The Water Cycle

Write On

Grade 3-4

Learner Expectation Content Standard: 8.0 Atmospheric

Cycles The student will investigate the

relationships among atmospheric conditions, weather, and climate.

Learning Expectations 8.3 Recognize the basic features of the

water cycle.

In this activity you will: Recognize the basic parts of the water

cycle Write a paragraph about the water cycle

and draw a picture of what happens.

Evaporation

Evaporation is the changing of a liquid into a gas. You must have heat in order for a liquid to evaporate.

Condensation

Condensation is the changing of a gas into a liquid.

When water vapor cools, the water changes form and becomes liquid water.

Condensation

Clouds form as water vapor cools and forms water drops.

Small drops bump into each other forming large drops.

When the drops are too big and heavy, they fall as rain.

Precipitation

Precipitation is water that falls to Earth as either rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Rain is just water drops falling down from the clouds.

Water Cycle

The water cycle is the path that water follows as it moves from the air to the ground and back to the air over and over again.

In the water cycle, water goes through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Water Cycle

Check out this link for an illustration of the water cycle.

http://www.natick.k12.ma.us/schools/johnson/watercycle/water.html

Writing Activity

Write a paragraph using the vocabulary to tell about the steps in the water cycle. Draw a picture to illustrate what happens in the water cycle.