Humans, the Environment, and the Great Plains

Where Do Clouds Come From?

Objective:

The purpose of this activity is to familiarize students with the hydrologic cycle. Students will be able to illustrate and describe the water cycle (e.g. where do the clouds come from, why does it rain, etc.)

Plan:

Students will be looking at and describing illustrations and graphs of the water cycle.

1. Ask them questions about clouds and rain and dew (e.g., Do you know what dew is? Where do you think it comes from? What about clouds? etc.).
2. Introduce, discuss, and illustrate terms like evaporation and precipitation. For example, evaporation can be shown by watching steam rise from hot water.
3. After students have looked at and talked about the water cycle, have them create their own illustrations of the water cycle on construction paper with crayons and/or colored markers. Cotton balls may be used to create clouds.
4. Finally, have each student present/describe his water cycle to the class.

Testing, Grading, and Evaluation:

A good follow-up activity would be to introduce the topics air and water pollution, and have the students discuss how pollution might affect the water cycle.

Primary Course: Social Studies

Applicable Grades: 1 - 2

Materials Needed: Graph at WWW site (http://mh.osd.wednet.edu/Homepage/GREEN.html), construction paper, crayons, colored markers

Time Required: 45 minutes

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