Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: The Water Cycle!

Objectives:
Students will be able to name and identify all the processes in the water cycle.
Students will be able to sketch and label a diagram of the water cycle.
State Standards: 6.E.2A.3 Construct explanations of the processes involved in the cycling of
water through Earth’s systems (including transpiration, evaporation, condensation and
crystallization, precipitation, and downhill flow of water on land).

Context: I am teaching this lesson so that the students can have a full and complete
understanding of each component of the water cycle and the direction in which water flows
throughout the cycle. Before this lesson, we have learned material about the atmosphere
including altitude, temperature, and pressure differences, and about how each layer of the
atmosphere was created. Students have some background knowledge on the water cycle from
prior lessons and I went over a brief PowerPoint about the lesson in the previous class. After this
lesson the class will move on to a different unit about the different weather conditions, reading
weather maps, and local weather patterns. I will be teaching the students about the necessary
elements, like water, that are needed to create these said weather conditions and patterns.

Data: Students will be separated into 3 different groups. There will be a lower-level group, a
middle level group, and a higher-level group. The students will be grouped in either groups of 5
or 6 depending on the number of students. These groupings will be based on the students results
from an exit ticket I gave out during the previous class. Data will be collected through another
exit ticket that I will hand out during the closure activity of this lesson.

Materials:
Introduction: PowerPoint
Teacher Directed: worksheet with water cycle, pencils, YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncORPosDrjI
Collaborative: Cards with water cycle elements on them, arrows taped on desk, note cards,
markers
Independent Digital: Laptops, https://www.abcya.com/games/hydro_logic
Closure: PowerPoint, fill in the blank worksheet (exit ticket), pencils

Procedures:
Introduction (10 minutes): As students walk into the classroom and find their seats, I will
pull up a PowerPoint on the board in my computer files under the name WATER CYCLE, that
will briefly go over each stage in the cycle. It is only 5 short slides and will touch on important
definitions and background knowledge that the students should understand before completing the
activities in the lesson. Before beginning the PowerPoint, I will ask students if they remember
any information we discussed about the water cycle in the previous lesson and give them time to
raise their hands and share. I will then go over the slides and then discuss how to complete each
activity for the day. After explaining the lesson, I will split the students up into their groups that I
have previously assigned to them. I will direct the lower group to the Teacher Directed activity
first, the middle group to the collaborative activity, and the higher group to the Independent
Digital Activity. I will then set a timer and tell the students that they have 15 minutes at each of
the three activities before we join back together again for the closure.

Teacher Directed (15 minutes): In this part of the lesson, I will begin by pulling up a
YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncORPosDrjI , that describes the water
cycle thoroughly with fun graphics and images. After the students view the video, I will then
pass out a worksheet with a diagram of the water cycle and blank lines under each image. I will
then direct the students to fill out the diagram to the best of their ability based on the information
they learned from the video and Introduction. After giving them about 5 minutes to fill the
diagram out, I will give the students an opportunity to share what they filled out in each blank
and why. We will then discuss the correct answers as a group and discuss what occurs in each
stage of the water cycle that they filled out.

Collaborative (15 minutes): At this station students will sit at a table with multiple arrows
taped to it. On the table there will be cards with a picture of precipitation, evaporation,
condensation, transpiration, runoff, and crystallization each on a separate card. There will also be
notecards and markers on the table for the students to fill out. First, students will place the cards
on to their correct spot on the table corresponding with the arrows. They will check their answers
as a group to ensure every student agrees with the order and thinks it is correct. I will then have
the students each take a notecard and marker and label the images as a group. The students will
write the name of the process on the notecard as well as a short definition as to what occurs in
that process. They will then place the notecards underneath their corresponding images and
observe the diagram they have created. At the end of this section, I will ask students to save their
groups notecards that they have created and hand them to me during the Closure.

Independent Digital (15 minutes): During this part of the lesson, I will have the students
take one of the laptops from the class set and log in. The students will then go to the exact
website that I will have written on the board. The students will be taken to an educational
website to play the game Hydro Logic, https://www.abcya.com/games/hydro_logic, which is an
interactive game about the water cycle. In the game students will be taken through a series of
levels of trying to get the water droplet to the target. It allows students to turn the droplet into
condensation, evaporation, precipitation, and transpiration. The game also describes each process
while allowing students to experience it hands on. I will encourage students to complete as many
levels as they can in 13 minutes, before giving them 2 minutes to log off and shut down their
computers.

Closure (10 minutes): I will begin the final portion of my lesson by first calling all my
students back to their regular assigned seats. I will then ask for each group to hand me their
notecards from the Collaborative part of the lesson. I will then ask the students about their
thoughts of the lesson and if they have any questions about the material that we learned that day.
I will then pass out a blank worksheet just labeled with numbers 1-6 and blank lines next to each
number. I will then present an image of each part of the water cycle that we discussed that day
labeled with numbers each on a different slide. I will go through each slide one at a time and
have students write down the correct process on the worksheet that corresponds with the image
that I am presenting on the slide. After they have all completed the worksheet, I will collect them
and then dismiss the students for the day.

Rationale:
(Multimedia 1= Hydro Logic Game): This lesson tool is interactive and a hands-on way
for students to remember important information. This game supports student learning and
my standards and objectives by not only describing each important part of the water
cycle, but having students walk through each step of the water cycle on their own within
the game. This game will lead students through important information at their own pace
and directly help them reach my learning objectives. I know this game is high quality
because it is from a valid website, it is an effective as a teaching-learning tool, and it is
easy to use. The game includes different levels and clearly states the objective for each
level while providing positive feedback at the end of each level. Every aspect of the game
is relevant to the material and the presentation is pleasing and easy to use. Each level
displays clear instructions on what to do to complete it. This game can display correctly
on most computing devices. This technology can aid student learning for all learners by
allowing students to work at their own pace, allowing students to either read or listen to
the material, and providing students the opportunity for hands-on learning.

(Multimedia 2= The Water Cycle YouTube video.): This video goes over and describes
every part of the water cycle by having a detailed explanation of each process and having
a fun character explain it with visuals. It supports my objectives and standards but
thoroughly explaining a describing all the points that are discussed in my objectives. It
goes into detail about each specific process mentioned within my state objective. I know
this video is high quality because it is from a valid website, it can be used as an effective
teaching-learning tool, and it is easy to follow. The video states the learning objective at
the beginning of the video but doesn’t really ask questions and allow time for feedback.
The video only feature important and relevant information and it is extremely
aesthetically pleasing and fun to watch. The video is extremely easy to access and can be
viewed anywhere with Wi-Fi. This video can aid student learning for all learners by
allowing students to watch AND listen to the video, students can rewatch the video as
many times as they please, they can change the speed of the video to their liking, and
they can also view the video in a different language or with closed captions on.