THE WATER CYCLE (CLIL)

CLIL Unit: The Water Cycle

Subject: Science

Teacher: Mª Plácida González Orcio

Course / Level: 5 TH 

 

DESCRIPCIÓN DE LA UNIDAD DIDACTICA

 

Esta unidad didáctica "THE WATER CYCLE" está dirigida para los alumnos de 5º de Educación Primaria; puesto que se pretende que las competencias, los instrumentos construidos  y la evaluación, se adapten a las necesidades de los estudiantes y  a su contexto.

Es muy importante que los estudiantes  comprendan la importancia del ciclo del agua en la vida, conozcan las diferentes características del agua en la naturaleza así como la relación del agua con la actividad antropogénica.

 

 

1. Learning outcomes / Evaluation criteria

 

1. To learn what water is and how water changes state.

2. To Know what the water cycle consist of

3. To relate the change of states to the different levels of the water cycle.

4. To identify the characteristics of water

5. To analyze the uses of water

 

2. Subject Content

1. The water cycle

2. Characteristics of water

3. Uses of water

3. Language Content / Communication

Vocabulary

·        Group new words into the semantic family of water:

River, sea, lake, pond, spring, fall, puddle, flake, ocean, creek, faucet, leak, fountain, waterfall, cloud, boiling, lagoon...

·        ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN THE WATER CYCLE:

 Sea, river, lake, rain, fog, hail, snow, ice, water, cloud, ocean, sun, droplet, mountains, valley, cycle, thunder, lightning, storm... .

·        VERBS:

 to evaporate, to condense, to freeze, to melt, to change, to form, to heat, to drop, to cool, to fall, to snow, to rain, to hail

·        STATES: liquid, solid, vapor, gas

·        TEMPERATURE AND SIZE ADJECTIVES: hot, cool, freezing, warm, cold, big, small...

Structures

1. Use present simple/ present continuous to describe, define and explain the processes involved in the water cycle.

2. Use correctly the structures:

ñ It changes into; it becomes...

ñ heat up, warm up / cool down...

3. Use comparative forms of the adjective: bigger than/ smaller than....

4. Use the superlative: The biggest/ the smallest...

Discourse type

Factual description, explanation, exposition, discussion, review , narration

Language skills: Writing, Reading, speaking, listening.

4. Contextual (cultural) element

This unit is aimed for Primary students in 5th. Students are aware of the importance of the water cycle and Realise how many facts of our world can be explained through small experiments

5. Cognitive (thinking) processes

Cognitive skills that the students should execute in order to complete the activities and homework

6.a. Tasks

Activity 7

Activity 8

6. b.  Activities

Introduction and practice

Activity 1: As an introduction of the unit we put the title of the unit: "the water cycle" on the blackboard and draw clouds, a river, a lake, a pond, the sea...and we do a brainstorming in order to know how much they know about it. We direct the brainstorming so we get all the vocabulary needed for the unit.

https://bubbl.us/

 

Once we clarify all the vocabulary for everybody we make a general introduction of the unit explaining the contents. We can cut out words and make different shaped posters (cloud/ mountain/ ocean/ lake...) where to stick the words.

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclekids/download/watercycle-kids-poster.jpg

 

Also if we are lucky enough and it is raining that day we can just show them looking out of the window!!

Activity 2: Exposition of the power point: "Water cycle"

https://youtu.be/VHW9GspGnYE

And showing the short video:

(Water boy we will rock you) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VGoE5Gcy-A&feature=related

 

We explain the process prompting them to help with the vocabulary they already know (or should know) and quizzing them to assure they understand. Then they can quiz each other working in pairs or in small groups.

Activity 3: READING comprehension

http://education.jlab.org/reading/water_cycle.html

Activity 4: Concreting concepts:

We ask them to write down on their notebooks these concepts in red. They should answer the questions individually first and then we complete a big poster on the board with the whole class.

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids-adv.html

 

The result should be something like this:

Why do we need the water cycle?

The Earth is covered by water, however, almost 97% is salt water found in the oceans. We can not drink salt water or use it for crops because of the salt content. We can remove salt from ocean water, but the process is very expensive.

"How many processes make up the water cycle?

There are six important processes that make up the water cycle.

1.      Condensation - A gas changes into a liquid: for example when it is very cold outside and we are in the car sometimes you can "draw" on the window glass. This is because of condensation.

