Unit Template

Title of Unit
Curriculum Area
Developed By

Water Cycle
Science
Katie Garrison

Grade Level
Time Frame

3
1 Week

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Content Standard
The student will investigate and understand the water cycle and its relationship to life on Earth. Key concepts include
1. There are many sources of water on Earth;
2. The energy from the sun drives the water cycle;
3. The water cycle involves several processes;
4. Water is essential for living things; and
5. Water on Earth is limited and needs to be conserved.
Technology Standard
C/T 3-5.2 Identify and use available technologies to complete specific tasks.
1. Use content-specific tools, software, and simulations to complete projects. Use tools in various content areas as directed by the
teacher.
Understandings
1.
2.
3.
4.

Overarching Understanding
Water comes in different forms and in different places on Earth
What the water cycle is and what order it goes in
All living things need water
Water usage needs to be conserved when possible
Related Misconceptions

Essential Questions
Overarching
1. How does water affect
our lives?

Topical
2. 1. Where does water
come from?
3. How does water impact
our daily lives?
4. How did the
condensation get there?

1
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

1. There are infinite amounts of water

2. Water evaporates, it does not change into air
3. The water cycle is more than just freezing and melting
of water
4. Water can be evaporated from anywhere, not just oceans
and lakes
5. Ice takes place in the water cycle not just rain and snow

5. What causes the water

cycle to take place?
6. Could we ever run out of
water?
7. What are clouds made
of?
8. Where does water come
from?
9. What needs water?
10. What forms does water
take on?

Knowledge
Students will know

Skills
Students will be able to

Students will know the water cycle.

Students will know the different forms in which water takes.
Students will know the importance of water and not to waste water.

Students will be able to make their own water cycle.

Students will be able to identify what the different forms water
takes are.

Performance Tasks:
Exit tickets
Worksheet
Bracelet
Raindrop story
Socrative quiz
Key Criteria:

STAGE 2 ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE

Other Evidence:
Involvement in class discussions, asking questions

2
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Learning Plan (Stage 3)

What is your task? Where are your students
headed? Where have they been? How will you
make sure the students know where they are
going?
How will you hook students using your task at
the beginning of the unit? What adventure will
they complete? What problem will they solve?
How will they work together? Individually?
What events will help students experience and
explore the big idea and questions in the unit?
How will each event provide meaning to your
students around the core curricular objective?
How will you equip each student with needed
skills and knowledge and to make sure all
students understand what is intended?

How will you cause students to reflect and

rethink? How will you guide them in
rehearsing, revising, and refining their work?
How will you help students to exhibit and selfevaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and
understanding throughout the unit?
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize
the learning for individual students to optimize
the engagement and effectiveness of ALL
students, without compromising the goals of the
unit?
How will you organize and sequence the
learning activities to optimize the engagement
and achievement of ALL students?

Our task will be to master the water cycle and to explore what water means to us. In
previous grades they have seen the water cycle and have explored water in every day
life. Students will know where they are headed through class discussion.
I will hook my students in with the Magic School Bus. They will make bracelets and a
storybook. They will work individually to complete a worksheet and design water cycle
bracelets. They may work together to create their stories. As a class they will learn hand
signals for each phase of the water cycle to review.
Students may experience and explore the water cycle on any rainy day. Unfortunately
you can not make it rain to talk about the water cycle so we are just going to read about
it and talk about what we have already observed about water. They will however explore
though hands on activities and crafts, which will help them, see the water cycle in a
different way. These activities will help through use higher-level thinking and creativity
through Blooms Taxonomy. I will equip students with knowledge through a story and by
class discussion. I will also walk around the classroom and help students who may be
struggling, as well as, they will be able to work I partners for their stories. I could
choose partners for them based on their level of understanding to make sure there is a
balance of knowledge going into each story.
Students will reflect and rethink though story telling. I will guide them through reading
their stories and asking questions that will encourage them to think further about their
story and what is happening with the water and what importance it has.
By encouraging students to do their best work and to include all possible details.
For students will learning disabilities you could provide them a word bank or sentence
ideas that they may use to create their stories, that will still allow them to understand the
order in which the water cycle takes place and still encourages their creativity through
images. For more advanced students you can give them a harder setting or ask them to
involve additional information or details that the is specific to their story.
I will organize the activities so the shorter activities happen earlier in the week so as
they become more familiar with the material they activities are longer and more
complex with making them apply the knowledge that they gained from the beginning.

3
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

How will you organize groups in order for each

group to have a different role and be learning
different information in order to teach the
whole class something new and to help answer
the overall unit problem?
What resources and materials will you need to
complete this activity? How will you organize
and present resources and materials?

I could choose groups based on students understanding of the material to allow them to
feed off like-minded individuals. I could also give groups unique settings for their
raindrop story, with simple settings like at the beach and more complicated setting like
in the rainforest. More complicated settings may involve students having to do basic
background research to decide how they want to take their story. This discovery process
will also allow them to research the water cycle in a way that interests them.
Magic School Bus book or video if book is unavailable, Pipe cleaner, multicolored
beads, IPad/ laptop cart

4
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development