Children’s Literature Assignment Plan



Children’s Literature Assignment Plan

Haley Ferrell and Christin Jones

Fall 2009

1. Fiction book: The Snow Flake: A Water Cycle Story by Neil Waldman

• This fiction book exhibits factual information about the water cycle in a way that children can understand. It uses the twelve months to talk about the water cycle and it follows one droplet on its’ journey through the stages of the water cycle. It also uses the seasons to show how rain and snow falls onto mountains, into rivers, on the earth, etc., is evaporated by the sun and once again becomes precipitation and the process repeats.

2. Non-fiction support books

• The Water Cycle by Robin Nelson

• This book describes the Water Cycle on an elementary level. It uses photographs to display how the sun heats water in places like the ocean, changes into a gas called vapor, rises into the sky and turns into droplets. The author then discusses how the droplets make clouds and when the clouds get full, it rains. She then goes on to explain the different kinds of places the rain falls goes and how the process starts all over again.

• Water Cycle by Monica Hughes

• This book is an excellent book geared toward older elementary students. It begins talking about what water is and how it is all around us. It talks about many vocabulary words such as, evaporates, water vapor, gas, liquid, condensation, clouds, rain, snow and the different types of water cycles such as the complete, short and long water cycles. This is an excellent book to use as a tool for students to learn more about the water cycle

• World of Water: Essential to life by Rona Arato

▪ This book addresses the different uses of water, the different kinds of water, the water cycle, etc. It displays a detailed picture of how water is absorbed in the ground runs off into streams and lakes, the sun evaporates water from lakes and oceans, and how water vapor cools, condenses and falls as rain or snow. It would be an excellent resource for students to understand the impact water has on the world.

3. Science Specific Standards

• Grade 5

▪ Competency Goal 3: The learner will conduct investigations and use appropriate technology to build an understanding of weather and climate.

Objectives

3.01 Investigate the water cycle including the processes of:

• Evaporation.

• Condensation.

• Precipitation.

• Run-off.

4. Content Standards for other Disciplines:

• Competency Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.  

• Objectives

1.02 Select key vocabulary critical to the text and apply appropriate meanings as necessary for comprehension.

• Competency Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.

• Objectives

03. Read a variety of texts, such as:

• Fiction (tall tales, myths).

• Nonfiction (books of true experience, newspaper and magazine articles, schedules).

2.09 Listen actively and critically by:

• asking questions.

• delving deeper into the topic.

• elaborating on the information and ideas presented.

• evaluating information and ideas.

• making inferences and drawing conclusions.

• making judgments

5. Background Information for Teacher

• Explain that in the experiment to follow, we will be creating a mini water cycle. Do the experiment listed below.

• Before the experiment, do a KWL chart in their science notebook. Through this, they will write down what they know about the water cycle, what they want to know and at the end of the lesson what they learned.

• Talk about water and how it is used everyday.

“We get our water from many places. Examples include, from our sink, from rivers, lakes, oceans, at the grocery store, etc. Water is amazing because it exist in all three stages of matter here on earth. It can be a solid (ice), liquid water, or it can be a gas, which is called water vapor. Water on the surface is constantly changing between all three stages. Water vapor can cool to become water or ice. There continuous stages create the cycle of water.”

• Definition of water cycle: the water cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the earth. Since the water cycle is a cycle there is no beginning or end. Water can be changed states very quickly or over hundreds or even millions of years.

• Three main stages of the Water Cycle; Evaporation, Condensation, and Precipitation. This process cycles water from the earth, through the air, to the clouds and back to the earth again.

• Precipitation: Falling products of condensation in the atmosphere,

Examples of Precipitation includes: Rain, Snow, or Hail

• Evaporation The changing of a liquid into a gas/vapor form.

Examples of evaporation include:

o Steam rising from a pot of water

o Puddles that have dried up

o Water sitting in a bowl that seems to ‘disappear’ after a few days

• Condensation: The process which creates clouds, and so is necessary for rain and snow formation as well. Condensation occurs when a parcel of rising air expands and cools. If it cools enough, some of the water vapor molecules clump together faster than they are torn apart from their thermal energy.

Examples of condensation include:

o Water droplets forming on the outside of your water glass

o A foggy mirror in a bathroom

o Foggy windows in a car

Say the following scenario to engage students:

Last Monday Morning Mrs. Ferrell and I walked into Blowing Rock School and we noticed several puddles of water on the ground from where it had rained last night. We walked around the puddles and went into the school. That afternoon while walking to our cars, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, we noticed the puddles were gone and the ground was dry! What do you think happened? -Students should answer: Evaporation! Explain to students that they will now be making their own water cycle. Below are the steps for students to see how the water cycle works and a discussion guide after the experiment.

