Springfield College

Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Kaitlin Ames
Subject: Science
Title of Lesson: Water Cycle in a Bag
Experiment

Dates: 1/22/2016 +
1/25/2016
Grade Level: 3
Lesson Length: 1 hour (2
day lesson)

Overview of the Lesson

Lesson Summary: In this lesson, students will learn about the four stages of
the water cycle.
Massachusetts Framework Standards: Earth and Space Science, Grades
3-5: The Water Cycle 10 Describe how water on earth cycles in different
forms and in different locations including underground and in the atmosphere.
Lesson Objectives: The students will be able to explain what happens
during the four stages of the water cycle.
Materials/Equipment to be Used in Teaching the Lesson: clear plastic
zip-lock baggie, cup of water, blue food coloring, tape, a sunny window,
smart board, and experiment worksheets.
Enduring Understandings:
Big Ideas: The students will understand that there are four different
parts in the water cycle.
The sun is the energy that keeps the water cycle in motion
When water is warmed up by the sun, it evaporates into the atmosphere
where it turns into water vapor (gas)
The water vapor (gas) turns back into water (liquid) and condenses to
form clouds
When the clouds get heavy, the water comes down as precipitation in
either a liquid or solid form
The water then collects in different locations on and in the ground
The water cycle can then start over again

Concepts: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection

Essential Questions: What happened inside of your bag? Where did the
droplets of water on the side of the bag come from? How does your bag help
us to understand what happens outside during the water cycle?

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Lesson Plan Template
Content
Factual Content: The students will learn about what happens during each
stage of the water cycle.
Vocabulary:
Tier 1: sun, water, food coloring, plastic bag, window
Tier 2: liquid, gas, solid, hypothesis, explain
Tier 3: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection
Critical Thinking Skills (Reading, Writing, Speech, Listening)
Students will need to make a hypothesis about what they think is going to
happen inside their bags. Students will need to observe what is happening
inside their bags. Students will need to write down what is happening inside
their bags and why. Students will need to explain why their hypothesis was or
was not correct and why.

Assessments (Performance Tasks/Tests/Quizzes Formative/Summative,

Informal/Formal)
Informal assessment - I will be able to see how much students understood by
listening to their responses about why everything happened in their bag.

Action/Instructional Procedures
Procedures: For each procedure, list the teacher or student actions (with accommodations and
modifications) as well as the anticipated amount of time it will take to accomplish each task.

Anticipatory Set: (hook) I will tell the students that today we will get to do an experiment
called the Water Cycle in a Bag Experiment. (1 min)

Springfield College
Lesson Plan Template

Step One: I will preselect pairs of students using sticks and pre-write their names on he
plastic bag. I will hand out their worksheets and we will discuss what a hypothesis is. I
will have them start to write their hypothesis and while they are working, I will start
calling groups. They will first go to the sink and the teacher I am working with will fill
their bags with the water and food coloring. They will then bring the bag to me and I will
tape it to the window. They will observe what their bag looks like and write the time
down and draw a picture. (10 mins)

When everyone is finished, we will discuss together what their hypothesis were. (4 mins)

I will then direct their attention to the smart board where I will have some interactive
activities that involve precipitation and collection. We will first go over our definitions
and then we will do the activities. I will rotate between picking sticks and calling on
students based on the difficulty of each question. To close for the day I will ask them to
tell me the four parts of the water cycle. I will then tell them that on Monday we will get
to see and talk bot what happened in our bags. I will end by showing a video on YouTube
call The Water Cycle Song. It is sung to the tune of Shell be comin round the
mountain. They will watch it once and then we will sing it together twice. (15 mins)

Jan 25 When the students first come in in the morning, I will tell them to look at their
bags and see what happened. I will tell them to remember it and we will get to draw a
picture during science. When science starts, I will ask them what their bags looked like in
the morning. (water condensing on the sides in big droplets. Some of the droplets have
slid down the slide and collected again in the bottom). They will write the time of the
observation and draw a picture. We will then look at how the bags look now. (Still
condensed water on the side of the bags, but the droplets are not as big). They will again
record the time and draw a picture. (10 mins)

We will then fill out the sheet together and talk about why everything happened the way
it did. We will talk about how doing this experiment helps us understand what is
happening outside. (10 mins)

We will do two more slides from the power point where we will put our whole water
cycle together. One is a diagram that shows the cycle going in a circle. I will use sticks to
pick students to come up and drag the correct pictures to the correct spots. We will then
go to the net slide and label each part of the diagram correctly .(8 mins)

Closure: We will go over what we learned about the water cycle so far. I will call on
students to tell me what happens during each stage of the water cycle. We will end by
singing our water cycle song again. (2 min)

Homework/Extension Activities: None

Reflection on Lesson

Springfield College
Lesson Plan Template
a. The Lesson Plan: The lesson went very well and was very engaging and interactive for all
of the students.
b. Teaching Skills: I was able to explain very clearly and effectively what happens during
each part of the water cycle. Next time I would have to worksheet displayed on the board
and write down our answers. It was difficult for some students to explain their thinking.
c. The Students: The students were very engaged and by the end of the lessons, they were
able to tell me all about the four stages of the water cycle and hat happens during each
stage.