LESSON PLAN Water Cycle - Save the Redwoods League

LESSON PLAN
Water Cycle
Mission Statement
Caritas Creek's mission is: to help young people discover the connection between all living things; to build
bridges between diverse socio‐economic and ethnic groups; and to foster in youth a deeper connection to
the natural environment, to self, to the spirit of love, and to community.
How to use this Lesson Plan
Grade ‐ 5 th and 6 th
Learning Cycle ‐ Invitation, Exploration, Concept Invention
Themes ‐ Interdependence and Change
Time ‐ 30‐45 minutes
Objectives
Allow students to discover the complexity of the water cycle, encourage them to brainstorm
other places water travels to on it’s journey, help students think about where the water they
use has been, how it ends up in a faucet, and where it goes.
Materials
Envelopes with the water cycle runaround cards in them
Procedure
Explain exactly how to do this lesson. Include a step by step breakdown of the tone‐set, the
lesson, and the debrief (USE THE LEARNING CYCLE).
1. Tone set – Start out by asking students what water is. Pair the students up Caritas Style, and
explain that each pair is going to become a water molecule. Show them the different
envelopes on the ground. Explain that each pair is going to start at an envelope. They will
randomly pull out a card (no peeking!), read what it says, put the card back in the envelope
and go wherever that card had told them to go. For example, one of the cards in the Stream
envelope says “On a hot day you evaporate out of the stream and become a part of the
clouds”. In this case, after putting the card back in the stream envelope, the pair would race
to the cloud envelope. Explain that this is a race‐ the first team to find a stop card and show
it to their TN wins the race. Emphasize again that they cannot look through the envelopes‐
they must pick a card randomly.
2. Exploration – Play the game! Stop the game once or twice by yelling freeze and asking the
group if anyone has found a stop card yet.
3. Debrief‐Ask if anyone found a stop card. Why not? What were we just re‐enacting? Does
the water cycle ever stop? Ask if anyone was surprised by any of the places they went on
their journey as a water molecule. Did everyone make it to all of the envelopes? Did
anyone only go to two or three envelopes? Why? Do you think that might happen in real
life? Where has the water you drink been before you turn the faucet on? Where does Bay
Area water come from? What kind of a journey does it take? Where does it go when it goes
down the drain?
Cabin Leader Role

Variations
Help make sure the students don’t cheat by looking through the envelopes instead of going
where their card says.
Extensions
Watershed tarp activity
Crumpled paper watershed activity
Water cycle song
Creek Study
Water cycle game:
Set out envelopes with cards inside them (envelopes that say clouds, stream, animal etc.)
Explain what a water molecule is (two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom)
We are pretending to be water molecules
We are going to take the journey of water and find out where it goes
Go to an envelope, pick out a card at random, read what it says and go where it says
Keep doing that over and over until you find a stop card
Debrief: Did anyone find a stop card? Why not? Does anyone know a term for what we just created by
pretending to be water molecules and going to all these different stations? What did you notice about
where you went? Did you go to all the stations or did you go to a few? Did anyone go anywhere
interesting? Was anyone surprised by somewhere they went? How are we as people a part of the
water cycle?

Stream: The roots of a tree tapped into
the stream and sucked you out. Go to
plants!
Stream: A fish draws you in through its
gills so that it can breathe. It breathes
you out into the stream. Draw again!
Stream: Your stream flows faster and
faster and faster and you land right in
the ocean!
Stream: You are drunk out of the
stream by a passing bear.
Go to animals!
Stream: During the hot summer,
you become absorbed
by the ground water!
Stream: The ground is thirsty…
You are taken directly from the
stream into the ground water!
Stream: A skunk drinks you out of the
stream. Go to animals!
Stream: You become part of the stream
and eventually flow into a river that
leads you to the ocean!
Stream: The stream overflows its
banks and you become part
of the ground water!
Plants: A bear likes the look of your
berries. Head for animals!
Stream: On a hot day you evaporate
out of the stream and become a
part of the clouds!
Stream: Too hot around here.
A drought sends you evaporating
to the clouds!
Stream: During a small flood
the stream overflows and you go back
to the mountain!
Animals: You become part of a
deer that empties his bladder
on the mountain!
Animals: Your animal dies and you
decompose back into the soil where a
tree starts to grow. Go to plants!
Animal: You are snake who stops for a
bathroom break behind a bush.
Go to plants!
Animals: Dum dum da dum your
animal kicks the bucket and you go
back to the mountain!
Animals: You become part of a beaver
that uses the restroom by a steam. Go to
stream!
Animals: You are a bear and you
urinate by a stream.
Go to stream!
Clouds: You become snow.
Head for the mountains!
Animals: You become part of a squirrel
that empties her bladder
on the mountain!
Animals: Your animal goes to the
restroom by the roots of a
Redwood tree. Go to plants!
Animals: You are a dragonfly that gets
eaten by fish. The fish swims
out to the ocean.
Animals: A coyote takes you in but out
you go again when he needs to go to the
bathroom. Go to ground water!
Animals: Bad news… Your animal dies
and you decompose back into the
ground water!
Animals: A newt goes to the
bathroom on some healthy soil.
Go to ground water!
Plants: You are no match for a
grasshopper. He eats your leaves and
you head to animals!
Plants: You can’t be held in. Through
transpiration you evaporate out of the
leaves and head to the clouds!
Plants: A caterpillar eats your leaves.
Go to animals!
Clouds: The ground is thirsty.
You get sucked directly
into the ground water!

