Lesson plan: The Drop in My Drink
Learning objective: To understand that water can be found in different
states
Resources required
Duration
60 minutes
 Text: The Drop in my Drink by Meredith
Hooper
 BBC Clip: The Water Cycle
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z8qtf
g)
Theme
Subject focus
Age group
Water
Science
Year 4
Learning outcomes (differentiated)
MUST Recognise that water can change state, citing
some examples
SHOULD Recognise under what conditions water
changes state, using accurate language to describe
these states.
Adult Support
 Create word bank during the starter
 Use questioning to inspire further thought
about the text
Follow up activities
 Use the actions to create a storyboard using
Talk for Writing protocols, this in turn can be
used to write an information text.
 Build a model water cycle as described by
WaterAid on their lesson ‘Making a Drama
out of a Water Cycle’.
COULD Explore where else in our world water may
have travelled and in which form
Starter
Keywords
KEYWORDS HERE
Water cycle
Evaporation
Water vapour
Condensation
Precipitation
Run off
Read the text, Drop in my Drink by Meredith Hooper
pausing periodically to clarify any unfamiliar language, to
share own experiences (have you seen ice? Where? Why did
it form? Where did it go?) and to let the children ask their
own questions. Because of the length of the text this may be best done at story
time over a number of days in advance of the lesson. After reading through ask
the children to recall some of the places they remember that there was water;
what state was it in? Why? It would be useful for an additional adult to draw
out keywords and unfamiliar language to create a word bank for display that
can be revisited during the topic.
Main activity
Use the BBC clip: The Water Cycle to simplify the process and to focus in on the
key language. Split the class into four groups, giving each a part of the water
cycle written secretly inside an envelope. Each group must devise a mini
dramatization to depict their part of the process without disclosing it; can the
rest of the children guess? How did they know? After all four groups have
performed their actions and revealed the process they depict they can perform together and
simultaneously so the children understand it is a continuous process. Can each group then teach
their actions to the class making everyone a Water Cycle expert?
Plenary
Play True or False: using the associated downloadable asset; the children can compete in
their four groups for points by determining if each phrase is true or false.
Extension tasks
 Write another page for the text speculating where water may have travelled.
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Reflective Notes
Text here
Curriculum links
 Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the
rate of evaporation with temperature