Guided Reading

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

By: Ron Barrett

Objective: Students will read and discuss narrative text and engage in discussion of key concepts
and vocabulary through the development of cause and effect charts to demonstrate
comprehension at a level of at least a three on a four point rubric scale

I. Prereading- to prepare students for reading a book:

A. Activate/ Build Prior Knowledge

Listen and watch a weather forecast for a possible thunderstorm on YouTube. Develop a
discussion on types of weather that was presented and encourage students to share their
experiences during a thunderstorm. Ask students how the weather presented in the forecast
mostly affected people who lived there. Then, show visual examples of a thunderstorm and other
types of weather. Ask students to raise their hand if they know what each visual represents. The
visual examples will help students relate to the experiences that occur in the town of
Chewandswallow.

B. Preview/ Predictions

Now preview the reading material with students by conducting a picture-walk. Guide students in
exploring the pictures and visuals on each page. After showing pages eight and nine, ask a
student, “Do you think this story is non-fiction or fiction?” based on the visuals seen so far.
Students should say fiction. Go to page nine and ask the class, “What is happening in the picture
on page nine?” Students should say there are burgers coming down from the sky and raining
peas and potatoes. On page ten, ask the class, “What is the man doing?” The students should say
watching television. Explain to students that the man is watching a weather report like we did on
YouTube. Ask students, “Why does the man watch the weather channel?” Students may respond
to see what it will be like outside or to know what to wear. Go to page 15 and ask students,
“What do you think the people are doing?” Students should say picking up a plate with a truck
and the man standing is telling the driver to stop with his hands. Point and state “The Sanitation
Department of Chewandswallow” is written on the side of the truck. Tell students to keep in
mind in what they think the job of the Sanitation Department is.

C. Vocabulary

Perform a picture walk to explore weather words and their meanings. During the picture walk,
point out weather related terms such as snow, rain, wind, and tornado. During the course of
reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, have the weather related terms along with a picture
on the board. The vocabulary words for this story are the following: portions, frequently,
necessities, drizzled, prediction, sanitation, gradual, incident, abandon, and temporary. Have the
list of vocabulary words on the board as well. Read the vocabulary words to students and have
students repeat each word. After a word is repeated, the teacher will ask students “What do you
think this word means?” and then the teacher will help explain what each word means. For
example, if the teacher asks “ What do you think portion means?” a student may reply, “ I do not
know” or have an idea and say “a part”. The teacher will expand on the students thoughts and
say, “it means a piece or a part of a whole”. For additional practice, students will use context
clues and illustrations to build their understanding of each vocabulary word.

Academic Language Demands:

The job/function of language for students is to be able to find the cause and effect of different
events in the story to support comprehension. Key words such as because, then, so, and when
will help guide students find some of the cause and effects in the story. In order to enhance
syntax and discourse, students will create a cause and effect map will help students see and be
able to discuss the results of different situations in the story.

D. Set a Purpose For Reading

The students will identify the causes and effects of various types of weather conditions that occur
in the town of Chewandswallow. Explain to students that cause is the reason and to ask
themselves “What happened?” and the effect is the result and to ask themselves “Why did it
happen?” Remind students that the people in Chewandswallow experience different weather and
there are different outcomes throughout the story. Ask students to read and discover what
happens after each storm in the town of Chewandswallow.

II. Reading

Students will each have a copy of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The teacher will read
pages one to fourteen of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to the group out loud. The teacher
will point out an example of a cause and effect found on page thirteen. The cause of baked beans
was the effect of wind shift to the east. The teacher will have students read page 15 to end of the
story independently. While students read the story, students will fill in a cause and effect chart.
Students will be given the causes and students will fill in as they read and reread. The cause and
effect chart will support students to understand the cause and effects in the story.

III. Respond to Reading to Develop Comprehension

A. Revisit Purpose Setting Question

Restate the purpose-setting question, “What happened after a storm in the town of
Chewandswallow? Give a specific examples from the text.” Go to page nineteen and have a
group discussion about the results of the Tomato Tornado. Students should respond that the
Sanitation Department made a decision to leave the town. Ask each student why did the people
of Chewandswallow decide to leave the town to assess their comprehension of the story. Student
should respond the job was too big and most houses were destroyed. Tell students to refer back
to page twenty-two if they need assistance. Ask students, why is it important to identify the cause
and effects in a story? Students should respond to identify the plot of the story.

B. Clarify Additional Concepts/ Vocabulary

In order to clarify why the people of Chewandswallow left, explain to students that the tomato
tornado caused so much damage that they left to be safe. Incorporate their vocabulary word
“gradual” by having a discussion that the storms used to be convenient because that is how the
townspeople got their food for each meal of the day. However, over time the storms gradually
became too severe and caused conditions that were unlivable. Include the vocabulary word
“temporary” and have a discussion that each meal storm was brief and eventually a new one
happened. Discuss how the townspeople expected to receive three meals a day from the sky, but
did not know what and always had to be prepared. Incorporate the vocabulary word “necessities”
by explaining that food and the materials for the people to catch the food with were needed for
survival in this town. Use this time to discuss how weather affected the people of
Chewandswallow lives compared to how weather affect people in real life. Make sure students
understand the concept of being prepared and to come up with the best solution in situation.

