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Activity
It's Raining Cats and Dogs! Make a Children's Book about the Weather
Grades | 7 – 12 |
Activity Time | 1 ½ to 3 hours (can be done on separate days). |
Activity Author |
Portland, Oregon |
Publisher | ![]() |
Activity Description
Sayings like “Clear moon, frost soon” and “A sunny shower won't last an hour” have helped people make sense of the weather for hundreds of years. In this activity, kids choose their favorite weather sayings to create a children's book. The goal of the book is to teach a younger child about the historical significance of the weather sayings using illustrations captions, and explanations.
Why This Is Helpful
We experience natural phenomena related to the weather and atmosphere all the time, but we seldom stop to think about what causes these event to happen. In this activity, kids explore the ways we have historically made sense of the weather by actively analyzing weather sayings and creating an illustrated book for younger children. By drawing pictures to explain each weather saying, kids have to use a variety of methods to understand figurative language and imagery. This helps them practice critical thinking and synthesis of ideas. They also have to understand their audience in order to create a successful book for younger children. To do this they will need to do some research and make decisions about what the weather sayings mean, how accurate they are, and why we might or might not use these sayings anymore.
This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan "Questioning the Facts and Folklore of Weather Sayings."