Questions like these are bound to come up in a classroom full of curious students. Teaching about the water cycle will answer these questions and more. This pathfinder will help prepare any teacher to tackle this unit and will lead to many resources with ideas for hands-on experiments, activities, and reproducibles.
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Last updated 11/10/03
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Apr/May 2003 |
Teacher's Helper Grades 2-3 These reproducibles will help any teacher identify water cycle terms, practice vocabulary and review the water cycle with students. |
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Mar/Apr 2001
pp. 3-6 |
The New Good Apple Newspaper This resource explores both rain and clouds. Students will make rain gauges, work out math problems, do a word search and complete a research project. |
Feb/Mar 2001 pp. 40-44 |
The Mailbox Intermediate This periodical contains different water issues like the importance of water, pollution, the properties of water and the water cycle! Do hands on experiments and research. |
| Science H789p 1996 pp. 91-106 |
Primary Earth: AIMS Activities Grades K-3 The Hydrosphere chapter will walk a student through all aspects of water including the water cycle, rain, and evaporation. |
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Science |
H2O Science by Jean Stangl This section has experiments to explore the three different states of water. It also includes lab sheets and other chapters all about water! |
| Science W314w 1988 pp. 23-49 |
Water Precious Water: AIMS Activities Gades 2-6 This book has three chapters dedicated to the water cycle, evaporation and condensation. Each chapter contains hands-on activities that teach about water. |
Science A676 1991w |
The Science Book of Water by Neil Ardley Do experiments in the classroom dealing with evaporation, dew, etc. Students will be able to participate first hand and relate these experiments to day to day life. |
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| Science M256d 1998 |
A Teacher's Guide to A Drop Around The World by Bruce and Carol Malnor This book contains lesson plans to compliments the journey of a raindrop from liquid, solid, and gaseous states. Teach about water, character education and habitats from around the world. |
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Science A676 1992we |
The Science Book of Weather by Neil Ardley Students will be able to participate in hands-on experiemtents that teach them about rain, evaporation, humidity, condensation, clouds and more. The students will be able to see how these experiments affect the world around them. |
| Science T253t 1996, v. 1 pp. 97-98 |
The Teaching Tank Discovery Book This book contains multiple experiments on the water cycle, water, evaporation, and dew point. |
Science T652 1995e |
Hands-On Earth Science Activities This resource contains hands-on experiments dealing with water and weather. Some of these experiments emphasize rain, clouds, humidity, condensation, and the differents states of water: liquid, gas, and solid. |
| Science Earth B531c 1991 tx pp. 184-185 |
Earth Science by Bernstein, Scharcter, Winkeler and Wolfe This textbook section contains a 1 page description of the water cycle, a summary, a retention check, classifying assignments and an activity with questions. |
| Science Earth R183r 1989 te pp. 206-210, 220-221 |
Modern Earth Science by Ramsey, Phillips, Watenpaugh, Nanney, Sumners and Yasso This section includes an explanation of the water cycle, review questions, key concepts, terms, writing activity and extension ideas. |
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| Science S425 1994 Gr. 4: tx |
Discover the Wonder This textbook contains a whole chapter about water. More specifically, it contains a section that teaches about the water cycle. It includes a diagram, questions and a project idea that will involve students. |
| Folio 551.48 M478d |
A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney Follow this drop of water around the world as it travels to distant countries. Students will love hearing about the rain drop's different adventures while they learn about the water cycle at the same time. Kids will also have fun trying to find the drop in the illustrations. |
Folio 546 W636d |
A Drop of Water by Walter Wick This photographic book uses pitures to explain all the amazing things about water. There are pages that teach the water cycle and condensation, evaporation, clouds, snowflakes and dew. It also provides extension activity ideas at the end of the book. |
| BigBooks C689 1996RB |
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole Follow the adventures of Ms. Frizzle and her class as they collect interesting facts about water. Many of these facts are about the water cycle. |
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| Science 103 |
Water Cycle Model Hands on experiment with the water cycle. |
Science 117 |
Rainstick Create music or use as a story prop to teach about rain. |
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This website gives a description of the different stages of the water cycle. It also includes printable activity pages. |
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http://www.eagle.ca/~matink/themes/Biomes/waterweb.html This website contains 25 links to websites on the water cycle. It also has over 20 lesson plans for the water cycle! |
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http://www.brainpop.com/science/ecology/watercycle/index.weml Watch a short movie about the water cycle. Fun and very informative! |
Did You Know...
*That fish breathe water like we breathe air?
*The earth looks blue from outer space because it is covered mostly by water?
*That all foods have water in them?
*That ocean water contains salt and we can only drink water without salt?
*Almost all of the fresh water on earth is frozen? It is in huge blocks of ice called glaciers.
*That water has 3 states, liquid, solid, and gas?
*That there are six points on every snowflake? But no two snowflakes are alike.
*That we use the same water over and over again? You may be drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank!
(http://www.pwwky.com/
kidsDYK.html)
Sing-A-Long
The Water Cycle Song
(Sung to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus")
The water on the earth goes round and round
Round and round
Round and round
The water on the earth goes round and round
In the Water Cycle
The rain from the clouds goes drip, drop, drip
Drip, drop, drip
Drip, drop, drip
The rain from the cloud goes drip, drop, drip
Down into the ground
The drops underground move through the soil,
Move through the soil
Move through the soil
The drops underground move through the soil
Out to the sea
The sun comes out and dries up the rain
Dries up the rain
Dries up the rain
The sun comes out and dries up the rain
Back to the clouds again
(http://www.capecodgroundwater.org watercyclesong.pdf)