This interactive document provides a concise 3-part summary of the water cycle: 1) Water evaporates from bodies of water and transpirates from plants, becoming water vapor in the air. 2) The water vapor condenses to form clouds, and precipitation occurs when clouds become too heavy. 3) The precipitation falls back to earth as rain, snow, or hail and collects in bodies of water, completing the cycle.

1. Hello boys and girls!
Welcome to . . .
A Water Cycle Adventure
Click HERE to begin!
Kimberly Grant
EDT 530 Professor Gail Garthwait
March 2011

2. We are going to have so much
fun learning about the water
cycle! You will learn cool new For Teachers:
words like evaporation and
precipitation!
Student Goals
For Students
The Water Cycle Click on the topic Resources
you want to start
with.
Clouds
Photo Credits
The Water Cycle and ME
Water Cycle Review
Take this challenge to see how much you learned!
Back to the beginning

3. Clouds
• What are clouds?
A cloud is a large collection of very tiny
droplets of water or ice crystals. The
droplets are so small and light that they can
float in the air. Click on a type of cloud to
learn more!
Stratus Clouds
Fog
Table of

4. Cumulus Clouds
• Cumulus Clouds are white, puffy clouds that look like
pieces of floating cotton. Cumulus clouds are often called "fair-
weather clouds". The base of each cloud is flat and the top of
each cloud has rounded towers. When the top of the cumulus
clouds resemble the head of a cauliflower, it is called cumulus
congestus or towering cumulus. These clouds grow upward and
they can develop into giant cumulonimbus clouds, which are
thunderstorm clouds.
Back to

5. Stratus Clouds
• Stratus clouds are uniform grayish clouds that often
cover the entire sky. They resemble fog that doesn't reach the
ground. Light mist or drizzle sometimes falls out of these clouds.
Back to

6. Cirrus Clouds
• Cirrus clouds are the most common of the high clouds.
They are composed of ice and are thin, wispy clouds blown in high
winds into long streamers. Cirrus clouds are usually white and
predict fair to pleasant weather. By watching the movement of
cirrus clouds you can tell from which direction weather is
approaching. When you see cirrus clouds, it usually indicates that
a change in the weather will occur within 24 hours.
Back to

7. Fog
• Fog: There are many different types of fog, but fog is mostly
formed when southerly winds bring warm, moist air into a region,
possibly ending a cold outbreak.
• As the warm, moist air flows over much colder soil or snow, dense
fog often forms. Warm, moist air is cooled from below as it flows
over a colder surface. If the air is near saturation, moisture will
condense out of the cooled air and form fog. With light winds, the
fog near the ground can become thick and reduce visibilities to
zero.
What kind of
cloud is lazy because it will
never wake up?
FOG!
Back to

8. The Water Cycle
• The earth has a limited amount of water. That water
keeps going around and around and around and around
and in what we call the "Water Cycle".
• Water Cycle Song
This cycle is made up of a few main parts:
• evaporation (and transpiration)
• condensation Click to learn more
about each part of the
• precipitation
water cycle.
• collection
• What does the water cycle look like?
Table of

9. The Water Cycle Song
Wow, that was a cool Water
Cycle Song by Mr. Davies!!
Back to
Water

10. What Does the Water
Cycle Look Like?
Back to
Water

11. Condensation
• Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid,
forming clouds. This is called condensation.
You can see the same sort of thing at home... pour a glass of cold water
on a hot day and watch what happens. Water forms on the outside of
the glass. That water didn't somehow leak through the glass! It
actually came from the air. Water vapor in the warm air, turns back into
liquid when it touches the cold glass.
Back to
Water

12. Precipitation
What happens when it rains
cats and dogs?
YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL
NOT TO STEP IN A POODLE!
• Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed
that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and
water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or
snow.
Back to
Water

13. Evaporation
• Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or
lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water
vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the
air.
Did you know that plants sweat?
People perspire (sweat) and plants transpire. Transpiration is the
process by which plants lose water out of their leaves. Transpiration
gives evaporation a bit of a hand in getting the water vapor back up into
the air.
Back to
Water

14. Evaporation
• Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or
lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water
vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the
air.
Did you know that plants sweat?
People perspire (sweat) and plants transpire. Transpiration is the
process by which plants lose water out of their leaves. Transpiration
gives evaporation a bit of a hand in getting the water vapor back up into
the air.
Back to
Water

15. Collection
• When water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall back
in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land. When it
ends up on land, it will either soak into the earth and become part
of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it
may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers
where the cycle starts
Back to
Water

17. Water Cycle Review
What is a cloud
made of?
A. snow
B. cotton
C. water droplets & ice crystals
Home

18. Water Cycle Review
What happens when
water evaporates?
A. Heat turns the water into steam and
it goes into the air.
B. the water disappears
C. the water dries up
Home

19. Water Cycle Review
What is precipitation?
A. Sleet and Snow
B. Rain and Hail
C. All of the above
Home

20. Sorry,
WRONG
answer!
Try Again

21. Right!
Super Job!
Next
Question

22. Sorry,
WRONG
answer!
Try Again

23. Right!
Super Job!
Next
Question

24. Right!
Super Job!
Home

25. Sorry,
WRONG
answer!
Try Again

26. How Does the Water Cycle effect
our lives? Click the pictures to
learn more
Water to drink
Gardens
Weather
Back to
Water

27. Water We Drink
• The sun sucks up the evaporated water from lakes,
rivers and oceans. That water is perfectly clean. The
clouds move over the land and drop the water as rain.
The rain runs into rivers eventually ending up in the
ocean. The cycle starts again.
Water has always
been an important
and life-sustaining
drink to humans
and is essential to
the survival of all
organisms.
Back to Water Cycle
and ME

