THIS WEEK'S LESSON ACTIVITIES
INSTRUCTOR__________________________
LEVEL_____ABE Level E______
DATE____________ CLASS
Topic: The Water Cycle
Guiding Question: What happens to the rain after it falls?
Lesson Objectives:
The students will:
1) Cite evidence as they answer text-dependent questions.
2) Explain the water cycle from a drop of water’s perspective.
3) Design and write up a water cycle experiment using the scientific method.
CCR Standards Aligned to this Lesson:
RST.9-10.1
RST.11-12.2
RI.11-12.7
W/WHST.9-10.2
W/WHST.11-12.7
Reading: There is a great pre- and post- assessment found at NASA.gov/education:
http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/lesson_plan_files/exploring-watercycle/Exploring%20the%20Water%20Cycle%20Pre-Post%20Assessment.pdf if you
desire a pre-/post-assessment. Distribute the two-part pre-assessment. The instructor
reads lines 1-50 aloud to the class. Students pair-read the same section. Then, students
independently read, ‘with a pencil’ the same section while circling difficult terms,
underlining important terms, and taking quick summary notes in the margins. After the
third read, students work with a partner to define any difficult words they circled.
Encourage students to decipher the words using context clues (use the Context Clues
graphic organizer below). Stress to students that the purpose of the first few readings is
to understand concepts and main ideas. They should try not to get too bogged down
with the vocabulary. Distribute or post the Accountable Stems prior to your textdependent questioning. Encourage students to use the stems to practice participating in
a deep, academic discussion. Ask the text-dependent questions. After, students
examine the Water Cycle graphic below. Ask students to describe what they see. How
would they summarize this graphic? Why is it called a ‘cycle?’ What happens to snow
when it melts? What happens to water in a lake on a hot day? What parts of the graphic
were not mentioned yet in the text?
Tech extension: go to USGS’s The Water Cycle for Kids and Students: Advanced
Students (in Resources) for an interactive Water Cycle diagram. Students can
summarize the website’s information using a summarizing graphic organizer or they can
report back to the class with five new pieces of information they discovered.
Adapted from Institute for Learning, 2003
Accountable Language Stems
Agreement
“I agree with _____ because _____.”
“I like what _____ said because _____.”
“I agree with _____; but on the other hand, _____.”
Disagreement
“I disagree with _____ because _____.”
“I’m not sure I agree with what _____ said because _____.”
“I can see that _____; however, I disagree with (or can’t see) _____.”
Clarifications
“Could you please repeat that for me?”
Paraphrase what you heard and ask, “Could you explain a bit more, please?”
“I’m not sure I understood you when you said _____. Could you say more about that?”
“What’s your evidence?”
“How does that support our work/mission at _____?”
Confirmation
“I think _____.”
“I believe _____.”
Confusion
“I don’t understand _____.”
“I am confused about _____.”
Extension
“I was thinking about what _____ said, and I was wondering what if _____.”
“This makes me think _____.”
“I want to know more about _____.”
“Now I am wondering _____.”
“Can you tell me more about _____?”
Review
“I want to go back to what _____ said.”
**When asking text-based questions, ask students to cite the line (or point to the
text) where they find the evidence.**
Text-Based Questions
Why does this text have two titles?
Possible Answers
‘hydro’ is the root and means water.
Hydrologic is a form of hydrology which
means: the science dealing with the
occurrence, circulation, distribution, and
properties of the waters of the earth and its
atmosphere. (dictionary.com)
Hydrologic is a more academic/scientific
term.
What kind of text is this? How do you
know?
What is the water cycle?
What are the three places that water
exists? And why are they ‘always’
there?
Give an example from outside the
classroom of the three places (land,
ocean, atmosphere).
What is the structure of the text? Why
did the author organize his text this
way?
What are the three major processes
of the water cycle?
Why are they ‘processes’?
The three processes end in ‘ation’.
What does the suffix ‘ation’ or ‘ion’
mean?
What is evaporation?
