Now that students are familiar with the three states of matter, we were able to see how water takes each of those forms within the water cycle. First graders read a book called A Drop Around the World, where they learned that a drop of water never goes away, it just changes states continuously. This the process is called The Water Cycle. They learned the names for each of the four main steps of the water cycle – precipitation, accumulation, evaporation, condensation. We also learned a bonus word – transpiration! This step is when plants absorb water through their roots and then release water through their stomata. Did you know that plants lose around 90% of their water through transpiration? So this step is a big way that water is returned to a gas! Each step has an essential job in the process of recycling water so we can continue using it. Even though those big words are tricky to pronounce, we practiced a few times each and the students did a great job! Next, we watched a dance and song video about the water cycle from GoNoodle. Movement and music are a fun and helpful way to solidify information in our brains.
In the following days, we practiced explaining the steps of the water cycle through a variety of projects. First we create a wearable reminder of the steps of the water cycle. First graders created bracelets from pipe cleaners and beads. Each bead was a specific color to represent the steps of the water cycle! We used light blue beads for precipitation (to represent rain, hail, sleet, and snow), dark blue for accumulation (to represent groundwater, oceans, rivers, puddles, and more), green for transpiration (to represent plants), yellow for evaporation (to represent the sun) and white for accumulation (to represent the clouds). Students practiced identifying which step each bead stood for.
Next, we create a water cycle foldable. Now that we are familiar with the names of each step and the order, we got a little more detailed, creating a foldable that explained the name of each step and what each step was about. In future lessons, we will continue exploring the water cycle more deeply, focusing on how each step works, experiencing them in real life, and diving into different types of precipitation.
