Springfield College

Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Kaitlin Ames
Subject: Science
Title of Lesson: Water Cycle Evaporation Ice
Cube Demonstration

Date: January 19, 2016

Grade Level: 3
Lesson Length: 30 mins

Overview of the Lesson

Lesson Summary: In this lesson, students will learn about evaporation and
what causes it during 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 evaporation.
Materials/Equipment to be Used in Teaching the Lesson: Clear glass
bowl, warm water, ice cubes frozen with blue dye, smart board to show
definition, and handout to record student observations.
Enduring Understandings:
Big Ideas: The students will understand that evaporation is one part of
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 then turns into water vapor

Concepts: evaporation

Essential Questions: How do the ice cubes melting help us understand the
water cycle? How does what happened with the blue dye help us to
understand what happens outside during the water cycle?
Content
Factual Content: The students will learn about what happens during
evaporation.
Vocabulary:

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Lesson Plan Template
Tier 1: Water, ice cubes, dye, sun
Tier 2: cycle, explain
Tier 3: evaporation
Critical Thinking Skills (Reading, Writing, Speech, Listening)
Students will examine what happens to the ice cubes during the
demonstration. They will evaluate what is happening and why it is happening.
They will write down on their handouts what is happening. They will share
their ideas and listen to the ideas of their peers.

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

Informal/Formal)
Informal assessment While listening to students talk about what is
happening and why, I will be able to tell whether they got it or not. At the
end, I will ask them what evaporation is to check for understanding.

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 they get to see a demonstration.
However, first I will tell them that they are going to do a KWL. I will remind them what
it is and pass out their KWL charts. They will fill in the first two parts on their own for a
few minutes. When they are done I put show a larger KWL on the smart board and I will
call on students to help me fill it out. I will then pass out their handouts for the
demonstration to them. (12 min)
There will be a tall desk set up in front of the room and I will put my already made blue
dyed ice cubes on the desk. I will take my clear bowl and fill it with warm water at the
sink (not hot so the ice cubes dont melt too fast). I will put the glass bowl on the desk
and tell the students to pay close attention to what is happening to the water as I put three

Springfield College
Lesson Plan Template

ice cubes into the water. The ice cubes will start to melt and the cold water will sink to
the bottom. As the cool water on the bottom starts to get warmer, it will begin to rise. The
students will see the blue on the bottom half, and then see it all start to mix. I will prompt
them to help them see what is happening by asking what part of the water is blue. They
will record their observations on their paper and draw a picture to go along with it. (10
mins)
We will then discuss what happened and why it happened. I will show them the definition
for evaporation and explain to them that during evaporation, the sun heats up water
outside and causes it to turn into a gas and rise up into the atmosphere where it turns back
into water and creates clouds. We will talk about how as the ice cubes melted, the cool
water sank down and as the water heated it up, it rose to the top which showed us
evaporation. (7 mins)
Closure: I will call on a couple of volunteers to tell what they learned today and describe
what evaporation is. I will tell them that tomorrow they will be doing two more
demonstrations. (1 min)
Homework/Extension Activities: None

Reflection on Lesson
a. The Lesson Plan: I followed my lesson plan pretty accurately. I covered and talked about
everything that I was planning on.
b. Teaching Skills: Although I think that I did a good job explaining everything, I was so
concentrated on what I was teaching, that I was not paying close enough attention to all
of my students and there were a handful that were having side conversations and fooling
around with pencils or erasers. I would like to be more aware of how they are behaving
while I am teaching.
c. The Students: Were pretty well engaged and enjoyed the demonstration. They seemed to
get a good understanding about happens during evaporation.