Ariana Foster
Teaching and Learning: January Unit/The Water Cycle & Weather
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
January 23rd & 24th
LAP 1: Review of the Water Cycle
Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content?
This will be my first lesson in this unit, and will introduce students to the water
cycle and weather. I will access students’ background knowledge about the water cycle
and weather by compiling a RAN chart which we will fill in throughout our unit. We will
then watch a short United Learning video, “Water Smart: The Sun, Water Cycle &
Climate” which will be followed by a true or false video quiz.
Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able to do
after the experience of this class.
 Students will be able to define each stage of the water cycle
 Students will be able to differentiate between the stages of the water cycle
 Students will be able to explain how the water cycle works
 Students will be able to give real life examples of different stages of the water
cycle.
Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your Curriculum
Unit Plan learning goals.
This lesson will also serve as my hook for the unit, I am hoping that by giving
students’ the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas it will not only allow me to
access their previous knowledge, ideas, misconceptions and questions, but also allow
them to feel invested in what they are learning.
I am starting with the water cycle because I feel that it is important for my
students to have a strong foundation in the water cycle before we move on to different
types of weather, etc. The water cycle controls the weather we experience on a daily
basis, as well as our climate, therefore, it is important for students to understand how it
works, and how changes in different stages of the cycle can change the type of weather
we experience.
Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have reached your
learning goals.
 RAN Chart
 Whole class discussions
 Video Quiz
Personalization: Describe how you will provide for individual student strengths and
needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of each student and scaffold
learning?
I realize that many students may already have varying levels of familiarity with
the water cycle, and weather either through things they have previously learned or simply
through real life experiences. In order to access this previous knowledge, idea, and
questions they may have, as well as, give us a common starting point a as a class, I
thought a RAN chart would be appropriate. It is also a low-stakes way to allow everyone
to participate and share their thoughts, ideas and questions.
I chose to screen, “Water Smart,” because it offers a good review of the water
cycle in a way which I feel is accessible to all of my students, it provides real life
examples of each stage of the water cycle, and explains key terms. I also felt that it was
short enough to keep their attention, and will also provide many opportunities to pause
for discussion.
Activity description Agenda: Describe the activities that will help your students
understand the content of your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames
Ariana Foster
Teaching and Learning: January Unit/The Water Cycle & Weather
January 23rd & 24th
LAP 1: Review of the Water Cycle
for your class. Be prepared to explain why you think each activity will help students
on the path toward understanding.
Teacher will…
Introduce new unit and first
activity (RAN chart)
Students will…
Time
- Listen to directions
3-5 minutes
- Take our their green
notebooks (science
notebooks) and a
pencil
Explain RAN Chart and pass
- fill out post it with
15 minutes
out post its.
something they know, think
- Each student will receive one they know, or a question they
post it where they get to write have about the water cycle and
something that they know or
weather
think they know about the
water cycle or weather, or a
question they have.
Have students come to floor to
- Read post it and stick
20 minutes
stick post-it’s on chart.
on chart in appropriate
column
Move students back to seats
- take notes in notebooks
30 minutes.
and introduce video.
- participate in discussion
- periodically stop movie to
- take video quiz at end of
give definitions or have small video
discussion.
-pass out paper for video quiz
VII.
List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
 10. Describe how water on earth cycles in different forms and in different
locations, including underground and in the atmosphere.
 11. Give examples of how the cycling of water, both in and out of the
atmosphere, has an effect on climate.
VIII.
Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose
and learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you
know? In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned
differently another time?
On the whole, I think this lesson was a successful start to our unit on the water
cycle and weather! This lesson spanned over two days. We began the lesson by charting
what students thought they knew about the water cycle, as well as the questions they had.
We were able to complete the charting in the first day, however, several students had
some trouble sitting still and staying focused. That being said, students also had great
some great ideas and questions about the water cycle and weather! Such as, “Do weather
man or woman study the water cycle from science and how does the weather man or
woman know the weather every day?”, “How does evaporation start?,” “water cycle: first
rain then ponds or rivers finally it vaporates and it starts all over again. Rain goes with
the water cycle. So the goal to cycle is rain and the clouds.” These questions and ideas
Ariana Foster
Teaching and Learning: January Unit/The Water Cycle & Weather
January 23rd & 24th
LAP 1: Review of the Water Cycle
showed me what students were curious about learning, and what prior knowledge they
had coming into our unit.
After finishing our chart, and listening to students’ ideas and questions, we
viewed a video about the water cycle, unfortunately, we ran out of time, and had to finish
the video the following day. We did a short, whole-class recap of what they had already
seen before viewing the remainder of the video. After the video, I passed out the lyrics to
“The Water Cycle Rap,” and we watched the music video for the song on
teachertube.com. We watched the video a couple of times, and students were very
engaged. Some even used the lyrics and rapped along to the video.
After the lesson, I corrected the video quizzes that the students took, and was
slightly disappointed in what I saw. The quiz consisted of 10 basic true or false questions
from concepts addressed directly and explicitly in the video, although the wording may
have been a little tricky for some. The class average on the quiz was a 70%, with only
one student getting 100% of the questions correct. Reflecting on the lessons, there were
definitely some students who were not paying attention to the video, however, I also
think that their scores may have been affected by watching the video over a span of two
days, rather than watching the full video and taking the test in the same class period.
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next
LAP?
Although I feel that this lesson was successful in getting students thinking about
the water cycle, and what water does in the world around us, I don’t feel that the video
and our discussion has been enough to develop a solid understanding of the stages of the
water cycle. Therefore I realize I will need to follow up this lesson with more concrete
information for my students regarding the water cycle to help foster deeper understanding
before we move on.
Ariana Foster
Teaching and Learning: January Unit/The Water Cycle & Weather
January 23rd & 24th
LAP 1: Review of the Water Cycle
The Water Cycle Rap
(I rise to the sky from the sea below…)
(Then down to the ground as rain or snow…)
Verse I
I represent the movement of water—that’s my purpose
Whether on, above, or below the earth’s surface
In a continuous cycle, my work’s never done
’Cause I’m driven by energy from the sun
I travel through the sea, through the air, through the ground
You could say that water really gets around
But in fact most water’s just chillin’ in the oceans
Only a small fraction is really in motion at any given time
But yo—that’s the way it goes
When we’re studying the voyages of H2O
In the cycle water changes states at various places
The three states being ice, liquid, and water vapor
But this cycle strays from the norm
‘Cause through the process, water still keeps the same structural form
While other cycles involve chemical change
Water may change states, but its structure stays the same
Chorus
I rise to the sky from the sea below
Then down to the ground as rain or snow
I keep it moving, moving, ’cause I’m the water cycle
Moving, moving, ’cause I’m the water cycle
Verse II
So when water transforms from liquid to gas
And rises up into the atmosphere, that’s evaporation
A process made possible by energy from the sun
Also known as solar radiation
And when this water vapor in the sky reforms
Ariana Foster
Teaching and Learning: January Unit/The Water Cycle & Weather
Into liquid water droplets, that’s condensation
And when this water falls back down to the earth
As rain, snow, hail, or sleet, that’s precipitation
But plants have their own type of evaporation
Through their stomata, which is called transpiration
So collectively the term used for transpiration
Plus all other evaporation is evapotranspiration
Two more terms to add to your collection:
The movement of water through the air is advection
And speaking of keeping it moving, understand
That runoff is water flowing across the land
Chorus
January 23rd & 24th
LAP 1: Review of the Water Cycle