Weather and Water

Our last chapter in Science was about weather and seasons.  It also included a section about the Water Cycle.  In 1st grade the Water Cycle is pretty basic but my kids were great with learning the simple steps. 

After gluing on the sun, which we learned is the energy source used to keep the Water Cycle going, we made 3 rings.  The light blue ring was for evaporation, when the tiny water droplets go up through the air.  The white ring was for condensations, when those tiny water droplets form together with dust particles in the sky to make clouds.  And the dark blue ring was for precipitation, when the water droplets get large enough to fall from the clouds.  Those long words were sometimes hard to remember but the process was remembered.
We also did an experiment to show that water evaporates.  I put water in a clear cup, drew a line where the water level was and wrote the date.   We checked the cup 5 days and 10 days later.  The kids were amazed that the water level lowered.  I was asked how the water vapor got up in the sky since it was in the classroom.  I said "it turned into water vapor in the classroom, then when the door was opened it went out into the hallway, then eventually when someone opened the door to go outside the vapor went up into the sky." ... not sure if that is how you explain something like that but they seemed to understand :)

~Ms. Anglin