Science and Technology K–6 · Years 1–2

Cloud cover and rain: is a cloudier morning a wetter day

Earth and Space (NSW 2017); Science understanding, Earth and space sciences and Science as a human endeavour (ACARA v9)

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Patterns in weather records can be used to make predictions, and the class tests whether morning cloud cover is a sign of rain.

What you need

A cloud-cover card: a circle divided into eight equal parts, and the four steps clear (0 to 1 parts), partly cloudy (2 to 4), mostly cloudy (5 to 7), overcast (8)
The class rain gauge from the rain-gauge activity, read to the nearest millimetre against its millimetre ruler; any water in it, even less than 1 mm, makes that a rain day
A four-week table with columns: date, morning cloud step, cloud type words (flat grey, puffy white, wispy), rain by next morning (mm)

How to do it

At 9.30 am each day look at the whole sky from the same spot and decide how many of eight parts are covered. Record the step and the cloud words.
Each morning read the rain gauge to the nearest millimetre and record the rain that fell since the last reading; write less than 1 mm if there is only a little water, and count it as rain.
After four weeks colour each morning's square by cloud step and write the rain beside it.
Count: on how many overcast mornings did it rain by the next morning; on how many clear mornings did it rain.
Compare the count with the Bureau's forecast for a few of the days.

What you should see

The four-week table gives two counts: rain days after overcast or mostly cloudy mornings, and rain days after clear mornings. Comparing each count with the number of mornings of that kind shows whether cloudier mornings were followed by rain more often in these four weeks. Some overcast mornings stay dry, which is why a forecast gives a chance of rain, not a promise. The learner knows it worked when every morning has a cloud step and a rain reading, so both counts can be made.

What changes

This activity lists no variables to change, measure and keep the same.

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

Clouds always mean rain.
A forecast is a guess with nothing behind it (forecasts are built from observations).

Safety card

Low riskLearners carry it out

Hazards

Never look at the sun

Controls

Face away from the sun; hats

Note

No chemicals or heat. Record the activity on the school's risk assessment (Primary School RiskAssess, Ecosolve Australia, riskassess.com.au).

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), NESA. Current syllabus; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare, 2027 start teaching the 2024 syllabus. Code read from the official syllabus document on 2026-09-22.ST1-10ES-S ST1-1WS-S
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), NESA. Implementation from 2027, so this code describes the future syllabus. Code read from the outcomes page on 2026-09-22.ST1-SCI-01 ST1-PQU-01 ST1-DAT-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9S1U02AC9S1H01AC9S1I01AC9S1I03AC9S1I04AC9S1I05

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

All Concept Studio activities