

Open space outside

Sunshine (the sun should NOT be directly above you) 

Words to know: refract, reflect, angle

Instructions:

1. Show the students images of naturally occurring rainbows (single and double rainbows).

Ask: What colors do you see in the rainbows? How do you think these rainbows are created? Look closely at the double rainbows. How are they different?

2. Show students the picture of a right triangle.

3. Demonstration:

a. Position yourself with the sun directly behind you so that you and your shadow form the legs of a right triangle, as shown.

b. Position the hose approximately halfway between your shadow and you. The actual angle is 42 degrees for the primary rainbow and 50 degrees for the secondary rainbow. However, halfway will be easier for the students to understand.

c. Have a student turn the water on FULL blast. Arc the hose spray to create the rainbow. The rainbow should be formed close to the halfway point between the legs of the triangle.

Ask: What colors do you see in the rainbow? What color is at the top? At the bottom?

4. Have the students take turns creating their own rainbow. It may be possible to create a double rainbow in this manner, but the secondary rainbow will be faint.

Conclusion: To create a rainbow you need a source of light and something that will refract and reflect the light. The light from the sun is refracted (bent) and reflected (bounced) inside the droplets of water from the hose. As each color of the rainbow has a different-sized wavelength, the way they are refracted and reflected causes the sunlight to split into the different stripes of the rainbow.

Create a rainbow in the classroom: In the story, Sometimes Snow Falls in the Summer, a rainbow is created in Ella’s room by a prism. There are many ways to create a rainbow–using CDs, water, water and oil, and many more. Try your own hand at creating rainbows in the classroom.

Where Did The Snow Go?

Grade range: K-2

Time to complete: 45-60 minutes

Subjects/skills addressed: science, math 

Objective: Students will change the density of powdered sugar by adding a liquid. They will use the changed sugar to decorate a snowflake cookie. 

Materials needed:

2 pounds powdered sugar

Milk (2 TBSP per demonstration)

Prebaked sugar cookies

Colored granulated sugar

Vanilla and butter (optional)

Set of measuring cups and spoons

Spoon and spreading knife

Parchment paper 

Words to know: measure, density, more, less 

Instructions:

1. Ask: How do you think snow melts? What happens when it melts?

Explain that when snow melts, the density (how much space it fills) changes. The students will see how this is done by dissolving powdered sugar.

2. Direct a student to fill a measuring cup with powered sugar, making sure that the sugar is not packed into the cup. Level the top with the handle of the spoon.

Ask: Is the cup full of sugar? Let’s see if we can change that.

3. Direct a student to pour 1 teaspoon of milk into the center of the cup of sugar.

Ask: What is happening to the powdered sugar?

3. Direct another student to add a second spoon of milk. A third, etc. Observe what happens to the sugar. Use no more than a total of 6 teaspoons.

Ask: Why does it look like there is less sugar in the cup? Where did it go?

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.

5. Stir the contents of the cup into a bowl, adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla to flavor.*

6. Use the steps in lesson 2 to create snowflakes that are 1.75″ in diameter from the parchment paper.

7. Cover the cookies with the powdered sugar icing.

8. Place the parchment snowflake on top of the cookie and sprinkle generously with colored sugar, tapping off the extra before removing the snowflake pattern. A clean pin helps remove the parchment snowflakes from the icing. 

Conclusion:

When liquid is added to powdered sugar, the sugar dissolves into the liquid, increasing the density of the sugar. The amount of air between the particles of sugar is reduced, causing the sugar to take up less room in the cup. This is similar to how the density of snow is changed when it melts. The air between the snowflakes is reduced as the snow becomes a liquid. 

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Estimated Time: 45 minutes

Description: A Compare/Contrast lesson where students use the book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett to practice the use of clear and precise language to demonstrate comprehension.

Strand: 

• Listening / Speaking
• Reading
• Science
• Writing

Objectives: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the compare and contrast strategy in modern fantasy through the story “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett.

Pre-requisite Knowledge
Students will know the four seasons and should be familiar with the concepts of weather that includes clouds, rain, snow, wind, storms, and tornadoes.  Students must also be able to recognize the foods referred to in the story and reviewed if necessary.

Motivation
Students will be introduced to this lesson with the reading of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett.  Prior to the reading teacher will ask students to look at the cover and make a prediction of what they think the story is about.  Teacher will show visuals of umbrellas and ask students which one might be used in the town of Chewandswallow and which one might be used in real life.

Relevant Questions
“What do you think it would be like to live in a place where food really did come from the sky?”
“Would you like to live in a place like this? Why or why not?”
“How is the town of Chewandswallow different from our town?”

Procedure

• Students will gather together for the instruction and reading of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
• Teacher will display visuals and chart paper.
• Questions will be asked periodically during the reading regarding the weather in the town of Chewandswallow.
• Before the students are asked to brainstorm compare and contrast between Chewandswallow and a real town, a mini-lesson discussing the concept of compare and contrast will be taught using a chart.
• Explain the students that we will now list all of the characteristics that are the same about the towns and all the characteristics that are different.
• The teacher will call on volunteers to share their ideas with the class.  As the students provide responses, the teacher will write them in the appropriate spaces on the chart.
• Give every student a copy of the bulletin board pattern and have each child write about an imaginary town where odd things rained down from the sky.
• Students who finish early will get an umbrella coloring page to complete.

Interdisciplinary Activity

During science the children will learn about health and nutrition.  They will reflect on their own lives, what they eat, and what they do to stay healthy. 

Materials

• “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” by Judi Barrett
• markers
• large easel pad
• watch out for wacky weather bulletin board pattern sheets
• umbrella coloring sheets
• crayons
• pencils
• large oak tag umbrella cut out
• real umbrella

Assessment

Students’ responses to the book that was read aloud in class.  Observation of students’ expression of ideas comparing and contrasting two towns.  Students’  written response to the bulletin board pattern page.  Also, assess children’s abililty to correctly identify and label illustrations and sentences as fantasy or realism.

Follow-up/ Enrichment Activities

•    Temperature Comparison

Have the students read the thermometer at the same time every day for the next two weeks and record the temperature on a sheet of paper.  At the end of two weeks have the students help you plot the readings on a graph.  Discuss the graph and determine which days had the highest and lowest readings.  Discuss any trends in the temperature and the possible reasons for them.  For example, you might notice that it’s getting warmer or colder as the days progress.

• Keep a Record

Students can keep a running record of what they ate for the school week.  When completed, each student can create their own journal.  The journals can be illustrated with the different foods and  shared with partners.

• Questions for further discussion

Students can discuss and write about problems which may have occurred as a result of no sanitation, oversized food, rotting food, etc.

• Homework

Tell what you think the author is saying about people’s responsibility toward their environment.  Illustrate.