South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Rain, Rain, Where Did You Go? (Grades 5-7)

Master Teacher

Melissa Buffkin

Time Allotment

Three 45-minute class periods

Overview

How old is the water that you drink? Actually, that water is older than you are. It is as old as the earth. The water is constantly going through a cycle. This is called the water cycle. This cycle includes evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff. In this lesson, students will participate in a series of multimedia, online, and hands on activities to examine the different stages of the water cycle. After discussing the water cycle, the students will view some video clips. Water: A First Look: “The Water Cycle: and Water Smart: The Sun, Water Cycle, and Climate: “Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and Runoff” on Video on Demand online at United Streaming. Following the video clips, the students will visit a variety of web sites to test their knowledge about the water cycle. Finally, the class will experience the water cycle through a hands on activity.

Subject Matter

Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Draw a diagram, label, and describe evaporation, condensation, and precipitation as components of the water cycle.

Identify, investigate and explain the processes of condensation, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff using a model or diagram.

South Carolina Standards

From the South Carolina Curriculum Standards available online at http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso/

Draw a diagram, label, and describe evaporation, condensation and precipitation as components of the water cycle.

Identify, investigate and explain the processes of condensation, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff using a model or diagram.

Media Components

Video

Water: A First Look : “The Water Cycle” (United Learning Videostreamed Video Clip from web at: http://www.streamlinesc.org) This video discusses how the water cycle works.

Water Smart: The Sun, Water Cycle, and Climate: “Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and Runoff” (United Learning Videostreamed Video Clip from web at: http://www.streamlinesc.org) This video discusses the different parts of the water cycle such as evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.

To access these video segments, log on to your account at the ETV's StreamlineSC Web page. In the search by keyword box, type the title. Download the appropriate sub video clips to your computer desktop and preview.

(Note to Teacher: If you don’t have an account with ETV's StreamlineSC, check with your media specialist about signing up for your own account.)

Web Sites

Droplet and the Water Cycle at http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/droplet.html - This interactive site gives a story about a water molecule called Droplet going through the water cycle. Droplet fell to the ground in a rainforest. Then the story takes a twist. The viewer is asked to help Droplet, by playing a game, get back to the clouds where he began. He has got to go safely through the forest, into the river and out to the sea.

Where water comes from at http://www.yvw.com.au/newed/juniors/water_comes.html# - Claudia the raindrop tells her adventure through the water cycle.

Water Cycle Quiz: Find it! In Little Explorers at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/classroom/quiz/watercycle.shtml - This is a site that students can use to help with the water cycle vocabulary words. If the students do not know the word in the blank, then they can look up words using the Little Explorers picture dictionary to answer the questions.

Image of the Water Cycle at http://www.streamlinesc.org (Details please. Like name of video, then specific instructions as to where to go. i.e., teacher guide, page three or whatever)

Materials

For each student: Diagram of water cycle image at http://www.streamlinesc.org

For the class:

Clear plastic box with a clear lid
Small bowl
Water
Lamp
Ice cubes
Plastic bag that zips closed

Prep For Teachers

Prior to the lesson, the teacher should bookmark all of the web sites used in the lesson on each computer the students will be using or set up a Portaportal account where the students can find each website (www.portaportal.com).
Load the Shockwave plug-in, available at www.macromedia.com onto each computer in your classroom.
Download Image of water cycle at http://www.streamlinesc.org and make student copies.
Download Video on Demand, Water: A First Look: The Water Cycle and Water Smart: The Sun, Water Cycle, and Climate: Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and, Runoff at http://www.streamlinesc.org)
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Tell your students today they are going to be attorneys. You are representing a company called Gator Company in Lake View, SC. The case deals with this company and a woman named Ms. Scott. Ms. Scott slipped and fell in a puddle. When she looked up, she saw some water dripping from a pipe. The pipes must be leaking, thought Ms. Scott. Ms. Scott decided to sue the company for the leaking pipe. The company states that the pipes did not leak. (The name of the company, city, state, and names of the people can be changed to accommodate you)

Step 2: In today lesson, we are going to figure out how to get the company out of trouble. Also, tell the students that it is their job at the end of the lesson to state how they think the water got on the floor.

Step 3: Ask the students to take a few seconds to think of how the water may have gotten on the floor.

Step 4: The teacher will write the responses on the board.

Step 5: Ask the students, where did they think the water came from? (pipe, someone spilled it, etc.)

Step 6: Then ask the students where can water come from? List several of the students’ responses on the board. (Responses: ocean, lakes, faucets, rain, act.)

