Earth's Water Cycle

Earth's Water Cycle

1. Grade 4-5

2. Task: Students will develop and learn the basics of Earth's water cycle. They will understand the properties of our water cycle and how water is stored. They will also gain background information about clouds. rain, snow, and other forms of units that are developed with water. They will then present their own explanation of the water cycle in groups whether it be a PowerPoint, poster, or another form of resource.

3. Process

   • Step One: Read this "encyclopedic entry" to learn about Earth's water cycle. Feel free to look at the pictures provided as well. Take notes if it helps to organize ideas.
     • http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/water-cycle/?ar_a=1
   • Step Two: Watch this video regarding Earth's water cycles. Take notes if it helps, but it is not necessary.
     • http://www.teachertube.com/video/water-cycle-132404 *Note: Click on the grey "x-out" box at the top right of the video screen when first getting to the website. Then the video will load as to what I want you to see.
   • Step Three: Take this online quiz to see if you understood the material you read and watched about.
     • http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/watercycle/watercycleq.html
   • Step Four: You will be assigned a group. Draw a picture with your group representing the properties of the water cycle. Please include condensation, evaporation, precipitation, sublimation, and transpiration. Use arrows in your picture to represent the process of each property occurring in the water cycle.
   • Step Five: Read this article which talks about water in our atmosphere and how water is stored in our atmosphere.
     • http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleatmosphere.html
   • Step Six: Watch this animation of the water cycle. Write down what property of the water cycle is occurring during the video and what time it happens in the video. For example, if you see condensation and it is occurring at 1:13 in the video, you should write "Condensation--1:13" in your notes. We will share our answers with the class.
     • http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/videos/water-cycle-animation
   • Step Seven: Let's focus on condensation. Create a list with your group of all the examples you can think of of where you can find condensation around you.
   • Step Eight: Watch this educational video and take the quiz.
     • http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/water-cycle.htm
   • Step Nine: Watch this video that conducts a rap about the weather cycle.
     • http://teachertube.com/video/the-water-cycle-rap-with-lyrics-325850 *Note: Click on the grey "x-out" box on the video screen to avoid an advertisement.  This will guide you to the video you want to see.

4. Step Ten: Create a visual representation of the water cycle in your groups using PowerPoint, a poster, a song, etc. The objective is to teach the classroom about the water cycle as if they don't know anything about it. You become the teachers!