Why is it only the liquid’s ‘surface’?
Water vapor surrounds us (line 17),
can you think of a time when you see
this water vapor?
Informative. The author is presenting
information on the water cycle. Neutral.
Describes how the water is exchanged
through land, ocean, and atmosphere. (line
3-4)
Land, ocean, atmosphere.
Water cannot be destroyed. It is a ‘cycle’
because it just goes around and around
and around. Water would always have to
be in all three places for the cycle to work.
(many answers)
Land: Lake Tahoe
Ocean: Pacific Ocean
Atmosphere: clouds outside the classroom
Intro, headings, sub-headings.
The author is presenting a lot of
information so using headings/subheadings
helps organize the information. Makes it
easier for the reader to go back and find
information. (line 8, 13, 27, 40).
Evaporation, condensation, precipitation.
‘Processes’ implies a continuous action or
a series of actions. Evaporation,
condensation, and precipitation are all
processes within the greater water cycle.
-ation
a combination of –ate and -ion, used to
form nouns from stems in -ate 1 ,
(separation); on this model, used
independently to form nouns from stems of
other origin: starvation.
-ion
a suffix, appearing in words of Latin origin,
denoting action or condition, used in Latin
and in English to form nouns from stems of
Latin adjectives (dictionary.com)
Process of a liquid’s surface changing to a
gas. (line 14)
The surface, or top, of the water is closest
to the sun and evaporated. The surface is
closest to the sun/sky and closest to
becoming a vapor.
(many options)
On the mirror after a shower. On the
windshield on a cold day. On your sun
What are greenhouse gases? Give
two examples. What do they do?
What drives the evaporation process?
Describe ‘evaporation’.
Describe a time you noticed the
process of evaporation (make sure to
include the process).
What influences evaporation?
(ask students to hypothesize the
following three questions or relate to
real-world experiences)
Why would wind influence
evaporation?
Why would temperature influence
evaporation?
Why would density of the body of
water influence evaporation?
What is condensation?
Give an example of condensation in
the atmosphere.
Give an example of condensation at
ground level.
What is CCN? What is an example of
CCN’s? And what is its role in the
process of condensation?
How do the sun and air pressure
influence condensation?
What is the ‘dew point’
glasses when you put them on in a cold car
(this is condensation and coming up next).
A gas that insulates the Earth to maintain
life (line 19).
Water vapor and carbon dioxide. (line 18)
Warm the planet so life can exist. (line 19)
The sun. (line 22)
Sun interacts with liquid water and the
water becomes an invisible gas. (line 2223).
(many options)
The water in the many reservoirs around
Reno/Tahoe are shrinking. The hot
summer days heat up the surface and the
water turns to vapor.
OR when you spill water on the sidewalk in
the summer, it disappears quickly. The hot
surface turns the water to vapor.
Wind, temperature, density of the body of
water.
What happens to the sweat on your skin on
a hot, windy day? The wind dries up the
moisture even faster than a calm day.
The lakes/reservoirs around Tahoe grow
during the cold months. During the warm
months the water drops or the local
swimming pools dry up faster.
You would notice a swimming pool drop
quicker than Lake Tahoe. The water warms
quicker in a smaller ‘container’.
The process of a gas changing into a
liquid. Water vapor becomes liquid.
Clouds. (line 34)
Fog or mist. (line 34)
Cloud condensation nuclei.
Dust, salt, pollutants.
The tiny particles in the atmosphere that
water vapor condense around.
Impacts the dew point.
The temperature at which dew begins to
form.
The author wrote that the water cycle
consists of three major processes.
Why is the third ‘process’ not a
‘process’?
What is precipitation?
What is an example of solid water
falling to the earth?
Fog and mist not precipitation. Why?
What are ‘suspensions’?
Summarize lines 1-50.
What text features did the author
include to help the reader?
How are condensation and
evaporation alike? Different?
What conclusions can you draw,
based on the water cycle, if pollution
worsens?
What would happen if one of the
processes stopped working?