6. Students will now explore what a water cycle is by making their own.

Materials:

• 5 clear Tupperware bowls

• Clear saran wrap

• Measuring cup

• Water

• Ice (bag of ice, and a refrigerator or cooler to store it in)

• Rubber bands

➢ Directions:

• Have the students get out their science journal and make a chart on a clean sheet of paper. Label the top, “The Water Cycle.” On the left side write “Time” and on the right, “Observations.”

o During the experiment, tell the students that they will be observing what is happening throughout the experiment. They will need to write down every time they observe new observations.

•

• Before you begin the experiment put the students into five groups. Distribute the material so that each group has everything.

1. large clear bowl

2. saran wrap

3. 1 cup of water

4. handful of ice (teacher will give this out at appropriate time)

5. one rubber band ( the rubber and will stabilize the saran wrap)

• Heat the five cups of water either in a microwave or on the stove. *Do NOT let it start boiling. Let it set for 1-2 minutes. If it is too hot add 1-2 ice cubes to the water.

• Distribute 1 cup of water to each group and have them pour the water into the clear Tupperware bowl.

• Put the saran wrap over the top of the clear bowl. Secure the saran wrap with the rubber band. Do not make the saran wrap tight let it hang loosely, but you don’t want it to hang into the hot water.

• Tell the students that they are going to pass around the ice cubes and you want them to put the ice cubes on top of the saran wrap. Ask the students to begin writing down the time and observation in their science journals. ( If they don’t have a science journal have them write it on a regular sheet of paper)

• Tell the students to observe what is happening. What do you see forming on the top? (Water droplets)

• Allow children to observe without touching the bowl. Encourage them to say what they are thinking. This should take around 5-10 minutes. If some groups are having trouble with their cycle, have them observe another group.

• After every group has conducted their experiment have them place their bowl on a table and return to their desk.

Discussion on the Water Cycle

• Write on the board in big letters WATER. Ask the kids to name the different ways we use water. Examples include, we drink it, cook with it, wash our clothes, our cars, and brush our teeth.

• Now ask the children where we get our water? Examples include, from our

sink, from rivers, lakes, oceans, at the grocery store, etc.

• Explain to the students that water is amazing because it exists in all three stages

of matter here on earth. It can be a solid (ice), liquid water, or it can be a gas, which is called water vapor.

• Define the Water Cycle, write it on the board and have the students write it in their journal. (the journey water takes as it circulates from the land to the sky and back again.)

• Pass out the Water Cycle worksheet. (The worksheet is attached to the entire lesson plan, it is located in the back of your packet)

• Go through the cycle. Have the students write the definitions in their science journal, as well as on the worksheet. Discuss each stage of the water cycle. Haley

o Other terms:

o When in the experiment do you think we saw evaporation? What is evaporation?

▪ Evaporation- When the heat of the sun changes water on earth’s surface to water vapor.

▪ Evaporation occurs when they see small droplets rising to the top (invisible) and they see the steam collecting on the sides.

o How did we observe precipitation? Which step was it and what do you think precipitation means?

▪ Precipitation- Form of water, anything that falls from the cloud.

o Which step did condensation occur? By what we have observed, what do you think it is?

▪ Condensation- When water vapor changes back into a liquid. Stages of matter- solid/liquid/gas. Water in the water cycle can be in any of these stages.

▪ Condensation occurs during the experiment when the water droplets for at the top, collecting together to form larger water droplets and gravity forces the water droplets down.

o Runoff- Runoff that moves over the soil surface to the nearest surface stream.

o Water vapor is water in a gaseous form.

• Read the book, The Snowflake and talk about the different vocabulary words the book described. Tie it into our everyday lives and our experiences of the water cycle on a day to day basis.

o Examples of the water cycle include:

▪ Rain

▪ Puddles forming and how they disappear

▪ Fog

7. Assessments

• Throughout the lesson I will orally ask the class what their understanding of what the water cycle is and the vocabulary we have talked about.

• Ask students to share their knowledge of the experiment by relating it to the parts of the water cycle. Tell where evaporation, condensation, and precipitation was demonstrated in the experiment.

• Ask students to draw and label the parts of the water cycle.

• Have students write in their science journal entry about how we witness the water cycle in our daily lives. Be sure to remind them of the different ways and places water can be evaporated from.

8. Statement of Goals

• Students will be able to:

o Understand that water travels in a cycle.

o Understand the parts of the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation and be able to label them on a water cycle chart.

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