While watching the Water Cycle Song (Animated Music Video), students learn about the process of the water cycle by listening to the repetitive lyrics loaded with key vocabulary.
These Cloud Cut Outs quickly give you templates that can be easily cut and applied for classroom decoration or student activities
While listening to the Water Cycle Song (MP3), students learn about the process of the water cycle by listening to the repetitive lyrics loaded with key vocabulary.
Round and round the raindrop goes
First graders learn that the water on Earth is used over and over in a big loop. The sun warms water in oceans and puddles, and it rises as invisible vapor. High in the sky it cools and forms clouds, and when the clouds get heavy, it falls back down as rain or snow. They learn the four big words in order: evaporation → condensation → precipitation → collection. The click moment is when kids realize the rain on the playground might once have been in the ocean.
The water cycle is invisible most of the time, so we make it something kids can see, sing and hold. These moves never let us down.
Four big science words are a lot for a six-year-old. A song puts them in order with a beat, and kids add motions: wiggle fingers up for evaporation, puff cheeks for clouds, pitter-patter for rain. Sing it at the start of each science lesson for a week.
Why it works: words set to a repeating melody are easier to recall than the same words spoken (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withWater Cycle Song (Animated Music Video)SongsOpen it →Kids cut out a sun, cloud, raindrops and a puddle, then glue them around a paper plate with arrows between. Turning the wheel and saying each step out loud makes the loop something they can hold in their hands.
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withCloud Cut OutsActivitiesOpen it →Spend one minute each morning looking out the window: "Are there clouds? Is it raining? Where did yesterday's puddle go?" Coming back to the cycle a little each day for a few weeks sticks far better than one big lesson.
Why it works: short practice spread over several days beats one long session, according to a large review of learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withWater Cycle Song (MP3)SongsOpen it →Science you can watch happen is the best kind. These are favorites in our classrooms.
ActivitiesKids become weather wizards and match sun, clouds, rain and snow to the step of the cycle they belong to.
Open Weather Wiz Activity →VideosPlay the song and let kids act out a raindrop: rise up, float in a cloud, fall down, and splash in a puddle.
Open Water Cycle Song (MP3) →Teacher favorites right now: Water Cycle Song (Animated Music Video), Cloud Cut Outs and Water Cycle Song (MP3).
Tell them water goes on a trip that never ends. The sun warms it, it floats up and makes clouds, it falls as rain or snow, and it collects in oceans and lakes to start again.
Evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. In kid words: water goes up, makes clouds, falls down and gathers together.
The water cycle in a bag is the easiest. Put a little water in a zip bag, seal it and tape it to a sunny window. Within a day kids see drops form at the top and drip back down.
Many schools introduce it in 1st or 2nd grade as part of weather and Earth science. First graders learn the basic loop, and older grades add the science words in more detail.
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