Step 7: Tell students that in today’s lesson they are going to find out about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. All of these things make up the water cycle.

Step 8 : The teacher will show the students the interactive site of the Water Cycle at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/riversandcoasts/water_cycle/rivers/pg_02_flash.shtml. Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction, telling them to look closely at each step of the water cycle. The teacher will introduce the new vocabulary words: Evaporation, Water Vapor, Condensation, Precipitation, Runoff and Water Cycle. The teacher will check for comprehension by asking questions at the end of the interactive site such as, “What is evaporation, or how did the water get in the clouds?”

Learning Activities

Step 1: Explain to the students that they will be examining the water cycle using Video on Demand, http://www.streamlinesc.org. Insert CD with Water Smart: The Sun, Water Cycle, and Climate: “Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and Runoff” into CD Drive. Prompt the CD to where the speaker says “Water is as old as the earth” (0:21) Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction, asking you how old is water. Pause (.38) Ask your students how can water be that old? Resume the CD. Play the CD until the speaker says “That’s where water can flow into lakes, streams, and rivers.” (1:28) Stop the CD. Check for student comprehension by asking what is evaporation, condensation, precipition, and runoff.

Step 2: Give each student a copy of the diagram of water cycle image at http://www.streamlinesc.org. Explain to your students that they are going to watch another short video called Water: A First Look: “The Water Cycle.” Insert Water: A First Look: “The Water Cycle” into CD Drive. Prompt the CD to where the speaker says “ Let’s see how the water cycle works” (9:37) Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction, asking your students to write down the different parts of the water cycle on their diagram. Play the CD until the speaker says “The water cycle repeats itself over and over.” (10:49) Stop the CD. Check for student understanding by asking questions and looking at the students’ diagrams.

Step 3: Tell your students that they will now have the opportunity to look at the water cycle using interactive websites. Have your students log onto “Droplet and the Water Cycle” at http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/droplet.html. Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction, asking them to help Droplet get back to the clouds by getting safely through the forest, into the river and out to the sea where she can evaporate into the clouds.

Step 4: Tell your students that they will now have the opportunity to use another interactive website. Have your students log onto “Where water comes from” at http://www.yvw.com.au/newed/juniors/water_comes.html#. Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction, asking the students to listen to Claudia’s adventure througth the water cycle and be prepare to tell about two of her adventures.

Step 5: Tell your students they will visit Little Explorers and take a water cycle quiz at

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/classroom/quiz/watercycle.shtml. Provide your students with a Focus For Media Interaction by asking them to use the Little Explorers picture dictorary to find the correct words that deals with the water cycle.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: The teacher will tell the students now they are going to have an experience with the water cycle.

Step 2: Set the bowl in the box at one end. Fill it with water. This is your "ocean." Close the lid.

Step 3: Position the lamp a few inches over the box's lid, directly over the bowl of water. The lamp is the "sun."

Step 4: Turn the "sun" on and let it shine over the "ocean" for two hours. Predict: “What do you think you will see? Where is the water?”

Step 5: Now put ice cubes in the plastic bag and zip it closed. Set the bag at the opposite end of the box from the lamp. Leave the lamp on and wait another two hours.

Step 6: The students will predict what you think you will see (The water in the bowl evaporated. Why? The water is in the air inside the box in the form of water vapor, and some condensed into drops inside the lid) and what happened? (It rained! Why? The ice cooled the temperature inside the box, and the water vapor condensed into droplets that fell as rain.)

Step 7: Pass out white paper to every students. Ask the students to draw the water cycle, label each part, and write a brief discribition of each part.

Step 8: Now repeat the story to your students about the attorney. Let the students answer the following question on paper: Do you think the pipe was leaking. Explain your answer. (No, the pipe was not leaking. There was water vapor in the air and the pipe was cold and the water condensed on the pipe. Therefore, the pipe appeared that it was leaking, but actually it was part of the water cycle.

Cross-Curricular Extension

Math: How do you measure up? at http://www.southernwater.co.uk/homeAndLeisure/waterEfficiency/howDoYouMeasureUp.asp - Use this website to see how much water your family uses in a given period of time?

Language Arts: Have your students write a letter to the court stating why they believe that it was not the company’s fault that Ms. Scott slipped in a puddle of water.

Art: The students could make a model of the water cycle. The students could make different weather machines.

Community Connections

Take a fieldtrip to the local weather station
Invite a local meteorologist to the classroom

Student Materials

Handout – Image of the Water Cycle