Weather Unit Lesson Plan 5

Teacher Candidate: Mariah Luring

Date: 3/3 Group Size: 18 Allotted Time: 8:45-9:20 (35 min) Grade Level: 1st
Subject or Topic: Weather Unit
Common Core/PA Standard(s):
● 4.2.1.A: Explain the path water takes as it moves through the water cycle.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
● The first grade students will be able to identify the stages of the water cycle by
completing a water cycle craft.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. The water cycle craft 1. Checklist
2. Unit post test 2. Summative assessment sheet
3. Student weather journals 3. Rubric

Assessment Scale:
Water cycle: out of 4 points
The student put evaporation in the correct spot
The student put condensation in the correct spot
The student put precipitation in the correct spot
The student put collection in the correct spot

The teacher will collect the students' weather journals today, the last day of the unit, and assess
their daily weather observations using the rubric.
Weather journal rubric

Subject Matter/Content: The water cycle

Prerequisites:
● Basic understanding of weather (sunny, rainy, cloudy, ect.)
● Understanding of change
● Making predictions
● Understanding of the different types of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, hail)
Key Vocabulary:
● Precipitation: Water that falls to the ground.
● Evaporation: When a liquid turns into a gas.
● Condensation: When a gas turns into a liquid.
Content/Facts:
● The heat from the sun evaporates water from various bodies on earth (oceans, lakes,
rivers, ect.) The water in the form of a gas (or water vapor) then cools down at a
certain height and condenses to form clouds. The water keeps condensing to form
clouds, but when too much water gets accumulated, the clouds become heavy and then
the water falls from the sky in the form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet or hail). The
 water then gets collected in oceans, lakes, or ponds. This water again gets evaporated
initiating the whole cycle over and over.
Anticipatory Set
● The teacher will say, “Good morning friends! Yesterday we learned all about the
different tools that meteorologists use to measure weather! Can anyone remind me of
some of the different tools we talked about and what they measure?”
○ The teacher will call on a few students to share.
● The teacher will say “The first thing we are going to do this morning is fill in our
weather journals for today! Yesterday, you were meteorologists and made a prediction
about what the weather would be like today. Today, we are going to observe the
weather and see if the prediction you made the day before was accurate or not!”
○ The teacher will pass out the students' weather journals.
○ The students will be able to go outside (weather permitting) to observe the
weather. If the weather does not permit (rain, snow) the students can observe
the weather from the window.
○ If the weather is cooperating, the teacher will take the students outside either to
observe the weather from the playground, or the courtyard. The students will
take their weather journals outside with a pencil and a clipboard. The teacher
will bring the students outside for a few minutes (about 5), just for them to feel
the temperature and observe the sky (clouds, clear, ect).
○ The students will observe the weather and fill in the Friday page in their
journal.
○ The teacher will collect the student’s completed weather journals.
● The teacher will say, “Today, we are going to learn about a process called the water
cycle. The water cycle is how water goes up into the sky, and then comes back down to
the ground. Let’s watch this video to learn all about the different steps of the water
cycle!”
● The teacher will play the video on the smart board to introduce the topic of the water
cycle: The Water Cycle | The Dr. Binocs Show | Learn Videos For Kids

