Melanie Tuma

September 2015
Water Cycle Unit Day 4: Accumulation and Evaporation
- Lesson Objectives:
Given an All Dried Up worksheet, students will write down one accurate example of
evaporation. Examples of acceptable answers include: water from wet clothes evaporate on
a clothesline, water evaporates from the sidewalk after it rains, or water evaporates out of a
cup that sits on the counter overnight.
Given the back of their All Dried Up worksheet and coloring utensils, students will draw two
types of accumulation. Examples of acceptable answers include: drawings of oceans, lakes,
rivers, streams, or ice caps.

- I Can Statements:
I can explain what accumulation is and give real life examples of accumulation. I can explain
what evaporation is and give real life examples of evaporation.

- 2nd Grade Science Standard:

ESS Standard 2: Water is present in the air.

-2nd Grade Language Arts Standard:

CCSS.SL.2.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2
topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

-Formative Assessment:
Teacher will walk around and take observational notes on behaviors happening during
discussion on All Dried Up Worksheet. Teacher will be noting who is following the 7
guidelines on the How to Act in a Group Discussion sheet. If the teacher is not hearing key
vocabulary being used, she will try to elicit vocabulary from students. If students are not
explaining the reasoning behind their thinking, the teacher will give them sentence
structures to use such as I think ___ because ____. Teacher will guide groups who are having
trouble answering the questions. For example, the teacher may say, Read the definition of
evaporation on your key vocabulary sheet. After reading that, what do you think caused the
water to disappear? Data will be used to measure student progress towards the Language
Arts standard. This standard will not be formally assessed at this point in the unit, so the
data will be used to see if more review/modeling is needed before the formal assessment.

-Summative Assessment:
Teacher will ask students to respond to two prompts on the All Dried Up Worksheet. The
two prompts are: Write down one accurate example of evaporation, and draw two types of
accumulation. The prompts will be differentiated according to students needs. Data will be
used to measure student mastery of the learning objectives. The content in this lesson will
be assessed again at the end of the unit, so the data from this summative assessment will be
used to determine if review of the topic is needed before the units summative assessment.
-Clear plastic cups
-Teaspoon

-Water Cycle Poster

-Key Vocabulary Poster

Melanie Tuma
-Individual whiteboards and markers
-All Dried Up worksheets
-Precipitation
-Condensation

-Key Vocabulary sheets

-How to Act in a Group Discussion sheets
-Accumulation
-Evaporation

Procedures

Scaffolding,
Supports, &
Differentiation

-Before the Lesson:

A day or two before the lesson, teacher sets up the evaporation
experiment by putting two-four teaspoons of water in 12 identical
clear plastic cups (same amount is put in each cup). Teacher
marks on the outside of the cups where the water is filled to and
places 6 cups in the sunlight. If the sun isn't shining, teacher places
the cups under and close to a light source. The other 6 cups are
placed in the shade. Teacher labels each cup to show whether they
are in the sun or shade.
-Goals and Objectives:
Teacher reads I can statement for the lesson.

-Review and Connect with Prior Knowledge:

Teacher reminds the class that over the past few days they have
been learning about the water cycle. They have already learned
about two stages of the water cycle: precipitation and
condensation. Teacher reviews those terms by a turn and talk:
What is precipitation and condensation? Teacher randomly picks
on a couple of students to share their answers. Teacher draws the
stages of the water cycle (precipitation and condensation only) on
a poster titled Water Cycle and explains the following: So far we
know that when water vapor cools, it turns into water droplets
and forms clouds. Thats condensation. When the water drops get
too heavy for the air to hold, it falls from the clouds in different
forms, like rain, snow, and hail. Thats precipitation. Today we will
be learning about accumulation and evaporation, which are the
last two stages of the water cycle.

-Introduction of Academic Language:

Accumulation:
Teacher introduces a new vocabulary word by saying:
Accumulation is the stage of the water cycle when water
gathers in a large area on Earth. Teacher writes definition of
accumulation on the Key Vocabulary Poster and asks students

-I can statements
will be written on
board for students to
refer to throughout
lesson.
-ELL Students: Visual
displays (poster of the
water cycle) along
with verbal
explanations will help
students gain a better
understanding of the
academic language.