28. Gardens
• Animals and people get energy from the
food they eat. We can grow food in gardens
and we need water to grow food.
Back to Water Cycle
and ME

29. Weather
All the earth's weather is dependent on part of the water cycle
concerning evaporation and condensation (resulting in precipitation).
In places where there is plenty of water in the atmosphere, there
are clouds, and precipitation.
In other places, where the amount of water in the atmosphere is sparse,
skies are mostly cloud-free, and little or no precipitation falls.
Back to Water Cycle
and ME

30. Student Goals
Students will:
• Be able to name and explain the stages of the water cycle; including 4 types
of clouds
• understand that the water cycle is continuous
• understand that we need the water cycle in order to survive
Maine Parameters for Essential Insruction
Science & Technology
A3 Constancy and Change
Students observe that in the physical setting, the living environment, and the technological world some
things change over time and some things stay the same.
D2 Earth
Students describe Earth’s weather and surface materials and the different ways they change.
E2 Ecosystems
Students understand how plants
and animals depend on each other and the environment in which they live.
Table of
Contents

31. Resources
Games:
• http://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.quia.com/jg/62.html
• http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/droplet.html
• http://apps.southeastwater.com.au/games/education_kidsroom_wcactivity.asp
Books:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3170
Resources:
http://geology.com/teacher/water.shtml
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Contents

32. Teachers
• Grade level: 2nd-4th
• This project was designed for a class; Introduction to Hypermedia. I created this
presentation as an interactive addition to a unit on the water cycle appropriate for
young students.
• Teacher background: Water on earth is used over and over. The water cycle, the
continuous movement of water from ocean to air and land then back to the ocean in a
cyclic pattern, is a central concept in meteorology. In the water cycle, the sun heats the
Earth's surface water, causing that surface water to evaporate (gas). This water vapor
then rises into the earth's atmosphere where it cools and condenses into liquid droplets.
These droplets combine and grow until they become too heavy and fall to the earth as
precipitation (liquid if rain, solid if snow). Water is temporarily stored in lakes, glaciers,
underground, or living organisms. The water can move from these places by streams and
rivers, returns to the oceans, is used by plants or animals or is evaporated directly back
into the atmosphere.
Table of
Contents

33. Photo Credits
• “stratus clouds.” Destination of Marvel. 31 Jan. 2011 [http://destinationofmarvel.blogspot.com/2011/01/
clouds.html]
• “cirrus clouds”, “cumulus clouds.” Blessed Family of Flowers. 24 Feb. 2010 [http://
blessedfamilyofflowers.wordpress.com/2010/02/]
• “driving in fog.” Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. 2008 [http://www.flhsmv.gov/safetytips/
Fog.htm]
• “condensation.” Bjorn Tore Kieding. The First Kieding Watercooling Project. [http://bt.kieding.org/projects/
watercooling/?page=2]
• “fair weather cumulus clouds.” Joshua. The Fun Times Guide. [http://weather.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/12/
cumulus_clouds.php]
Table of
More Credits
Contents

34. Photo Credits
• “water cycle.” Western Water. 2010 [http://www.westernwater.com.au/commedu/Pages/Schoolresources.aspx]
• “evaporation.” Fremont Magnet Elementary. Feb. 2011 [http://schools.bcsd.com/fremont/
5th_Sci_weather_maps_severe_weather.htm]
• “precipitation.” Fondriest Environmental. 2011 [http://www.fondriest.com/science_library-htm/precipitation.htm]
• “cloud chart.” Christen Leigh Maxwell. How Are Clouds and Precipitation Connected. 2006 [http://
www.valdosta.edu/~clmaxwell/topic.html]
• “stratus cloud.” Clouds and How They Got Their Names. 7 Dec. 2010. [http://blog.justcheaphotel.com]
• “fog.” National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office. 18 Apr. 2007 [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/jkl/?n=fog_types]
• “cirrus cloud.” Thunda Funda. [http://thundafunda.com/wallpaper-blog/nature-pictures/clouds/pictures-of-
clouds/]
• “drinking water.” Hoover Ng. Water Replenishment District of Southern California. [http://www.wrd.org/
water_quality/drinking-water-standards-california.php]
• “garden.” Urban Farmer. 2011 [http://www.ufseeds.com/Planting-a-Garden-Urban-Farmers1.html] More
Credits
• “weather.” Lumpenprofessoriat. Attendance Forecast. 3 Feb. 2011 [http://lumpenprofessoriat.blogspot.com]
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• 4 seasons. Vxside. 4 Seasons. [http://vxside.deviantart.com/art/4-seasons-81436429]
Contents

35. Photo Credits
• “cows.” The Carmarthenshire Rivers Trust. 2010 [http://carmsriverstrust.com/Problems.aspx]
• “gardening.” Patricia Meyer. Happy Living Magazine. 2010 [http://www.happynews.com/
living/gardening/beginner-gardening.htm]
• “cloudy sky.” Redman 20732. Southern Maryland Online. 1 Apr. 2009 [http://
photos.somd.com/showphoto.php/photo/7237]
• “cloudless sky.” Nature Photography. 9 Mar. 2011 [http://nitrophoto.wordpress.com/]
• “water cycle.” The Water Cycle. 1998 [http://www.mbgnet.net/fresh/cycle/cycle.htm]
Table of
Contents

36. Sources
• http://www.weatherwizkids.com/
weather-clouds.htm
• http://www.life123.com/home-
garden/kids-gardening/plant-science/
six-things-kids-should-know-about-the-
water-cycle.shtml
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Contents