Development/Teaching Approaches
● The teacher will put the water cycle steps (laminated cards) on the board.
● The teacher will say, “The water cycle is a process that continues over and over again!
The first step in the water cycle is evaporation. Evaporation is when the sun heats up
water, and the water turns into a gas called water vapor. Let’s all say that word
together: evaporation. The water in the form of a gas (or water vapor) then cools down
and condenses to form clouds. This is the condensation stage of the water cycle. Let’s
say that word together: condensation. The water keeps condensing to form clouds, and
when too much water fills up the clouds, the cloud has to….what? We talked about this
with our rain experiment!”
○ The students may respond that the clouds need to let go of the water.
● “Yes! The water gets too heavy for the cloud and the cloud has to let go of the water in
a form of precipitation. This stage of the water cycle is called precipitation. Who can
remember the different forms of precipitation?”
○ The students may respond by saying: rain, snow, hail, or sleet
 ● “After the water comes down in a form of precipitation, it gets collected in oceans,
rivers, lakes, and other places that hold water. Then, the process happens all over again!
The water cycle is called a cycle because it is never-ending!”
● The teacher will pass out the water cycle diagram and vocabulary words to each
student. The students will color the water cycle sheet and paste the vocabulary words in
the correct spot on the diagram.
○ The teacher will allow students time to work on their diagrams.
○ When the students are finished, the teacher will collect the diagrams.
● The teacher will prepare the water cycle in a bag.
● The teacher will say, “We are going to have our own water cycle in the classroom! I
have filled this plastic bag up with water to the line. We are going to tape the bag to the
window. What do you think is going to happen when the sun shines on the bag?”
○ Students may respond that the water will evaporate.
● The teacher will say, “We are going to leave the bag on the window over the weekend.
On Monday, we will check the bag again and see if the water is still at the line!”

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● The teacher will say, “Today we learned all about the water cycle! Let’s review the
three steps of the water cycle!”
○ The teacher and students will say: evaporation, condensation, precipitation
● The teacher will ask, “Why do you think the water cycle is so important to us?”
○ The teacher will have the students talk at their tables.
○ The teacher will ask students to raise their hands and share.
○ Example answer: the water cycle helps us have water; animals, plants, and
humans need water.
● The teacher will pass out the student’s weather post test. This is the same test as the
pretest that the students took on Monday (unit day 1). The students may grab blockers.
● The teacher will allow students time to take the test.
● The teacher will collect the student’s completed tests.

Accommodations/Differentiation:
● Struggling students may need assistance in reading the stages of the water cycle and
matching to the correct spot

Materials/Resources:
Water Cycle Definition and Steps | Science Lesson for Kids
● Video link: The Water Cycle | The Dr. Binocs Show | Learn Videos For Kids
● Student weather journals
● The water cycle diagram
● Water cycle in a bag:
plastic bag
water
sharpie
tape
sunny window

● Unit post-test
Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
● The students were able to identify the different stages of the water cycle (evaporation,
condensation, precipitation, and collection) while matching the words to their correct
spots on the water cycle craft diagram. All but one student scored a 100%, 4/4. One
student switched collection and condensation, scoring a 2/4. I believe that this student
was not taking their time and switched collection and condensation because they were not
reading the words carefully and got confused with both words starting with a c.
Remediation Plan (if applicable)

Personal Reflection Questions

● How was my time management?
○ This lesson was timed very well. I ended the activity at the end of the class period,
and remembered to do my conclusion. The craft took the perfect amount of time,
and I did have to give the students a warning of how much time was left. By
stating how much time is left this allows both my students and I to manage time
wisely. I try to make sure to leave extra time in order to be able to wrap up the
lesson and summarize what the students learned.
● Did the students meet the objective?
○ The students successfully met the objective of being able to identify the different
stages of the water cycle. They were able to do this by saying the different stages
and then again by matching the stages to their correct spot on the diagram.
● How could I improve?
○ One way that I am still trying to improve is making sure that the class is quiet
when I am speaking. I attempt to get their attention by saying “class, class”
however sometimes they are still talking over me. I would like to try some other
management techniques to get them to really quiet down and listen when I am
speaking.
Additional reflection/thoughts
● Overall I am very happy with how this lesson, and my unit went. I feel as though the
students were able to explore weather through the many activities that they completed. I
was nervous at first, because I knew that weather was such a broad topic and it would be
hard to fit everything into a week, but I was able to narrow it down a little bit and pick
the things that I believed were important for the students to know about weather. All
week the students have been very interested in observing the weather, and I think they
really enjoyed filling in their daily weather journals every morning to start the day. I am
very pleased with how this unit went!