Do you think this could happen?
How does temperature impact the
water cycle?
If you had to design an experiment to
The other two consist of water changing to
a gas and a gas changing to a liquid. There
is no change during precipitation. Water
just falls to the earth.
Any liquid or solid water that falls to the
Earth as a result of condensation in the
atmosphere. (line 42)
Snow and hail.
They don’t liquefy and fall to Earth as a
result of condensation. (line 45-46).
Liquid water suspended in the atmosphere
(line 46-47).
Water cycle consists of three processes:
evaporation, condensation, precipitation.
Water can begin anywhere. It eventually
turns from a gas to a liquid, drops to earth,
and turns from a liquid back to a gas in the
atmosphere.
Headings, sub-headings (and a glossary
that is included below for Day 4.
Both are processes and part of the water
cycle and both involve gas/liquid changes.
Different: condensation is the process of
gas to a liquid and evaporation is liquid to a
gas.
Air pollutants will become CCN’s and fall to
the earth as rain/snow or water pollutants
will evaporate and eventually turn into rain.
More pollutants in the water system. The
earth cannot filter out all of the pollutants.
Would shut down the water cycle.
??
(many answers)
Cold temperatures may cause more of
Earth’s water to be stored in glaciers,
therefore less liquid water. Warmer
temperatures may melt the glaciers and
raise sea levels (lots of destruction) –
alternately, warmer temperatures may melt
the glaciers creating colder waters and
colder temperatures. The cycle continues,
but the amount of liquid water may vary
depending on temperature.
(many answers)
test one of the processes, what would
you do?
How I will scaffold my lessons to reach all of my students' levels:
Provide Accountable Talk stems to foster deep and academic discussion.
Present water cycle material with text, visuals, and video.
Allow multiple presentation options for students.
Vary reading to include read aloud, pair-reading, and independent reading.
Provide graphic organizers.
Students can work with a partner to find specific lines of text to answer text-dependent
questions.
How I will assess my students' mastery of the lessons:
Evaluate student notes/margin summaries during independent reading. Monitor
reading/comprehension during pair-read and the vocabulary/context clues exercise.
Evaluate student responses during text-dependent questioning. Formally evaluate the
descriptions/presentations of the water drop, the scientific method write-up, and the
water cycle experiment.
My reflections of the lessons (what worked, what didn't, what I might change for
next time):
Resources:
Jacquot, Jeremy. Dumb Question Dept.: If Earth is a Closed System and We're Running
Out of Water, Where's it All Going? Treehugger, August 3, 2007.
http://www.treehugger.com/about-treehugger/dumb-question-dept-if-earth-is-a-closedsystem-and-were-running-out-of-water-wheres-it-all-going.html
Pearlman, Howard. The Water Cycle. USGS, 2014.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html
Pearlman, Howard. The Water Cycle for Kids and Students: Advanced Students.
USGS, 2014. http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids-adv.html
Water Cycle. National Geographic Society, 2014.
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/watercycle/?ar_a=1#page=1
Multi-Day Plan
Day 1: See “Reading” section above.
Day 2: Instructor reads lines 51-98 aloud to the students. Students pair read the same
section (alternating paragraphs). Students then independently read the section. Follow
the remainder of Day 1 instructions, but add text-based questions for this section.
Day 3: Instructor reads lines 99 – 148 aloud to the students. Students pair read the
same section (alternating paragraphs). Students then independently read the section.
Follow the remainder of Day 1 instructions, but add text-based questions for this
section. Distribute the post-assessment. Look at Where Is Earth’s Water graphic below.
Have students explain the graph and main ideas. Create a few math problems related to
percentage: i.e. If there are 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion
gallons) of water on this planet, how much water is contained in the ocean? in glaciers
and ice caps? What is the total amount of water on Earth written in scientific notation?
Read Jacquot’s, Dumb Question Dept.: If Earth is a Closed System and We're Running
Out of Water, Where's it All Going? (in Resources). Compare the two articles for tone,
structure, main idea, and purpose. Use a Venn Diagram.