C. Supporting Comprehension of Structure

In order to comprehend the structure of the story, give students a chart to draw five given topics
in the story and the reaction. Provide five blank squares on each side so students can draw. Have
students draw pictures of five events that show what happened and why it happened. While
reading the story, give students time to draw in their pictures as students reach each event in the
story. Have students show their pictures and explain what happened and results to demonstrate
their comprehension of the story. Explain to students that words or phrases and their drawings
help depict what happened in a scene and the results of each scene. In order for students to find
cause and effect relationships throughout the story, point out words such as because, then, so,
and when that were used in sentences in the story so the author could explain what happened and
the results. These words should help students be able to find the cause and effects in the story.

Directions: Draw a sketch of each topic in the following boxes to understand what happens and
the results of severe weather in Chewandswallow.
Breakfast time: What the characters used to catch breakfast:

Lunch time: How a character reacted to the meal:

The Sanitation Department of What the Sanitation Department used to clean

Chewandswallow: up:

Newspaper heading: What the town looked like:

Storm of Pancakes: What lifted the pancakes:

D. Seeking Additional Sources for Information

In Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, students learn about the types of weather in the Town of
Chewandswallow. Provide students with nonfiction weather books so they can be introduced to
different types of weather that occur in the real world. Students will learn more about different
types of weather during science class. Have the Scholastic Science Vocabulary Readers series
available to the class. Students will be given choices to read either “Weather!” by Justin
McCory Martin , “Tornadoes!” by Justin McCory Martin, “Blizzards!” by Eric Charlesworth,
“Hurricanes!” by Alyse Sweeney, or “Floods!” by Alyse Sweeney.
 E. Additional Purpose Setting Questions

Engage students while reading the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by having students
focus on the types of weather that occurs in the town of Chewandswallow and how people deal
with it. Also, focus on what leads The Sanitation Department to leave the town of
Chewandswallow. Without giving away the ending, ask questions through the reading that will
lead to this decision.

1. What was the main difference of Chewandswallow compared to any other tiny town?
2. Instead of rain that we are used to, what did it rain in the town of Chewandswallow?
(Page 8)
3. (Page 15) What happened when there was a storm of pancakes for breakfast? Why did
the school have to close?
4. How is the weather becoming a problem for the people of Chewandswallow? and how do
you know? (Give examples on page 16)
5. When the people set sailed on sandwiches, what type of weather do you think they will
find on new land? (page 25)
6. What was the purpose of you finding the cause and effects throughout the story?

IV. Review/ Reread and Explore Strategies

Teach a direct instruction lesson on cause and effect to strengthen students’

comprehension of the story. Explain to students that cause means the reason something
happened and the effect is the result of what happened. Refer back to the drawing sheet and
explain to students that they already found five cause and effects in the story. Hand out another
chart so students can write and explain the cause and effects found in the story. Before students
begin the handout, provide an example of a cause and effect. Have students go to page 4 and
reread that page to the group. Ask students what happened and why did it happen. Students
should respond that the cause is pancakes flew in the kitchen and the effect was the grandpa
telling a bedtime story. Pause and let students write the down example in the first box to refer
back to. Have students reread page 6; tell them to keep in mind the cause and effect. Have
students discuss with a partner what the cause and effect was. Students should respond the cause
is food fell from the sky and the effect is there no food stores in the Town of Chewandswallow.
Now let students perform a “Listen to Me” and have each student take a turn to reread page 13,
15, 17 and 19 aloud to the group. By having each student read a page to their group, students are
practicing fluency. Have students pause and write down the effect after someone reads each
page. After page 19, students will have five cause and effects in their chart.

Directions: Write and explain the cause and effect of the following events in the chart below.
Page numbers are included to help you complete this!
Cause (Example page 4): Effect (Example page 4):

Cause (page 13): Effect (page 13):

Cause (page 15): Effect (page 15):

Cause (page 19): Effect (page 19):

V. Applying the literature/ Extending Reading Across the Curriculum

After students read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, students understand the weather
patterns in the Town of Chewandswallow. In order for students to understand weather that
occurs in the real world, have students create a weather forecast. Get students to understand
different types of weather and show that weather always changes through observations and
reading. Prepare students to write a weather report on their own by first introducing them to
weather by reading fiction and nonfiction books related to different events. Tell students they are
going to act as weather forecasters for the next few weeks and create a weather report. Tell
students there are cause and effects to the daily weather. Introduce students to tools that measure
weather such as rain or snow. Days after it precipitates, allow students to go outside, use the
tools, and record their data in their weather reports. Have students begin personal weather reports
by giving them fifteen to twenty minutes each day to draw a picture of what it is like outside,
what people might wear, and the results of the weather. Under the picture, have students write
down the temperature and a few words to describe the weather. Make sure students include the
date on each page along with their picture. By the end of the unit, students will have a mini
weather report book and be able to visually see that weather changes each day. To wrap up the
weather report activity, have students pretend to still be a weather forecaster and present their
weather reports to the class with enthusiasm. After this task, students have practiced observing
and gained knowledge on weather.