In this lesson, students will learn about the water cycle through demonstrations, experiments, and videos that make the abstract concept more concrete.
Students will demonstrate their learning with a creative project depicting a water droplet's journey through the water cycle.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The 5-E format of this lesson plan ensures maximum engagement from students.
The pre- and post-assessments included make it easy for teachers to measure the effectiveness of the lesson.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should understand the different states of matter and know the terms evaporation, molecule, condensation, and particle.
The lesson gives Glogster as an option for the final project. However, Glogster may be unavailable.
If you read the extension article with students, make sure students are familiar with the Big Bang.
Teachers can use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the Precipitation Education webpage to get answer keys to the materials.
Differentiation
Have younger students or kinesthetic learners pretend to be water droplets in the water cycle, making different motions or at different speeds for each stage.
Older students can discuss the importance of understanding the processes demonstrated and protecting plants and natural ecosystems for mitigating water issues related to climate change.
Classes that created rain gauges can make math connections by graphing the amount of precipitation over a month or a rainy week. Connect it to science labs through practice measuring the meniscus in graduated cylinders.
English language learners would benefit from doing the demonstrations as hands-on activities.
Scientist Notes
This resource is from the CLEAN collection. “The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness.”
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
MS-ESS2-4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
3-ESS3-1 Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
ETS1: Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.10.3-5 Explain why environmental characteristics vary among different world regions.