Day 4: Watch The National Science Foundation’s Water Cycle video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al-do-HGuIk
Review vocabulary by creating a matching game with the vocabulary words below.
Place cut-outs of terms and definitions in small envelopes (enough for groups of 4-5 in
your class). In groups of 4 or 5, students open the envelope and place the
terms/definitions face-down on a group of desks. When the instructor says, ‘start’,
students begin matching the terms with their definitions. You may want to offer an
incentive to the winning team.
Assignment:
Students can 1) describe the movement of a water drop through the water cycle. The
drop may begin anywhere in the cycle and must go through at least two phase changes,
(i.e. liquid to gas and back to liquid or solid). You must also include how gravity and the
sun’s radiation drive the cycle or 2) describe the same movement of a water droplet, but
present their findings (this version is completed in small groups) in a medium of choice
(rap, poster, comic strip, video, presentation etc.)
There is a great rubric for this project located here:
http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/lesson_plan_files/exploring-watercycle/Exploring%20the%20Water%20Cycle%20SCS.pdf
Day 5: Students present their descriptions or presentations. Create your own mini water
cycle using instructions at The Water Project:
http://thewaterproject.org/resources/lesson-plans/create-a-mini-water-cycle
Use the scientific method process to write up the project (template below).
Day 6-7: Design and write-up your own water cycle experiment (idea borrowed from
GED science extended response.)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Water Cycle – Hydrologic Cycle
The water cycle describes how water is exchanged (cycled) through Earth's land,
ocean, and atmosphere. Water always exists in all three places, and in many forms—as
lakes and rivers, glaciers and ice sheets, oceans and seas, underground aquifers, and
vapor in the air and clouds.
Evaporation, Condensation, and Precipitation
The water cycle consists of three major processes: evaporation, condensation, and
precipitation.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
Evaporation
Evaporation is the process of a liquid's surface changing to a gas. In the water cycle,
liquid water (in the ocean, lakes, or rivers) evaporates and becomes water vapor.
Water vapor surrounds us, as an important part of the air we breathe. Water vapor is
also an important greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases such as water vapor and carbon
dioxide insulate the Earth and keep the planet warm enough to maintain life as we know
it.
The water cycle's evaporation process is driven by the sun. As the sun interacts with
liquid water on the surface of the ocean, the water becomes an invisible gas (water
vapor). Evaporation is also influenced by wind, temperature, and the density of the body
of water.
Condensation
Condensation is the process of a gas changing to a liquid. In the water cycle, water
vapor in the atmosphere condenses and becomes liquid.
Condensation can happen high in the atmosphere or at ground level. Clouds form as
water vapor condenses, or becomes more concentrated (dense). Water vapor
condenses around tiny particles called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). CCN can be
specks of dust, salt, or pollutants. Clouds at ground level are called fog or mist.
Like evaporation, condensation is also influenced by the sun. As water vapor cools, it
reaches its saturation limit, or dew point. Air pressure is also an important influence on
the dew point of an area.
Precipitation
Unlike evaporation and condensation, precipitation is not a process. Precipitation
describes any liquid or solid water that falls to Earth as a result of condensation in the
atmosphere. Precipitation includes rain, snow, and hail.
Fog is not precipitation. The water in fog does not actually precipitate, or liquify and fall
to Earth. Fog and mist are a part of the water cycle called suspensions: They are liquid
water suspended in the atmosphere.
Precipitation is one of many ways water is cycled from the atmosphere to the Earth or
ocean.
Other Processes
Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation are important parts of the water cycle.
However, they are not the only ones.
Runoff, for instance, describes a variety of ways liquid water moves across land.
Snowmelt, for example, is an important type of runoff produced as snow or glaciers melt
and form streams or pools.
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
Transpiration is another important part of the water cycle. Transpiration is the process of
water vapor being released from plants and soil. Plants release water vapor through
microscopic pores called stomata. The opening of stomata is strongly influenced by
light, and so is often associated with the sun and the process of evaporation.
