Project Wet - Water Education

I was asking colleagues on facebook about resources for a water cycle / environmental unit I may be teaching in Science. A friend suggested I check out http://www.projectwet.org/ and I suggest you do as well!

There are publications, interactive online activities, lesson plans, printables, information on workshop and training, maps, posters, books, events and so much more.

It is appropriate for a variety of grade levels and looks at the importance of water and how we use it and how we can protect it.

Cloud Jars - Art & Science Experiment for Primary

we read about cumulus clouds and rainbows in simple terms during our morning circle time. During our discussion we discovered how the cloud fills up with moisture and the moisture then turns into rain and falls to the ground…

The process

We started by covering the entire table with two layers of good quality paper towels. Then each child (threes through – Prek) was given their own mason jar filled 2/3′s with water. In addition, each child shared four cups of colored water (we added food color) with a partner. Every child was also given a dropper to work with…

Once we had all the water and colored water in place, Mrs. Stewart added a “cumulus cloud” (shave cream) on top of the water in each child’s jar…

And then Mrs. Stewart demonstrated how to add drops of color on top of the shave cream then to watch carefully as the color made its way through the “cloud” and then dropped into our clear water down below…

Read more about how they turned this neat science experiment into art as well...

Source

Science Cycles...

There are so many fun ways to teach Science. Two years ago when I was teaching Grade 6/7 at middle school I got a great activity from a teacher in my community. It was the Rock Cycle and each person started off as a rock and would go to different stations and roll dice to see what happened to them as a rock.

For example they would go down a river and break down or they would erupt from volcano and so on and so forth. They record where they travel to and why, this helps understand how rocks erode or compact and how they move between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock.  In the end they did a comic on their journey as a rock.

Here are some samples:

I blogged about this project before - see here.

 Well, there is a similar activity for the water cycle that I saw this on a blog:

I absolutely adore the water cycle simulation game.  There are several free versions of this on the web, but my favorite is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  You put up signs in different parts of your room for lake, soil, river, plants, ocean, etc.  Each station has a cube to roll.  Students travel through the water cycle as a drop of water.

As a TTOC this would be a fun science lesson to plan and have to use if/when you need it.