2.      Infiltration - Infiltration is an important process where rain water soaks into the ground, through the soil and underlying rock layers. (Bring a bucket with water and a sponge to show if necessary)

3.      Runoff - Much of the water that returns to Earth as precipitation runs off the surface of the land, and flows down hill into streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. (Make your sponge "rain" over an upside down bowl so water runs off it!)

4.      Evaporation – The opposite to condensation. The process where a liquid, in this case water, changes from its liquid state to a gaseous state. (Ask them to tell you how this could occur)

5.      Precipitation - When the gas water condensed in the clouds becomes small droplets of water that turn into larger droplets and precipitation (rain) occurs. The raindrops fall to Earth.

6.      Transpiration - As plants absorb water from the soil, the water moves from the roots through the stems to the leaves. Once the water reaches the leaves, some of it evaporates from the leaves, adding to the amount of water vapor in the air.

7.      This process of evaporation through plant leaves is called transpiration.

 

Activity 5

We give them a sheet of paper with this photocopy that they will stick on their notebook. They should draw the change of the cloud on their notebook.

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleprintnotext.html

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleprintnotext.html

 

Activity 6: Interactive games

In the computers classroom

https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13ePBe2E4H#

 

Activity 7: Make the 'mini water cycle'

https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13ePBe2E4H#

9.      Classroom language:

'Can you help me, please?'

'I can't…'

'It works!'

'It doesn't work!'

Children have to put the bowl in a sunny place outside, they have to use the pitcher or bucket, pour water into the bowl until it is about full. They have to place the mug in the center of the bowl. Then, students have to cover the top of the bowl tightly with the plastic wrap and tie the string around the bowl to hold the plastic wrap in place. At the end, the will watch the bowl to see what happens.

Check children knowledge

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/pdfs/activity_grades_k-3_watercycle.pdf

 

Activity 8: Play the game: 'Who wants to be millionaire?'

Classroom language

'We know the answer!'

We don't know the answer!'

'It's wrong'

'It's correct'

'We win!'

'We lost'

Provide children with the poster and the descriptions.

Divide the class into two groups. Then put the power point and begin the game, making questions about the water cycle process, giving different possible options. Let children to answer the questions, then correct them and let the other group say the correct answer. Give 100 points to every group for each correct answer. If one group doesn't know the answer and the other group guess it, give to the winner group 200 extra points.

Activity 9: (Music) We bring enough glasses for all the children (or ask in their houses to bring them) and follow the steps on:

http://www.philtulga.com/water.html#virtual

To make a water xylophone.

We let the children experiment with the new sounds either on a real xylophone or the virtual one.

7. Methodology.

Organization and class distribution / timing

The UD consist of 5 sessions of 1 hour.

Use different groups: individual and group for different purposes

The methodology will be participative and creative.

 Resources  / Materials

·         PPT presentation

·         worksheets

·         handouts for pair and group work;

·         A4, A3 paper;

·         markers,

·         scissors,

·         glue;

·         computer, internet

·         video projector.

·         PDI

·         bowl, glasses, plastic wrap, string

·         On line resources such educational audio and video clips, YouTube, symbaloo webmix, ...

       https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13ePBe2E4H

·         Textbook, student's notebook, dictionaries, Flashcards, vocabulary game sets, printable images.

Key Competentes

·          Knowledge of and interaction with the natural world.

·         Communicative competences: Linguistic and audio-visual

·         Methodological competences: Digital competence ,Learning to learn, Artistic and cultural

·         Personal competences: Autonomy, initiative and decision taking

 

8. EVALUATION

·         Pupils should be able to remember all the previous vocabulary and should be interested in how the weather can be predicted. They should also recognise how important the weather is in our daily lives.

·         Everyday observation

·         Development of the propossed activities

·         Vocabulary Assessment

·         Pupils should be able to:

understand the processes in the water cycle and explain them.

Talk about the weather using a map

·         ASSESSMENT:

Before starting the unit:

- Presentation about water cycle: we use the mindmap about the water in order to know the previous knowledge about the topic.

During the unit:

- Direct observation, gathering the participation in all the different activities.

At the end of the unit:

- Making their own Water Cycle: they "produce" the Water Cycle with home materials.

- Game: 'Who wants to be millionaire?" : they play the game and show their knowledge about the contents.

 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSamWGD6L0SazZ0ckZCeE90WnM/view?usp=sharing

 

Mª Plácida González Orcio