5. Water is always moving through our environment. It moves
through the air, through plants and through the ground. This
continuous movement is called the water cycle.
It starts when the sun warms water from lakes, ponds, or the
ocean and turns it into water vapor. This process is called
evaporation.
6. Water vapor is invisible. It rises into the air. When it gets high
enough, it cools and changes back into water droplets. We call
this process condensation. When water changes into little drops
by "condensing" in the air, we get clouds.
7. As more water vapor cools into the clouds, the water droplets
that form the clouds become larger and larger. When they get big
enough, they fall to the ground as rain. Some of the rain runs off
the land and drains into rivers, lakes and streams (runoff).
8. Some of the rainwater soaks into the ground (infiltration) and
becomes groundwater. Groundwater is under the ground and in
the soil. It is the water that plants use. People sometimes drill
wells to get to the groundwater. They may use groundwater for
drinking water or to water their crops.
9. As water falls to earth in various forms of precipitation, plants
intercept or catch some of the water before it falls to the ground. This
is called interception.
10. Post reading activities:
(15 minutes)
Instructions:
1. Read the next vocabulary carefully.
2. Write down the meaning of each word according to the
previous reading.
3. Write down a summary.
4. Read your answers back and determine what the errors
might be.
11. 1st activity
Write down the meaning of the following words according to the
reading.
Clouds: _________________.
Drop: ___________________.
Droplets: ________________.
Ground: _________________.
Groundwater: ____________.
Lakes: ___________________.
Ponds: ___________________.
Soaks: ____________________.
Rainwater: ________________.
Warm: _____________________.
12. 2nd activity
Write down a summary about the previous reading.
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13. Skills:
Reading and writing.
Language content:
Scanning skimming for information.
Vocabulary:
Clouds, Drop, Droplets, Ground, Groundwater, Lakes, Ponds, Soaks,
Rainwater and Warm.
Audience:
Students in the last year (5to) general media education.