Evapotranspiration is the combined components of evaporation and transpiration, and is
sometimes used to evaluate the movement of water in the atmosphere.
States of Water
Through the water cycle, water continually circulates through three states: solid, liquid,
and vapor.
Ice is solid water. Most of Earth's freshwater is ice, locked in massive glaciers, ice
sheets, and ice caps.
As ice melts, it turns to liquid. The ocean, lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers all
hold liquid water.
Water vapor is an invisible gas. Water vapor is not evenly distributed across the
atmosphere. Above the ocean, water vapor is much more abundant, making up as
much as 4% of the air. Above isolated deserts, it can be less than 1%.
The Water Cycle and Climate
The water cycle has a dramatic influence on Earth's climate and ecosystems.
Climate is all the weather conditions of an area, evaluated over a period of time. Two
weather conditions that contribute to climate include humidity and temperature. These
weather conditions are influenced by the water cycle.
Humidity is simply the amount of water vapor in the air. As water vapor is not evenly
distributed by the water cycle, some regions experience higher humidity than others.
This contributes to radically different climates. Islands or coastal regions, where water
vapor makes up more of the atmosphere, are usually much more humid than inland
regions, where water vapor is scarcer.
A region's temperature also relies on the water cycle. Through the water cycle, heat is
exchanged and temperatures fluctuate. As water evaporates, for example, it absorbs
energy and cools the local environment. As water condenses, it releases energy and
warms the local environment.
The Water Cycle and the Landscape
The water cycle also influences the physical geography of the Earth. Glacial melt and
erosion caused by water are two of the ways the water cycle helps create Earth's
physical features.
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
As glaciers slowly expand across a landscape, they can carve away entire valleys,
create mountain peaks, and leave behind rubble as big as boulders. Yosemite Valley,
part of Yosemite National Park in the U.S. state of California, is a glacial valley. The
famous Matterhorn, a peak on the Alps between Switzerland and Italy, was carved as
glaciers collided and squeezed up the earth between them. Canada's "Big Rock" is one
of the world's largest "glacial erratics," boulders left behind as a glacier advances or
retreats.
Glacial melt can also create landforms. The Great Lakes, for example, are part of the
landscape of the Midwest of the United States and Canada. The Great Lakes were
created as an enormous ice sheet melted and retreated, leaving liquid pools.
The process of erosion and the movement of runoff also create varied landscapes
across the Earth's surface. Erosion is the process by which earth is worn away by liquid
water, wind, or ice.
Erosion can include the movement of runoff. The flow of water can help carve enormous
canyons, for example. These canyons can be carved by rivers on high plateaus (such
as the Grand Canyon, on the Colorado Plateau in the U.S. state of Arizona). They can
also be carved by currents deep in the ocean (such as the Monterey Canyon, in the
Pacific Ocean off the coast of the U.S. state of California).
Reservoirs and Residence Time
Reservoirs are simply where water exists at any point in the water cycle. An
underground aquifer can store liquid water, for example. The ocean is a reservoir. Ice
sheets are reservoirs. The atmosphere itself is a reservoir of water vapor.
Residence time is the amount of time a water molecule spends in one reservoir. For
instance, the residence time of "fossil water," ancient groundwater reservoirs, can be
thousands of years. Some fossil water reservoirs beneath the Sahara Desert have
existed for 75,000 years.
Residence time for water in the Antarctic ice sheet is about 20,000 years. That means
that a molecule of water will stay as ice for about that amount of time.
The residence time for water in the ocean is much shorter—about 3,200 years.
The residence time of water in the atmosphere is the shortest of all—about nine days.
Calculating residence time can be an important tool for developers and engineers.
Engineers may consult a reservoir's residence time when evaluating how quickly a
pollutant will spread through the reservoir, for instance. Residence time may also
influence how communities use an aquifer.
Word
Clue(s)
Meaning
Word
Clue(s)
Meaning
Word
Clue(s)
Meaning