Melanie Tuma
to read it aloud. Teacher gives example of accumulation (the
ocean because its a large area of water) and asks students to
write or draw as many different examples of accumulation as
they can think of on their whiteboard. Teacher calls on
students to share and makes a list of the classes examples on
the board. Turn and talk: Now that we know what
accumulation is and what types of accumulation there are, turn
and talk to your neighbor about where in the water cycle you
think accumulation belongs. Teacher selects a few students to
share ideas. If the correct answer is not said, teacher explains
that accumulation occurs after precipitation because a small
amount of precipitation eventually gathers to create a large
body of water.

-Allowing students to
write or draw on their
whiteboard gives
students a choice to
learn in a way that
best suits their needs.

Evaporation:

Teacher introduces a new vocabulary word by saying: The

last stage in the water cycle is evaporation. As teacher says
the following definition, she writes it on the Key Vocabulary
Poster: Evaporation is when the sun heats up water on Earth
and the water turns into water vapor that moves up into the
air. Teacher points to the words and asks students to read
definition aloud.

-Directions for Evaporation Observation:

Teacher explains that students will conduct observations on an
experiment today. Teacher explains what she did before the lesson
to prepare for the experiment, and she tells the class that they will
be looking at what happened to the water today. Directions for
activity:
1. Students get into their groups (groups of 3 or 4).
2. Materials person in each group gets a cup from the sun and
a cup from the shade and brings it back to their group.
3. Teacher gives each person an All Dried Up worksheet and
gives each group a Key Vocabulary sheet and How to Act in
a Group Discussion sheet.
4. Teacher holds up All Dried Up worksheet and says, I want
you to look at both cups carefully. Draw a picture of what
you see here (point to worksheet), and write down what
you notice here (point to worksheet). Then, using the
guidelines on your How to Act in a Group Discussion sheet,
you will discuss with your group members the questions
listed down here (point to worksheet). I will be walking
around to make sure you are acting how you should in a
group discussion. The questions that you will discuss as a
group are: Where did the water go? From which cup did
the water disappear faster? and What caused the water to
disappear? Do not do the last question yet. Which question
are you not doing yet, class? (choral response)
5. Students begin working, and teacher writes directions on
board.

-Use of group work

allows students to
practice using
academic language,
learn from each other,
and practice social
development skills.
-Student with ADHD:
Teacher gives handout
with step by step
directions. Student
has to complete a step
before reading what
comes next.
-ELL Students:
Groups that include
ELL students are given
Key Vocabulary sheets
and How to Act in a
Group Discussion
sheets with pictures.
-If teacher does not
hear key vocabulary
being used, she can try
to elicit vocabulary by
asking questions such
as, What is the term

Melanie Tuma
-Teacher Observations:
Teacher walks around and takes observational notes on behaviors
happening during discussion. Teacher is observing whether
students are following the 7 guidelines on the How to Act in a
Group Discussion sheet.

-Summative Assessment:
Once students begin wrapping up discussions, teacher points and
models which prompts students need to answer individually on
their All Dried Up worksheet. The prompts for the summative
assessment are: Write down one accurate example of evaporation,
and draw two types of accumulation. Teacher writes instructions
on board.

-Wrap Up:
Teacher asks students what they learned about evaporation and
accumulation today, and she calls on a few students to answer.
Teacher explains that tomorrow there will be a review on
everything that they have learned about the water cycle and then
they will do an activity that will put all their knowledge about the
water cycle together.

for when water rises

up into the air?
- If students are not
explaining the
reasoning behind
their thinking, teacher
can give a sentence
structure to use, such
as I think ___ because
____.
-If students struggle
with answering
questions, teacher can
guide them by asking
questions such as,
Read the definition of
evaporation on your
key vocabulary sheet.
After reading that,
what do you think
caused the water to
disappear?
-Gifted Students:
Instead of drawing
accumulation,
students will draw
how accumulation and
precipitation are
related. Drawings
must include a cloud
producing some type
of precipitation (rain,
snow, hail, etc.) and
the precipitation
accumulating in some
form (ocean, lake, ice
cap, etc.).
-ELL Students: Instead
of writing an example
of evaporation,
students can tell the
teacher an example of
evaporation.