by Jen Thorpe

Created on: May 14, 2010

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, written by Judi Barrett, and illustrated by Ron Barrett, has been a favorite book for countless children since it was first published in 1978.  This very creative story, about a town where food falls from the sky, sparks the imagination of everyone who reads it.  The animated movie about this book, made in 2009, increased the popularity of this book.  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is an excellent book to include in lesson plans for elementary school students.  

Here are the best websites for free worksheets and activities for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, that you can quickly and easily add to your lesson plan.

(1) Scholastic (http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=37 52215) has free worksheets that include pictures from the movie.  You can print out a worksheet with weather vocabulary, one that goes along with a science lab on making a tornado, and a worksheet that helps teach about safety when their is a tornado warning going on.  There is even a homework worksheet you can print out, to have students find weather words with their families.

Scholastic is a company that specializes in children's books.  When your child's school has a book fair, it is the Scholastic company that comes with all the wonderful books.  

(2) Dana's books (http://www.danasbooks.com/WorksheetCloudywithaChanc eofMeatballs.html) has a free printable worksheet designed by Judi Barrett, the woman who wrote Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  The first section asks students to make compound words from the words that appear at the end of each line.  The next section has students put food words in alphabetical order.  There is even a question requiring students to use their imagination to come up with an original answer, and some extra credit work to do on the back of the worksheet.

What could be better than a worksheet for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs created by the author of the book?  

(3) Free Reading (http://www.free-reading.net/index.php?title=Introdu ce_Vocabulary:_Cloudy_with_a_Chance_of_Meatballs_(Ba rrett)) has an entire lesson plan about the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs book.  Just print it out, and follow it step by step.  This is a lesson plan that focuses on some of the vocabulary words found in the story.

It's nice to have a lesson plan that you can use in a pinch.  You only need a few supplies for this lesson plan: A chalkboard or whiteboard, (either will work), and the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  

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