TOPIC:

Students have been watching and reading about the water cycle.  In the lesson, they will re-enact the water cycle, each taking part in the life of a water droplet.

RATIONALE:

By acting out how the water cycle works, the importance of evaporation, condensation and precipitation are, students will have a better understanding for the changes needed to take place in weather.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: 

This lesson is a continuation of the previous days’ lessons.  The students will also use this information in recording their evaporation data.  Students will use their new understand to act out the cycle in order to help others and themselves understand the process.

OBJECTIVES: 

1. Learning Objective- to increase the students’ awareness of water and why it is an important weather component.

a. Behavioral Objectives – students will be able to verbalize the water cycle in nature, and what causes rain.

Assessment – teacher observation of activities and by answering questions related to the cycle, and retelling the events of the water cycle both verbal and written.

HOOK: 

Students will begin with the preparation of another experiment; then they will become a water droplet.  Students will go to the playground and “transform” themselves into water droplets, beginning at the collection pond, and ending as rain.     

ACTIVITIES:

Activity 1:

Students will first set up their Evaporation and Condensation experiment.  Directions are attached.

After completing the second activity, students will return to class to observe their cups. 

Activity 2:                                             

Materials:

“Puddle” sign, and cones, rope or hula hoop                                  

“Water drops” picture, colored and cut prior to lesson

“Clouds” picture, cut out

“Sun”  picture, cut out

“Dust particles”  (post its work well.)

Signs: Evaporation and Precipitation, and arrows

Playground slide

Set up:

1. Mark off an area at the base of the slide for the “collection pond” or “puddle.”
2. On the steps of the slide, put upwards arrows and a sign that reads “evaporation.”
3. At the top of the slide, place a downwards arrow that reads “precipitation.” 
4. Prior to the lesson, each student has cut out his/her own “water droplet” which is now around their neck or held in their hand.  At least one cloud and sun have also been cut out in preparation.

Procedure:

1. The students will gather at the “collection pond.”  An area at the bottom of the slide that has been marked off with string and labeled. 
2. Each student will be wearing their “water drop.”  The “sun” (student or teacher) shines on the pond and the heat energy turns the drops into “water vapor.”  The water vapor “evaporates” up the slide.  Several students climb up the steps of the slide and turns back into a water drop.
3. Several “water droplets” (students) gather at the top of the slide as a “cloud.”  The students hold up the “cloud” as several “droplets” gather.
4. “Dust,” a small paper dot, attaches to each water droplet and the group “precipitates” down the slide as “rain” or “snow.”  They each decide what type of collection pond they will land in: stream, lake, pool, garden…etc.
5. This is repeated several times.
6. At various points in their “travels,” students will be asked what stage the water droplet it is in. 
7. Students will recount what each step was, and what form of water was present in each stage.

 When students return to class:

8. Students will measure their water levels.
9. As students return to the classroom, they will begin to make a water cycle booklet, to tell the story of their water droplet.

QUESTIONS & EXAMPLES:     

Vocabulary review: Evaporation, Precipitation, Water Vapor, Condensation.

What do you think the water droplets feel when they are waiting in the pond?  What are they waiting for?  What is needed to have the water droplets move on?  Where do they go? What is the process called?  What do they do when they get there?  What happens in the cloud?  Why do some drops clump together, while others don’t?  What is this called? What happens next?  Where do they go?

What do you think happened with the cups of water?  Why is there water on the outside?  What color is it?  Why did it form there?  Why are the water droplets clear, and not colored like what is in the cup?  What do we call this process?  At what other times can you see this happen? 

CLOSURE: 

Students will retell the steps of the water cycle by making a water cycle booklet. 

Weather Unit Overview

Weather Stations    Weather Murals

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