OBJECTIVE SWBAT
NGSS or INDIANA STATE STANDARDS [Link].1, [Link].4
ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S) What causes rain? Where does the water in puddles go?
ASSESSMENT By the end of the class period, my students will be able to:
Explainwhy it rains
Do this skillrecord journal observations, display the process of the water cycle
Answer this sample problemfill out the water cycle sheet
Connection to unit/course/Big
Idea (why is this objective Key Points:
important?):
Students will understand the Water cycle (condensation, precipitation, evaporation)
different types of weather and Rain
how it affects our living
environments.
Materials/Setup: Agenda: Homework:
Plastic bags 1. Engage (10) N/A
Water 2. Explore (20)
Sharpie 3. Explain (10) Reminders:
Clear cups 4. Elaborate (20) N/A
Shaving cream 5. Evaluate (10)
Food coloring *Timing is flexible but
Science Journals recommended Explore and
Worksheet Water Cycle Elaborate should be the biggest
sections
ENGAGE: KEY POINTS PREVIEWED - Capture students attention, activate prior knowledge, and
stimulate student thinking so that they are prepared for todays lesson and have sufficient context
around which to construct new knowledge.
Fill KWL chart on what they learned the day before. What prior knowledge must be
brought up to get them ready
to explore the new concepts
Have students come go outside and record in their journals of todays objective?
what kind of clouds they notice outside.
What questions can I ask to
So what kind of clouds did you see outside today? How did elicit that prior knowledge?
you know it was that kind of cloud? Did anybody else
To what previous content
think or notice any other clouds? Now that you guys and/or real-life experience can
know a lot about clouds, when you see dark clouds I connect todays objective to
coming in, what do usually happens? What do you think capture students attention
will happen? Rain! Today we are going to learn why it and build anticipation for the
rains and the process it goes through. lesson?
What misconceptions might
students have and what
questions can I ask to have
them reveal those
misconceptions?
EXPLORE: KEY POINTS DISCOVERED - Students make observations, record data, design and execute
experiments, create graphs, interpret results, organize their findings, and develop hypotheses or
conclusions so that they can construct knowledge independently and practice their scientific habits of
mind.
Give students Ziploc bags and markers. Have them copy What must students be doing
down the design with a sun, a cloud and water. Pour a little and thinking to discover the
key points through their doing
water into the bag with a drop of food coloring. Tape onto instead of my telling?
the window. I will walk around and assist students.
How can I set up an
What do you think will happen to the water? Why do you experience to allow my
think that will happen? Are you using your prior students to do and think these
things?
knowledge? Record your predictions in your journal. Tell
students you will observe what happened tomorrow. What questions must I ask to
guide their thinking to arrive
at the key points?
Now we will conduct another experiment while we wait for
How are students pushed to
the results. develop the explanations or
solutions I am looking for?
Rain Experiment: Give students cup of water, food coloring
and put shaving cream on top. How and where are students
recording information/data?
What do you think will happen when you drop the food How will I ensure that all
coloring on the cloud? Turn and talk with your group and students are not just
then write down your prediction in your journal. participating in the activity,
but engaging in the thinking
With your group begin dropping the food coloring and keep required to arrive at the key
points?
track of the drops.
EXPLAIN: KEY POINTS FORMALIZED - Solicit student ideas of what theyve just done, engage in
discussion, introduce laws/models/theories/vocabulary, guide students towards generalizations that
explain the results of their explorations, and confirm ideas so that students are clear on what is correct,
why its correct, and what they need to take away.
How will I set students up to
So what happened to the cloud? Why do you think this create accurate explanations
and justify them with
happened? evidence?
Discuss this with your group and then record it in your
journal. How will students share and
engage in the findings of their
So we learned previously that clouds are made of what classmates (whole class or
smaller groups)?
three things? Yes water vapor, cool air, and cloud seeds. So
when there is a lot of water vapor that collects, the cloud How will students receive
gets denser and gets heavier. And when the cloud gets too information on formal
heavy, and the water vapor condenses, its rains! definitions, labels, rules and
procedures and record in a
way that makes sense?
Have students write that down under their previous
definition. How will students compare
their explanations to formal
definitions and rules so that
they make sense of their own
experience?
What misunderstandings do I
anticipate students still having
and how can I correct them?
How will I know when students
understand? What questions
must they be able to answer?
ELABORATE: KEY POINTS USED - Students practice applying ideas to new domains in an increasingly
independent way and practice problems for skill objectives so that they reinforce their knowledge, check
their understanding while the teacher is present, and can extend ideas beyond just the problem or
application in the example.
(Next Day) How will students use their
Write down what you noticed happened in the baggies. new definitions, rules, and
skills to investigate or solve
Draw a picture of what the baggie looks like. problems in a new, yet similar
situation?
Why do you think this happened? Turn and talk with a
neighbor and share what you think is going on and why this How will I scaffold my support
happened. and include whole class,
group, and individual checks
for understanding?
(Whole Class)
So what do you notice? Why do you think that happened? How will students
How did the water get up there? Why did we need to put it demonstrate their knowledge
by the window? What did the sun have to do with this? of the new information and
ability to apply it in new ways?
Where does the water go after it rains?
How will I ensure that students
What we noticed here is the water cycle. There are 3 are able to apply their
stages in the water cycle. So there is water in the ocean knowledge in an increasingly
and in puddles. The water than evaporates in the air and independent (and eventually
independent) way?
rises with the heat of the sun. (write down evaporate on
the board) Next the water condenses in the clouds and in
this case inside the bag into little water droplets. When the
droplets are condensing, we call this condensation. (write
down on board) As we learned when the droplets become
heavy they fall to the ground as rain. When they are falling
down back into to the Earth we call this precipitation. (write
this down)
Teach students water cycle song and dance.
EVALUATE: KEY POINT ASSESSED - Assess students current mastery of knowledge, skills, and concepts,
and determine students self-assessed level of comfort and confidence with the objective so that the
teacher knows where to remediate or reinforce ideas the next day, and the extent to which each
individual has mastered the lesson.
How will students show
Now with your understanding, fill out the Water cycle and mastery of the objective?
label what part of the water cycle the picture is displaying. If students will be self-
You must also draw the water as it moves. evaluating their efforts and
abilities, what are the
Give Water cycle sheet. guidelines they will follow?
NOTES/CONSIDERATIONS
Students will be recording ideas and responses in their Remediation: What additional
journals and they can be caught up by their classmates. explicit instruction or supports
will students need so they can
accomplish tasks?
This is a two day lesson. Students will make bags and do
rain experiment on the first day. And then explain the bags Catching students up who
and learn about the water cycle the second day. miss part of the exercises:
How will students
easily jump in to any
part of the lesson
cycle?
What will students
need to participate
fully?
Timing and Pacing: If the 5E
model goes beyond one day,
what is the clear output for
each day?
