LESSON PLAN: THE WATER CYCLE

(CLIL LESSON)

Adriana Belmonte Llagostera

INTRODUCTION• This lesson plan has been created to be

applied with students of 3rd grade of Primary in a session of 1 hour and a half.

• In this case, we only have 14 students since we split the whole group in two.

• They are not used to study Science in English.

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONStudents in the class have done some

preliminary work on the topic. During the previous lessons, they have explained what they know about water and water cycle, they have learnt and done some experiments about the changes in the state of water.This lesson plan is an introduction to the water cycle, so after this session, they are supposed to do a wider research on the topic by creating a poster, giving mini-presentations, studying how much water they spend and waste at home and analysing their results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES- Know what the water cycle consists of.- Relate the change of states of water to the different levels of the water cycle.- Know different vocabulary related to the unit:

• Elements involved in the water cycle: Sea, river, lake, rain, hail, snow, ice, water, cloud, ocean, sun, droplet, mountains, valley, plants, surface, underground, vegetation, soil, condensed water, steam, earth...

• Verbs: to evaporate, to condense, to freeze, to melt, to change, to form, to heat, to drop, to cool, to fall, to snow, to rain, to hail, to need, to flush, to boil, to solidificate, to save, to produce, to wash...

• Adverbs: As, Then, At this stage, After that, When, before, Later, During this process, Eventually

• States: liquid, solid, vapor, gas.• Adjectives: hot, cool, freezing, warm, cold, big, small, dirty, clean...• Instructions: Put in order. Match. Make. Complete...

COMPETENCIES INVOLVED AND ASSESSMENT

Competencies involved:– Knowledge of and interaction with the natural

world.– Social and civic.Assessment:– Oral communication in the class.– Group work.– Developement of the proposed activities.

LESSON DEVELOPMENT

ACTIVITIESActivity 1: Video Plip & Plop

Activity 2: Water Cycle Worksheet

Activity 3: Water cycle diagram individually

Activity 4: Label a diagram in pairs

Activity 5: Explaining the water cycle in groups

Activity 6: The water cycle game in pairs

REFLECTIONS ON MY PROJECT

After applying my lesson, I can say that I am very happy about it. It was sometimes hard, because students are not used to study Science in English and, at the beginning, they were speaking Catalan instead of English. But then, when they understood it was important to speak English, they created really nice group dynamics and the activities were very interesting.

Firstly, they watched the video: the fact that it was funny made it easier for them and they enjoy it a lot.

Secondly, we went through all the worksheet about the water cycle. We created some pictures on the whiteboard to make it clear and a lot of gestures to help to their comprehension.

Thirdly, they individually answered the first activity. It was a little bit difficult to understand what they had to do exactly. After some explanation, they could do it very well.

After the individual activity, they worked in pairs to complete a diagram. It was very difficult for them, so at the end, we did it together. Some of the answers they filled were right and some were very wrong. At least, they tried it hard. I am sure I am going to change this activity and make it simpler.

Before playing the last game, they worked together in group of 7 to create a text to explain the water cycle. They had some sentences to help them creating the text. It was a good idea to write the sentences. Without them, I think they hadn’t been able to create a text.

The last activity was playing the Water Cycle Game with the computer and in pairs. They enjoyed it a lot. It was difficult to understand some of the sentences it appeared in the game, but the instructions were clear. I was going around to help them understand the parts they didn’t understand.

I am looking forward to creating more Science lesson plans in English, because it was easier than I though. They loved it because it was something different and challenging. I think next year, we could do one or two complete Science lesson plans in English.