Guide to Easy Water Cycle Activities for Lesson Planning
If you’re anything like me it’s nice to have a quick go-to guide to run to when you need some fun science activities for your students. Here is a guide to easy water cycle activities for lesson planning. Most of the resources in this post come from my Water Cycle Activity Pack.
Vocabulary Activities
I like to start a new topic with some fun vocabulary activities. This help the students get familiar with any new words that they may not know. I show my class mini vocabulary posters and pictures to help them imagine what we are going to learn. Bonus: using pictures help second language learners visualize the concept way more than reading a text. We hang these in our room so that the kids can see them throughout the week.
Once the students have been given an explanation of the vocabulary words I give them each individual vocab cards to keep throughout the unit.
Each one of my science notebooks includes vocabulary posters in them. Throughout the week I give them morning work that focuses on the vocab words. Usually, a simple activity, like pick a word, write a sentence and draw a picture.
Notebook Activities and Graphic Organizers
If you don’t already know it, I am a huge fan of interactive notebooks! They are a great way of keeping track of all of the student’s work and it makes it easy when it comes to having parent conferences. The parents enjoy seeing their childs progress throughout the year all in one place. It is almost like having an ongoing informal assessment to keep track of data.
One of my favorite early finisher activities that we use in my class is QR codes. The students love having the ability to use technology whenever they can, so I like giving them independent time to explore the concepts we are learning.
We also do a lot of note-taking, writing prompts, and experiments throughout the week. When I am planning for science experiments, time is always a challenge. I like to make sure the supplies are affordable and simple to make.
Why over complicate things?!
Spin That Indoor Recess Into a Positive
If your students are anything like mine then they are no strangers to the joys of rainy weather. It surprisingly rains a lot here in Texas! If I had $10 for every indoor recess my class had, I’d have a bigger Target basket and then life would be PERFECT!
I like to spin this into a positive since my kids can see first hand the magical process of the water cycle. What better way to incorporate water cycle activities for elementary learners into my lesson plans than observing it first hand? If we have indoor recess I bring out the recycle bin and all the materials that I normally don’t want them getting into and let them explore. Who says you can’t give them a challenge and ask them to build a model of the water cycle while they watch the rain?
Grab a FREE Science Curriculum Roadmap HERE:
Videos:
Throughout our water cycle unit, I love to show videos to help increase engagement in my class. Here are some of my favorites for teaching water cycle activities for elementary learners.
THE WATER CYCLE DR. BINOCS SHOW / WHERE DOES WATER COME FROM? / ALL ABOUT THE WATER CYCLE FOR KIDS / THE WATER CYCLE / WATER DROPLET ADVENTURE
Read Alouds:
Another
Here are my top favorite books to teach with my water cycle activities for elementary learners. My number one favorite book is Ice Boy
FROM TOP LEFT TO RIGHT / BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT:
ICE BOY / DROP IN MY DRINK / DOWN COMES THE RAIN / THE WATER CYCLE / ETHAN THE RAINDROP / WATER CYCLE (SCIENCE READER)
STEM: Water Cycle Activities for Lesson Planning
You can’t have science without the STEM right! Or is it the other way around? This idea from KC Edventures is so cute it makes our list of free water cycle activities perfect for your classroom! She had her kids use Legos to build the water cycle! GENIUS! If you have a big bucket of Legos lying around just stick them in your science center as an early finisher activity.
But seriously, think of all of the other diagrams and science concepts they could build!
Want a Freebie?
If you are looking to stay ahead of your curriculum planning I have an awesome free resource for you! In my Free Resource Library, you can download the curriculum roadmap that I use every year to help me plan and check off what I have taught/need to teach. Just sign up for my newsletter to grab it today! It has been such a lifesaver to plan with!
Teaching about the water cycle is probably one of my favorites! I love using my Water Cycle Notebook each year. What activities do you love using in your science curriculum?
