4th Grade IEFA/Science Lesson
Go Home, River
FOSS connection: Water
Essential Understanding 3:
The ideologies of Native traditional beliefs and
spirituality persist into modern day life as tribal
cultures, traditions, and languages are still practiced by many American Indian people and are
incorporated into how tribes govern and manage their affairs. Additionally, each tribe has its own
oral histories, which are as valid as written histories. These histories pre-date the discovery of
North America.
Science Content Standards:
4.2 describe and measure the physical properties of Earth’s basic materials (including soil, rocks,
water and gases) and the resources they provide.
4.4 observe and describe the water cycle and the local weather and demonstrate how weather
conditions are measured.
Understandings: students will understand…
• Water is essential to our planet's life, and without it, nothing could survive.
• That water has been recycled through the processes of evaporation and condensation.
Essential Questions:
• Why is it important to keep water clean?
• Why is water such an important part of life?
• What contributes to the movement of water through the water cycle?
Students will be able to…
• Draw and describe the process of the water cycle.
Students will know…
•
•
•
Water is the only thing that exists naturally as a solid, liquid and a gas.
The water keeps moving in a cycle.
The best part about the water cycle is that you can start at any stage because it is always
circling around.
Assessment Evidence:
• Students will accurately create a Water Cycle Wheel.
Learning Plan
1. (5 min.) (ENGAGE)
Build background
Talk to your table group or partners about what you know about WATER.
Share out a few ideas.
Introduce the idea of the water cycle.
Today, we are going to learn about the water cycle. What does the word “cycle”
mean? (circulation) …of the earth's water
We are going to read an Alaskan Native story about a river. Listen for how the water
in the river/story is circulated.
2. (7 min.) (EXPLORE) Read the Native story: Go Home, River by James Magdanz
Throughout the story, be referring to the water cycle and the importance of water in
all cultures, especially the Native culture.
3. (18 min.) (EXPLAIN)
How is the water circulated in the story? Describe this to your table or partner…
This is a diagram of the water cycle. (show diagram on screen)
EXPLAIN the four parts of the cycle. (emphasize vocabulary)
A. Evaporation is the period of change in the water cycle where the water actually
changes into a gas.
B. Condensation takes place when water vapor cools it changes in the air to make
clouds, right after the evaporation stage.
C. There can be many forms of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, hail, drizzling,
flurries, and thunderstorms.
D. When water falls back to the earth as one of the many forms of precipitation it
gets collected in oceans, lakes, rivers, or land.
4. (15 min.)
EVALUATE and CLOSURE:
Water Cycle Wheel
Materials:
2 paper plates
1 paper fastener
Pencil and crayons
Scissors
1. Use a ruler and pencil to divide a paper plate into four equal parts.
2. Draw one stage of the water cycle in each of the four sections of the paper plate.
(Refer to diagram for placement.)
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Collection
3. Very lightly, draw lines that divide the other paper plate into four parts. Without
cutting the center of the plate, cut away one of the four parts. Put this plate on top
of the plate that has the water cycle stages.
4. Use the paper fastener to fasten the two plates together. Spin the top plate to see
all of the stages.
(National Geographic, Reading Expeditions: Life Cycles, pgs. 28-29)
To CLOSE and EVALUATE lesson:
Once the wheels are constructed, have students pair up and explain the different
stages in their Water Cycle Wheel. Encourage students to use appropriate vocabulary
during this discussion. Circulate around the room, listening to students’ discussions
and observing their wheels.