For the last 8 or 9 years, we have lived in an environment where we get to see amazing cloud formations.  In Central Oregon our view from the living room spanned from Mount Hood to Mt Bachelor. Seven Peaks of mountains in the Central Oregon Cascades. We’d spend warm summer days watching storm systems travel north to south – west to east and back again.  We learned about the cycle of wind during the day – to the ocean and back to the plains. We had charts and posters and drawing and word lists. 

Now all of our windows face out to watch the storms come in off of the ocean.  We have a great understanding for the weather patterns.  It has been brought in closer with our desire to know when the tides are best for beach walking. When we’d like to dash to the park. When it is safe to be out on the lake in a small craft. When the storm swells will allow a grom to surf.  Weather is our life.

So imagine my surprise, when I pulled out some Cloud Vocabulary activities, and the boys had forgotten the names. I was glad that with a small amount of reintroduction – they had the names and layers sorted out.  Once again, we’ll be taking this month to intentionally be watching the sky and calling out the description of the cloud patterns by name and layer.

Ok. So I really want another excuse to take a walk on my favorite hills in town. When you see us at the beach – at least you’ll know we are walking with intention.

Want to see some of the tools we are using? They are free on the Handbook of Nature Study site – We are using a few books on Weather and Science Experiments as well to make this a Weather Science Unit Study this month. Head to your library and see what fun new weather books you can use to make a familiar subject new again. We used the Draw Write Now books to add weather into our back grounds. This day we were studying WW2 and Pearl Harbor – so we were able to draw airplanes with clouds in the background. I need to get better at getting permission to snap photos of their work. Have fun Walking!