Look UP in the SKY!

Kansas is one of the best places there is to see clouds. They change constantly and can be alternately fascinating and terrifying. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has had a program for several years now that encourages students (with a teacher’s help) to observe and record clouds. It is called the Ceres S’Cool Project and brings observations from around the world into one large database! Besides learning about cloud formations, you can learn about time zones, satellite orbits, and how to keep data for science experiments. Can you believe that only one school from Kansas (Saints Peter and Paul School in Seneca) has participated in this project?

You can locate the Ceres S’Cool Project at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/ . See if you and your class would like to participate. The only requirements are a teacher, some students, a place to observe the sky (that should be easy) and a convenient satellite overpass, which they help you with. See some great pictures from participants around the word at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/photo_album/ .

Research clouds and cloud formations by using the databases offered through your State Library at http://www.kslc.org/ by going to the database list and using SIRS Discoverer or Thomson/Gale’s Kids InfoBits. Type in CLOUDS and receive hundreds of articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals. A SIRS search also offers reference articles from Compton’s Encyclopedia and World Almanac. A Kids InfoBits search will result in articles from Weekly Reader, Science Weekly, Children’s Digest, and Science World.

For more advance research try a ProQuest search of WEATHER AND CLOUDS. It will return many articles from titles such as the Journal of Climate, Plane and Pilot, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, and Monthly Weather Review. Thomson/Gale’s general search of CLOUD PHYSICS will offer articles from Geography Review, Earth, Smithsonian and much more!

It is all there from the State Library of Kansas.