Patrice O.

Toulson FRIT 8530: Application of Instructional Technology Stage 3, Understanding by Design Spring 2011

Title of Unit

Water Cycle

Grade Level

6th Grade

Standard: S6E3 Students will recognize the significant role of water in earth

processes b. Relate various atmospheric conditions to stages of the water cycle

Understandings: The students will understand that: The earth reuses the same water in a continuous cycle. Water is one of earths renewable resources. The water cycle is important to all living things for survival. In order to help conserve our water supply, we must learn how to apply the method of conserving water. There is evidence that shows conserving water has an effect on all living things. There are areas on earth that have to worry about their water supplies and would see how it would be living in these areas. Their views about water conservation are shaped by the area on earth in which they live

Essential Questions: What is the water cycle, its stages and states of matter? How can we conserving water help conserve our water supply? How does the water cycle impact human lives? Is water one of earths renewable resources? How does conserving water impact all living things?

Overarching Questions: Topical Questions: 1) Why is the water cycle important? 1) What is the water cycle? 2) How are atmospheric conditions affected by the water cycle? 2) What are the elements that make up the 3) How does the water cycle impact water cycle and how do they all fit human lives? together? 4) How does conserving/not conserving water impact future water use? 3) Does the water cycle impact all living 5) If water is a renewable resource and it is things? recycled, how can there ever be a water 4) How can we as individuals help shortage? conserve water? 6) Where do we get our water that we use 5) What are some reasons for water everyday? shortages and what are some ways we 7) What happens when a water shortage can conserve water? occurs? 6) Can the water we drink today be the 8) How can a water shortage affect our same water that the dinosaurs drank? lives? 7) What is a water shortage? 8) When a water shortage occurs, what does it do to our water supply?

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences

Week 1 Week 1, Day 1: 1) Are you drinking the same water that President George Washington washed his dirty shirt in? Introduction of the song Water Cycle Boogie. This will be played at the beginning of each class period when the students are entering the room to get the students familiar with the words. (H) 2) What is the water cycle, its stages and states of matter? You will pretend to be a raindrop and do a writing assignment about going through each stage of the water cycle and in what form. (W) 3) KWL Chart on the water cycle: The students will write down what they previously know about the water cycle and then will share their answers orally while answers are recorded on chart paper. This will serve as a visual aide. Students will then share what they would like to know about the water cycle and these answers will be recorded on chart paper. (R) 4) Teacher will show a video of the water cycle from United Streaming titled The Cycle Series: The Water Cycle at http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=DA282111-DDDE-4BA7AE55-DBC4761A147B&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US . (E-T) 5) Teacher will show a podcast of a diagram of the water cycle. On this diagram in the podcast, there is an explanation of each stage. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. This will also allow the students to download it onto their Ipod/MP3 player so they can review it as many times as they need to for better understanding. (E,T) 6) Students will be allowed to use the computer and/or textbook in order to look up key vocabulary words for the water cycle unit. (E) Week 1, Day 2: 7) Introduce the first stage of the water cycle Evaporation. I will ask them prior knowledge questions before we get started: What is evaporation? What makes wet spots vanish? What causes water to evaporate and become water vapor? Why does a bathroom steam up while you are taking a shower? I will discuss the Evaporation stage by using a video podcast on evaporation. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. This will also allow the students to view it as many times as they need to for better understanding. (E, T)

8) Students will observe a teacher demonstration showing what evaporation is. I will boil water in a test tube over a candle. The children will be asked to look and listen for any changes. (E) 9) After the activity, I will ask them some questions to make them rethink the activity: Where did the water evaporate? What made it evaporate quick? (R) 10) Follow-up activity: Students can set up a water cycle using a plastic bottle and a small amount of water. They will need to put the bottle over heat and then over cold. This activity will be good for the kinesthetic learners. (E) 11) The students will explain on a piece of paper what happens to water after it evaporates. They can also draw or cut out pictures of examples of evaporation. This will be good for the spatial learner. (E,)T) 12) Students will share their papers with the class. The students will be able to make revisions based on class feedback. (E, E-2) Week 1, Day 3: 13) Introduce the 2nd stage of the water cycle: Condensation. Prior knowledge questions will be asked: What do you think condensation is? What is frost? What is dew? What 3 things are needed to make clouds form? I will show a video podcast on condensation. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. The students will be able to review the podcast whenever they need to for better understanding. (E, T) 14) Students will do a group condensation activity using a pitcher of very cold water and a tray of ice cubes. The students will put the ice cubes into the water then place the pitcher of ice water in a warm room. They will observe what happens on the outside of the pitcher. This will be a good activity for the kinesthetic learner. (E) 15) After the activity, I will ask them some questions to make them rethink the condensation activity: What did you observe during the condensation stage? What did you observe the water molecules doing? Do you think covering the pitcher would have proven that the droplets on the outside did not come from within the container? Would the amount of moisture that accumulates depend upon the amount of humidity on a particular day? (R) 16) Using Microsoft Publisher on the computer, students will explain what condensation is and students will add images representing condensation by using clip art, drawing tools, etc. Extra time will be given to those who require it. (E, T)