Plants: The leaf that you are a part of
falls off in the wind. You fall to the
earth and become part of the mountain!
Plants: The tree that you are a part of
gets knocked over in a storm. You
decompose back into the mountain!
Plants: A deer eats you. Yummy.
Go to animals!
Plants: The oak tree you are a part of
falls down because of erosion. You
decompose into the mountain.
Plants: A person finds your berries.
You get baked in a pie for dessert.
Go to animals!
Plants: A hot day today. You
evaporate out of the leaves and
head for the clouds!
Plants: The dry heat of summer pulls
you from your plant and sends
you to the clouds!
Plants: Your juicy leaves attract a large
moose. You become dinner.
Go to animals!
Ground Water: A lot of rainy weather
lately sends you to the stream!
Ground Water: You become
absorbed by a berry bush.
Go to the plants!
Clouds: A summer storm sends
you to the ocean!
Clouds: Shake, rattle, and roll.
A thunderstorm leaves you heading
for the mountains!
Clouds: A giant storm sends
you down to the ocean!
Clouds: You rain down
into a field of corn.
Go to plants!
Clouds: You rain down over the forest
and become part of a thirsty Douglas-
Fir tree. Go to plants!
Clouds: You rain down and a spider
catches your raindrop in his web.
Go to animals!
Clouds: After raining down on a quiet
afternoon a stream takes you for a
wild roller coaster ride!
Clouds: You gently rain down and
become part of the stream!
Mountain: Too much rain.
You get washed away
to the stream!
Mountain: The wind helps
you evaporate.
Go to the clouds!
Clouds: You are a part of a hail storm
that pounds down onto the earth and
gets absorbed by the ground water!
Clouds: You gently rain down
into the big blue ocean!
Ground Water: Too many hot days
in a row. You evaporate and
become part of the clouds!
Ground Water: Too much rain lately
floods you straight into the ocean!
Ground Water: Spring floods
send you out of the
ground to the stream!
Ground Water: A flood takes
you to the ocean!
Ground Water: You run out of the
ground during a recent rainstorm
and go into the stream!
Ground Water: Hurricane. You hit over
100 mph winds as you
head to the ocean!
Ocean: Too hot for you. You become
a gas and travel upwards
to the clouds!
Ocean: You get sucked in by
a filter-feeding clam.
Go to animals!

Ground Water: The roots of a small
bush suck you in.
Go to plants!
Ground Water: High temperatures this
summer dries the ground out and sends
you to the clouds!
Ground Water: The roots of a tree grab
you out of the ground.
Go to plants!
Ground Water: A worm takes you in.
Go to animals!
Mountain: You are not here for long
before you evaporate
into the clouds!
Mountain: Too much rain.
You flood off a cliff
straight into the ocean!
Mountain: The ground is thirsty today.
You become part of
the ground water!
Ocean: A lobster takes you in. You get
caught and served to humans for dinner.
Go to animals!
Mountain: You become part of a
wild berry patch.
Go to plants!
Mountain: The forest becomes your
home as you become part of a
Madrone tree. Go to plants!
Mountain: You quickly find your way
to the fastest ride on the mountain.
Head for the stream!
Mountain: A thirsty Poison Oak
vine drinks you up.
Go to plants!
Mountain: You get trapped for the
winter in the snow pack on top of
the mountain. Draw again!
Mountain: As soon as you got here
the soil soaked you in.
Go to ground water!
Mountain: A rainstorm hits and you are
swept all the way to the ocean!
Ocean: You are part of a wave that
splashes onto the earth.
Go to ground water!
Ocean: You become part of some
seaweed. Go to plants!
Ocean: Wave after wave after wave
after wave after wave after wave.
Draw again!
Ocean: A crab takes you in. During a
storm, the crab gets thrown on shore
and eaten by a raccoon. Go to animals!
Ocean: A hot day sends you
evaporating to the clouds!
Ocean: You become part of a fish. A
net catches you and you get eaten by
humans. Go to animals!
Ocean: The high winds take you to the
clouds through evaporation!
Ocean: The sun beats down
and sends you to the clouds
through evaporation!
Ocean: A storm splashes you onto a
cliff where you are absorbed by the
land. Go to ground water!