ED 345 Calvin College Lesson Plan

Teacher: Kristina Wicks

Date: 11/17,11/18
Subject/Topic/ Theme: Science/Water Cycle/Hydrosphere
I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson?
The main focus of this lesson is to review/introduce the water cycle, specifically the words evaporation,
condensation, precipitation, runoff, and collection.
How does this lesson tie in to a unit plan?
This lesson is shows how the water in the hydrosphere changes and moves in the world, by condensing,
evaporating, and precipitating.
Objectives:
Standards:
Assessments
Students will:
Scott Foresman:
1. Students will use multiple
1. Draw a diagram that
1. Draw a diagram that explains
choice cards to review the
explains the water cycle.
the water cycle.
steps of the water cycle.
2. Know the steps of the
2. Know the steps of the water
2. Students will complete
water cycle.
cycle.
water cycle tiered
3. Know the definitions and
3. Know the definitions and
assignment in the next
applications of the words:
applications of the words:
lesson (to assess water
collection, run off,
collection, run off,
cycle understanding).
evaporation,
evaporation, condensation,
condensation, and
and precipitation.
precipitation.
II. Before you start
Differentiation:

Materials:
Classroom setup:
III. The Plan
Time Parts
5-10
Introduction/
mins
Motivation
Development

Whole class water cycle introduction/review. Then students will attempt to

fill out the water cycle from memory. In the next lesson, they will practice
the water cycle through a tiered activity.
Plastic Cup (filled with water, mark water level with sharpie)
Plastic Cup (filled with cold water with ice)
26 Water Cycle worksheets (with arrows)
26 Water Cycle worksheet (without arrows)
Students will be seated in 2 rows of 6-7 students.

Teacher & Student Activities

Water on the Earth is always changing. Water does this when is changes from one phase/state to another.
What three phases can water be? Water can be a liquid, a solid, or a gas.

Draw what a water molecule looks like (pointing out how there are two hydrogens and one oxygen).
Then ask students what water molecules look like when they are solid. Draw a picture of what solid water
molecules would look like in a container. Ask students what water molecules look like when they are a
liquid. Draw a picture of what liquid water molecules would look like in a container. Now ask students
what water molecules would look like when they are a gas (vapor). Draw a picture what water vapor
molecules would look like in a container. Explain that there are special words to describe these the
processes when water changes from a gas to a liquid and a liquid to a gas. Ask the students if they
remember what those are called. Write down condensation and evaporation on the board as students recall
them.
Explain that condensation and evaporation are two part of a special cycle. Ask students if they remember
what this cycle is called. Write the water cycle title up on the board. The water cycle is the reason why
water is always changing on the Earth.
Teacher will draw water cycle map on the board, without arrows. Tell students to take out blank sheet of
paper to draw their own water cycle map OR give them a water cycle worksheet without arrows. Ask
them what evaporation means. Then ask them to figure out where is would be happening on the water
cycle map. Label evaporation on the map.
Evaporation Demo:
Show students a cup full of water. Tell the students they will watch what happens to the water in the cup
after a few days. Have them predict what will happen. Hint that it has to do with evaporation if needed.
Emphasize that they will see that over time, the water level will become lower and lower, due to the liquid
water changing into a gas.
Example: In math we let a carrot sit out last month. The carrot began to wither up as the days passed.
How can you explain what happened using the word evaporation. Liquid water from the carrot evaporated
and became water vapor. This happened slowly. This would have happened more quickly if it were hotter
out.
Now our little water molecule is a gas. When water vapor becomes colder, it will start to change from a
gas to a liquid. What do we call the process when water vapor become a liquid? This is called
condensation. This is when water becomes denser, since the molecules are more compacted; the
molecules are closer together.
Condensation Demo:
Example: Ask students if they have ever seen water form on the outside of a glass or bottle of water. How
does that happen? How can condensation explain this? This especially happens on warm days when you
have a cold glass of water left out. This is because the water is cold and the water vapor in the air is
warmer. When the water molecules in the air hit the cup, then they slow down and change to a liquid
which builds up on the outside of the container.
The liquid water molecules condense to form clouds. When clouds become too heavy to hold the liquid
water molecules, they will fall down to earth. What is a special name we learned in vocab to explain rain
or snow that falls from the sky. We call this precipitation. Weather channels use this work often to explain
when there will be water falling from the sky in some way.
When water falls from the sky, sometimes it will fall on land and sometimes it goes right back into a body
of water. When water from clouds falls into oceans, rivers, lakes, or streams, we call it collection. The
water is collected in that place.
Sometimes water that falls from the sky falls on the land. When this happens it may be quickly absorbed
into the ground. However, if there is too much liquid water, then it will simply flow on the surface of the
ground. It will eventually get back to a body of water. Write definitions of collection and run off on the
board as they are explained.
Water Cycle Rap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3NeMVBcXXU (Optional)

Pass out water cycle map worksheets and tell each student to fill in what each of the arrows would be
using the words evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection, and run off. Ask students to explain
what is happening at each arrow. After students have worked on this independently, have them turn and
talk to a partner. They will explain to their partner what happens at each stage of the water cycle.
Closure

If time allows, hand out multiple choice cards to each student.

ARun Off
BEvaporation
CPrecipitation
DCollection
BlankCondensation
Teacher will point to the arrows on the map (on the whiteboard). Ask what word would describe what is
happening at each arrow.

Reflection:

This lesson went a lot better than planned. Students had question after question about the water cycle. The
students came up with great everyday example of condensation and evaporation.
Next time, I would show students more pictures and demonstrations of evaporation, condensation,
precipitation, run off, and collection. However, since I have limited time for this unit I only did one brief
demonstrated of evaporation and condensation.
The Water Cycle Diagram worksheets worked well. This kept students focused on the words I was saying and
the words I wrote on the board (instead of drawing the pictures). A few students thanked me for the worksheets
I have been giving out. Although it is a bit of extra work, the worksheets ensure that students always have their
notes with them to study and look back at.
This is a two-day lesson (30 mins each). I only got through condensation and evaporation on the first day.