17) Students will share their Microsoft Publisher activity with the class for a peer assessment. The students will be able to go back and make revisions if necessary. (R, E-2) 18) Follow-Up Activity: The students can do another condensation activity where they will use four identical drinking glasses, ice water, a refrigerator or freezer and a journal. Fill one of the glasses with the ice water and set it on a table. Wait briefly. Feel the outside of the glass. How did it get wet? Where did the water come from? Is it necessary for the glass to be filled with water for moisture to form on the outside? They will write their answers in their journal. Then, they will set one of the empty glasses on a table as a control. They will place the second empty glass in the refrigerator, and a third in the freezer. After about 10 minutes, they will remove the glasses from the refrigerator and freezer. They will line up the three glasses on the table and record their observations in their journal. (E) Week 1, Day 4: 19) Introduce the 3rd stage of the water cycle Precipitation. Prior knowledge questions about precipitation will be asked: What are four types of precipitation? What is snow? What role does temperature have in different forms of precipitation? How is rain, snow and hail formed? I will show a video podcast on precipitation. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. The students will be able to review the podcast whenever they need to for better understanding. (E,T) 20) The class will do a precipitation activity using a mirror and a plug in kettle. They will use mirrors that have already been frozen. Once the frozen mirrors have been taken out of the freezer, the students will touch them for coldness. They will plug in the kettle and let it heat up. We will discuss that the steam coming out of the kettle is evaporated water. They will hold the mirror in the steam above construction paper. The water will begin to bead on the mirror and should fall onto the construction paper. This activity will be good for the kinesthetic learners. (E) 21) After the activity, I will ask them some questions to make them rethink the precipitation activity: What happened during the precipitation activity? What are different kinds of precipitation? What happens when the precipitation hits the ground? (R) 22) In groups, students can make sketches or drawings of the precipitation stage and describe what happens to water when it lands in the ground places. We will share these with the class. Students can revise according to the class evaluations as needed. (E, T, E-2) 23) Follow-up activity: The children can do another activity to help them understand precipitation. They will use a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water in it and a cotton ball.

They will pretend the cotton ball is a cloud. They will describe how the cotton ball feels on a piece of paper. The student will put the cotton ball in the water until it is all soaked up. They will carefully pick the cotton ball up and describe how it feels now on the piece of paper. They will end the activity by squeezing the wet cotton ball to make rain. (E) Week 1, Day 5: 24) Introduce the 4th stage of the water cycle, collection. I will determine their prior knowledge of the collection stage. I will ask them questions: Where does ground water come from? How does streams and rivers get water? Does sand, clay or other soils hold different amounts of water? I will show a video podcast on collection. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. The students will be able to review the podcast whenever they need to for better understanding. (E,T) 25) Students will do an activity concerning this stage of the water cycle by using a cone of filter paper, a funnel, and soil. This activity will be good for the kinesthetic learners. (E) 26) After the activity, students will reflect on the activity. (E,R) 27) Students will share their work and get feedback and will have the opportunity to revise any necessary changes. (E-2, R) 28) We will go back to the KWL chart and students will state to the class what they have learned about the water cycle and answers will be posted on chart paper as a visual aide. (E, T) 29) Follow-up activity: Students will label the diagram that was used in the video podcast that had explanations of each stage. They will be given the diagram without the labels that were included in the podcast. They will label the diagram correctly. 30) I will collect the diagrams from the students and review for any misunderstandings. (E, E-2)

Off the Shelf Resources:

http://www-k12.atmos.washington.edu/k12/pilot/water_cycle/teacherpage.html

http://www.idahogeology.org/services/Hydrogeology/PortneofgroundwaterGuardian/kids_stuff/activity/condensation.html http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/studyjams/water_cycle/ http://www.buzzle.com/articles/water-cycle-for-kids.html http://www.first-school.ws/activities/science/drippy.htm http://cnobleza.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/watercycle2.gif http://www.eeweek.org/assets/files/EDNwaterlessons/water_scarcity_k2.pdf http://teachervision.fen.com/childrens-science-activities/weather/347.html http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=DA282111-DDDE-4BA7-AE55DBC4761A147B&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Week 2 Wee2, Day 1: 1) What does the water cycle and Justin Timberlakes lyrics What goes around, goes around, goes around, comes all the way back around have in common? (H) 2) What is the water cycle? You will make a terrarium and pull the water cycle all together in this activity. You will begin looking at how the water cycle effects all living things and will determine if water is one of earths renewable resources. We will also look at conservation and determine how we can help conserve water and see how much water your own household uses. (W) 3) I will ask the students some prior knowledge questions: How do the 4 stages of the water cycle fit together? Is there one place that you have to begin? What would happen if one of the stages was missing? (E) 4) To pull the water cycle all together, I will show an online video of the water cycle at http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/studyjams/water_cycle/ (E,T) Each student will begin making a terrarium to view the water cycle. This activity will be beneficial to the kinesthetic learner. (E) Week 2, Day 2: 5) Students will continue working on their terrariums. 6) After creating their terrarium, students will rethink their prior knowledge questions: How do the 4 stages of the water cycle fit together? Do you have to begin at a certain place in the water cycle? What would happen if one of the stages was missing? (R) Week 2, Day 3: 7)At the beginning of class for the next 1 1/2 weeks, the students will write in their notebook any changes they observe with their terrarium. (E) 8)Students will have a vocabulary quiz over water cycle terms. (E) 9)Introduce renewable and non-renewable resources to the students. (E)

