Water Cycle

This last week was all about the water cycle in our classrooms. With such limited time for science these days, we've narrowed our weather unit down to water cycle, and are kids are loving it! We've used some great freebies before from The First Grade Parade, but these year felt like we needed some new stuff.  We started by introducing some sweet song, and making a chart as a class to introduce the water cycle.

Here are two of the songs that we sang with our kiddos.
If you'd like a copy just click on one of the pics below!

We've labeled a few pictures of the water cycle too, and made our own posters.

We have a black and white copy for your kiddos that can be found with some freebies {HERE}.

We created a water cycle in a bag using an idea we found {HERE}. The kids are really into this experiment, and were amazed when we arrived this morning and we are starting to have "clouds" forming at the top of the bag.

 We have done a great little art project where the kids got to create their own water cycle. If you'd like the printables for this, as well as some cute cards for labeling and making your own poster, you can find them {HERE.}

Here's a great video introducing evaporation, condensation, and precipitation:

And of course the first graders always love this video for fun!

Here are vocabulary cards that we displayed in a pocket chart

while learning about the water cycle.  

We ended our water cycle unit by creating mini books.

Just click the pic below if you'd like to check out our mini book!

Here's a cute interactive water cycle!

Thirstin's Water Cycle

Have a great week!

Water Cycle Experiment

This week we will be reviewing the water cycle and conducting a water cycle experiment with our first graders. Here's what we’ll do:

1. Fill a plastic bowl with 1-2 inches warm water. Place an empty baby food jar in the middle of the water. Cover the plastic bowl with plastic wrap.

2. Set a marble on the center of the plastic wrap above the baby food jar. Make sure the marble causes the plastic wrap to sink down a bit in the middle. This will help direct the “precipitation” to go into the jar.

3. Place experiment in a sunny spot for a few hours, or one day. It’s best to do this on a sunny day or set the experiment in a windowsill.

4. Several hours later or the next day, check inside the baby food jar. There will be water.

5. The warm water from the bowl evaporated. Condensation occurred when it hit the plastic wrap, then moved down the plastic wrap to the center due to the weight of the marble, and then dripped into the baby food jar as precipitation.

This experiment can be found HERE and also HERE. Both include using salt water, but it is not necessary. Below is one of our response sheets our first graders will complete after the experiment. Click HERE to get both copies!

Pin It

Cloud Art/Writing Activity

This week we have been busy learning about clouds. One art/writing activity that we do every year with our first graders is an activity that incorporates Little Cloud by Eric Carle.

We give each of our students a piece of blue construction paper and they paint the entire paper with white paint. Then they create designs in the paint using their paintbrush, a toothpick, or a Q-tip. The following day we read Little Cloud by Eric Carle and then have a discussion about the shapes that little cloud turned into. Eventually our students create their own clouds out of their painted paper and complete a writing about their cloud. We save our students' large scraps each year so other students can cut out pieces the following year if needed. See one of our examples below. We thought you might enjoy a copy of the writing. Our students begin the writing with, "My little cloud turned into..." Click HERE for a copy of the writing page if you are interested!

Along with clouds and weather, we've also been talking about the water cycle. HERE is a fun video/song we share with our students. HERE are also a few songs from Teacher Tube that we have typed up for our students to practice.