Teacher Candidate: Sara Saurazas

Date: 9/21/15
Cooperating Teacher: Dr. Varano
Coop. Initials: ________________
Group Size: 24 Allotted Time: 40 minutes
Grade Level: 1st grade
Subject or Topic: The Water Cycle
Section: ____________________

STANDARD: (PA Common Core):

4.2.1.A: Explain the path water takes as it moves through the water cycle.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
A. Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the water cycle by participating in a group to
label and discuss the water cycle diagram
B. Students will be able to apply their knowledge of the stages of the water cycle to create bracelets
showing the stages in the correct order

II. Instructional Materials

poster paper
water cycle diagram (see attached)
cotton balls or packing peanuts
colored beads (light blue, dark blue, yellow, clear, green, white)
yarn
access to YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWb4KlM2vts
III. Subject Matter/ Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea):
A. Prerequisite skills:
1. Students need a basic understanding of different types of weather
2. Students need a basic understanding of clouds and what they are made up of
B. Key Vocabulary:
1. Temperature: A measure of how hot or cold something is.
2. Water Cycle: The path water follows as it evaporates into the air, condenses into clouds, and
returns to Earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
3. Weather: What the air is like at a certain time and place.
C. Big Idea:
1. We can use the water cycle to better understand weather changes and how that affects the way
we live on earth.
D. New Content:
1. Water collects in clouds
A. When the clouds become too full, it rains
2. Rain collects on the ground
3. The sun warms the water and the water evaporates
4. The water droplets return to the clouds and the cycle begins again

IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
1. Have students stand in a circle and hold hands, tell the students to start walking around in a circle
2. Say "Stop" and ask the students what would happen if you didn't say stop (The students would
keep walking in a circle)
3. Ask the students if they can name some things that are like a circle (tires, wheels, a top, etc.)
4. Explain to the students that we will be learning about the water cycle today, discuss using the
activity as an example what the word cycle means

B. Development
1. Tell the students that the water cycle is like a circle of water
2. Remind the students about the things discussed in previous lessons about water; remind the class
that we know that temperature can change water. Ask the students what happens to water when it
gets colder (the water gets colder, starts to turn to ice)
3. Ask the class what we learned what clouds are made up of? (tiny drops of water)
4. Ask what happen when it gets very cold outside and the droplets of water in the clouds gets colder
(it turns to ice or snow)
5. Ask what about when it rains? What happens to the water on the ground? Does it stay there
forever?
6. Begin to scaffold the students into thinking about how the sun warms the water on the ground
causing it to evaporate and return to clouds
7. Tell the students that they will be modeling the water cycle
8. Instruct students to get into a circle, select a student to be in the center of the circle and explain
that the student in the center is the sun and all the student on the outside of the circle are the clouds
9. Have the students on the outside put out their hands and explain that the cotton balls or pacing
peanuts represent rain, explain to the students that their hands are the clouds collecting the water
droplets, begin filling the students hands with cotton balls.
10. Explain to the students that when their hands get too full with water droplets, they overflow and
the clouds begin to rain.
11. Instruct the students to pour the cotton balls on the floor, representing rainfall
12. Tell the students that now the sun will warm up the rain, have the student in the middle wave their
arms to represent the suns rays heating up the water
13. Instruct the students on the outside of the circle to pick up the cotton balls and explain that the
water droplets are drying up and turning back into clouds and that this is called evaporation.
14. Ask the students to turn and talk with a partner and discuss why they think this is called a cycle
15. Students should be able to explain that it is a cycle because it goes on and on, if they cannot
explain this do the demonstration a second time explaining that the cycle goes on and on forever
without stopping like a circle.
16. Gather the students together and display the water cycle chart
17. Tell the students that we are going to try and find all the parts of the water cycle on the diagram
18. Walk through the steps as a class, labeling them as you go
19. Show water cycle song on YouTube to reinforce the concepts just learned
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWb4KlM2vts)
20. Explain that we will be creating water cycle bracelets to represent the stages of the water cycle
21. Model making a bracelet and explain to the students what each color represents while stringing
them on a piece of yarn
22. Explain that the light blue bead represents the rain which falls down onto the grass (green bead)
and creates puddles (dark blue bead) then the sunlight (yellow bead) comes out and dries up the
puddles during evaporation (clear bead) the dried up puddles become clouds (white bead) and the
cycle starts all over again (tie the bracelet ends together)
23. Review the color code with the class once more and write it on the board as a reminder
24. Have student get their supplies and begin creating their bracelets.

C. Closure
1. Have the students turn and talk with a partner about what their bracelet represents
2. Play the water cycle song a final time allowing students to get up and move and sing along
D. Accommodations / Differentiation 1. Finn, a student who has autism will be accommodated for by having a class buddy. His buddy will
help him when working on his bracelet. Finn will also be provided a print out of the schedule of what will
be coming next in the lesson so he is aware of what to expect and can stay on track.
E. Assessment/Evaluation plan
1. Formative - collect the bracelets to see if the students got the order of the cycle
correct. Student's bracelets will be evaluated using a rating scale (see below) where a
rating of a 3 or better is considered mastery. Observations during discussion and
participation during the water cycle chart activity will give feedback on whether or not

students understand or are struggling with the concepts taught.

Rating scale for bracelets:
0 - bracelet is incomplete or not attempted or only one step is in the correct order
1 - Student has 2 steps in the correct order
2- Student has 4 steps in the correct order
3 - Student had 5 steps in the correct order
4- Student has all 6 steps in the correct order
2. Summative - there is no summative assessment for this lesson
V. Reflective Response
A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of States Objectives

Remediation plan:

B. Personal Reflection
How was my pacing?

What part of my lesson engaged students the most?

VI. Resources
Activity:
http://www.pdesas.org/module/content/resources/18224/view.ashx