10)Students will utilize the internet and a computer to research the pros and cons of using water as a renewable resource. (E) 11)The students will have a renewable and nonrenewable quiz. Afterwards we will go over the answers as a class and the student will be able to revise their answers if needed. (E, R, E-2) 12)Follow-up activity: Renewable and Non-renewable Resources. The students will be given a worksheet that will consists of a list of renewable and non-renewable resources. The students will determine which type of resource they are. Week 2, Day 4: 13) Prior knowledge will be determined from the students on what they know about conservation. Students will do a circle map to express their knowledge of conservation. (E) 14)Students will use the computer and/or textbook in order to look up vocabulary words for conserving water. (E, T) 15) Introduce conserving water and explain that there is only 3% of fresh water that we can use on earth. To help them understand this better, we will do an activity in class with 4 liters of liquid. The liquid represents all the water on earth. I will collect 97% of the water and put into another container and tell them this will represent all the salt water on earth that we can not use. I will collect 2.2% of the water and explain that this water is locked up in glaciers and not available for use. Then, I will explain that the remaining amount, .8% is actually available for everyday use from rivers and lakes. This will be a visual that should help them understand water scarcity a little better. (E) 16)I will show a video on conserving water from United Streaming at http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=4159AD7B-AEC9-4F58-B83542321CC0A3FC&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US 17)To help them learn about conserving water, I will introduce to the students that they will do an activity based on monitoring their household use of water. They will keep this log for a week and will organize their data in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation for the final assessment. (E, T, O) Week 2, Day 5: 18) Students will form a hypothesis on how many gallons of water their households use on a daily basis. Students will orally provide answers and they will be recorded on chart paper as a visual aide for the students. A handout with background information in regards to daily water use will be given to the students. The font will be larger for those that need it. Students and teachers will read the handout orally for those who need assistance with audio. (E, T) 19) Students will reflect: How does the amount of water they use directly compare to water conservation? (R)

20)Follow-up Activity: Students will be put into groups where they will create a slogan in which they promote water conservation. (E) 21)The students will present their slogans to the class for a peer evaluation and self evaluation. They will reflect on how their slogan promoted water conservation. (E-2, T, R) Off the Shelf Resources:
http://www-k12.atmos.washington.edu/k12/pilot/water_cycle/teacherpage.html

www.lessonplanet.com
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=4159AD7B-AEC9-4F58-B83542321CC0A3FC&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Week 3 Week 3, Day 1: 1) Riddle What is something that people cant get enough of even when they are surrounded by it? I will entertain the numerous answers from the class. The answer to the riddle is water. (H) 2) How does conserving water impact all living things? Students will continue to look into how conserving water affects all living things and will research how other countries deal with shortages of water. (W) 3) Students will continue to log their household water usage daily. (E)

4) Introduce the word scarcity and explain that in some parts of the world there is water scarcity. Students will give any prior knowledge of what water scarcity is and if they have ever experienced it. I will pull one of our ESOL students in and let them talk about the culture of Mexico and discuss water issues there. I will have talked to the ESOL student prior to this time to make sure the student is ok with doing this. Week 3, Day 2: 5) Students will be divided into pairs to research a country that experiences water shortages. The students will be reminded that there is only .8% of fresh water available for human use all over the world. The students will draw a name of a country out of a hat. The students will research their assigned country to determine: What their climate is like? How might their climate affect water availability? How much rainfall do they get? Where does their water come from? Does the country have a high or low population growth rate and will this affect their water availability? What are the most serious water problems the country faces? Is pollution a problem?

Do they have plumbing or sanitation systems/ Compare the situation of water supply where you live with that of your country researched. Do you think where you live shapes your view of how important conserving water is? Explain. The findings can be put into a Microsoft Word document, Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, etc. (E, T) Week 3, Day 3: 6) The students will continue to research their country for water scarcity. (E,T) Week 3, Day 4: 7) The students will complete their research on the country. After research of country is completed, the findings from all of the students researched will be discussed with the class. (E) 8) Students will be able to evaluate their work based on rubric given to them and will revise their work if they see that changes need to be made. (E-2, R) Week 3, Day 5: 9) Students will look at their completed weekly log of household water use. They will discuss the largest water waste in their household, a guide to help other household members conserve, and an incentive that will motivate all family members to conserve. (E, T) 10) Teacher and student will evaluate their findings together and make any necessary changes. (R) 11) I will show a video podcast on conserving water. This will help the visual impaired student, the hearing impaired student and the ADHD students. The students will be able to review the podcast whenever they need to for better understanding. (E,T) 12) Conclude this unit with students self-evaluation regarding their personal conserving habits. Each student will develop a personal action plan for their conserving goals. (E-2, T) Off the Shelf Resources: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/activities/watereverywhere/ http://dictionary.com http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php