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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Transpiring Trees: Plant Transpiration and the Water Cycle

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Looking for a tree-rific addition to your water cycle unit? Teams of young foresters examine the role of transpiration in the water cycle through a week's worth of activities. Pupils analyze how trees take in and transport water during...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Excuse Me, Is This the Way to the Drainpipe?

For Teachers K - 6th Standards
Elementary kids read and color the story of Willy Wetsworth, a drop of water, as he describes the journey that he and his friends take to provide fresh water to houses. He tells his story to Martha Merriweather, a little girl, and...
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Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Oceans

For Parents 1st Standards
Flotsam by David Wiesner and The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen, begin a reading adventure pack focusing on oceans. With story listening and thoughtful discussion, scholars complete several...
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Instructional Video1:02
PBS

Water Cycle and Watersheds: Ways of Watersheds | UNC-TV Science

For Students 3rd - 12th Standards
Take a field trip with water as it moves on and below Earth's surface. Investigators discover the link between water and land in the water cycle and the importance of watersheds while viewing an animated video. Scholars test their...
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Instructional Video1:09
PBS

The Water Cycle: Ways of Watersheds | UNC-TV

For Students 3rd - 12th Standards
Explore water on Earth without getting wet using a short animated activity. Scientists learn how water interacts with the land, the importance of watersheds, and relevant vocabulary as they watch an informative and engaging video....
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Lesson Plan
1
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American Chemical Society

Why Do Puddles Dry Up?

For Teachers K Standards
Bring evaporation right into the hands of young scientists with an entertaining, hands-on activity. Investigators view videos and images while participating in class dialogue focused on water evaporating from surfaces. A short experiment...
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Lesson Plan
3
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American Chemical Society

The Water Cycle

For Teachers 5th Standards
Bring the water cycle into the classroom without the mess. Learners build a model of the water cycle using everyday materials. They observe the process of evaporation and condensation and relate their observations to the larger scale...
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Activity
NASA

Water Works on a Blue Planet

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Keep within a water budget. Learners find out that less than 2.5% of Earth's water is available to drink—and that there is a fixed amount of water. Scholars read an interesting article comparing the available water to a game of Monopoly...
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Website
American Museum of Natural History

What's the Big Deal About Water?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
It may seem simple, but water is one of the most unique substances on Earth. An interactive online lesson describes its properties and importance in so many different situations. Learners interact with the lesson to learn the role water...
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Activity
University of Waikato

Constructing an Aquifer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Rainwater doesn't stay where it falls. Learners use modeling to demonstrate how rainwater disperses once it hits the ground. The activity includes an investigation of the height of the water table in an aquifer and how it is affected by...
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Activity
University of Waikato

Building a Water Cycle

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Bring the water cycle to life with in the classroom. Young scientists use household materials to create and monitor a water cycle model. They record changes in the water levels and make observations of where and how fast precipitation...
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Interactive
US Geological Survey

The Water Cycle for Schools: Intermediate Ages

For Students 3rd - 5th Standards
Water can travel from the highest mountain tops to the largest oceans. Using an interactive, young scientists trace the movement using an interactive online resource. They follow the water cycle by reading pop-up explanations on a...
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Interactive
US Geological Survey

The Water Cycle for Schools: Beginner Ages

For Students K - 3rd Standards
Explore a day in the life of a water droplet. An interactive infographic helps scholars learn how water cycles work from precipitation all the way around to condensation. Learners hover over each step of the cycle to read more as they...
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Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Water, Water Everywhere?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Visibly display the location of the water in the world. Using 12 liters of water to represent the total amount of water in the world, the class measures out the water located in different areas, such as the ocean and ice caps. Class...
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Unit Plan
Water

Global Water Supply High School Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Some areas of the world take water for granted while others are in crisis. So what to do? Learners consider the water crisis situation in several countries. They compare and contrast each location and the causes and effects of the water...
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Unit Plan
New York Hall of Science

My Carbon Footprint: High School Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The earth has a love-hate relationship with carbon. Learners complete a series of nine lessons that begin with an examination of the role of carbon in Earth's systems. They then relate changes in climate and weather to changes in the...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Weather Patterns of the Pacific Ocean

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
How do oceans affect weather patterns? Learners define vocabulary associated with dew point, topographical lifting, condensation, and formation of clouds and precipitation as they explore the weather in the Pacific Northwest. They also...
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Activity
Discovery Education

Smoke on the Water

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How do clouds form? Learners demonstrate the formation of clouds and the water cycle by testing four different setups in a plastic bottle. They identify the key components of a cloud to help them understand the process of cloud...
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eBook
Utah Education Network (UEN)

Utah Open Textbook: 6th Grade Science

For Students 6th Standards
There are many interactions among living things and their surroundings. By completing a reading, scholars learn about the Earth, the moon, and the sun and how they relate to the solar system. They also investigate the basics of physical...
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eBook
Utah Education Network (UEN)

Utah Open Textbook: 4th Grade Science

For Students 4th Standards
How does weather affect Earth? Learners understand the characteristics of water and make predictions about weather patterns. They recognize how water and weather affect rocks and minerals through erosion. They also learn about fossils...
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Lesson Plan
Pace University

Water Cycle

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
Rain, rain, go away—wait, there it is again! Elementary scientists learn how rain works its way through the stages of the water cycle with a series of classroom lessons and hands-on activities.
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PPT
Biology Junction

Ecology

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Psychologists study human relationships while ecologist study relationships between organisms in the environment. An introduction to ecology and the related vocabulary benefits scholars as they progress through the presentation and...
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Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science

For Teachers 1st - 12th Standards
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
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Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

Terrarium in a Bottle: Modeling the Atmosphere, Greenhouse Effect, and Water Cycle

For Teachers 7th Standards
You've heard of farm to table ... but what about farm in classroom? Junior agriculturalists embark upon a two-week journey into the science of growing things. Based upon the classic terrarium in a two-liter experiment, the lesson plan...