Unit Template Title of Unit Grade Level Curriculum Area Time Frame Developed by Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Content Standard
Unit Template Title of Unit Grade Level Curriculum Area Time Frame Developed by Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Content Standard
Title of Unit
Curriculum Area
Developed By
Water Cycle
Science
Katie Garrison
Grade Level
Time Frame
3
1 Week
Overarching Understanding
Water comes in different forms and in different places on Earth
What the water cycle is and what order it goes in
All living things need water
Water usage needs to be conserved when possible
Related Misconceptions
Essential Questions
Overarching
1. How does water affect
our lives?
Topical
2. 1. Where does water
come from?
3. How does water impact
our daily lives?
4. How did the
condensation get there?
1
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Knowledge
Students will know
Skills
Students will be able to
Performance Tasks:
Exit tickets
Worksheet
Bracelet
Raindrop story
Socrative quiz
Key Criteria:
2
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Our task will be to master the water cycle and to explore what water means to us. In
previous grades they have seen the water cycle and have explored water in every day
life. Students will know where they are headed through class discussion.
I will hook my students in with the Magic School Bus. They will make bracelets and a
storybook. They will work individually to complete a worksheet and design water cycle
bracelets. They may work together to create their stories. As a class they will learn hand
signals for each phase of the water cycle to review.
Students may experience and explore the water cycle on any rainy day. Unfortunately
you can not make it rain to talk about the water cycle so we are just going to read about
it and talk about what we have already observed about water. They will however explore
though hands on activities and crafts, which will help them, see the water cycle in a
different way. These activities will help through use higher-level thinking and creativity
through Blooms Taxonomy. I will equip students with knowledge through a story and by
class discussion. I will also walk around the classroom and help students who may be
struggling, as well as, they will be able to work I partners for their stories. I could
choose partners for them based on their level of understanding to make sure there is a
balance of knowledge going into each story.
Students will reflect and rethink though story telling. I will guide them through reading
their stories and asking questions that will encourage them to think further about their
story and what is happening with the water and what importance it has.
By encouraging students to do their best work and to include all possible details.
For students will learning disabilities you could provide them a word bank or sentence
ideas that they may use to create their stories, that will still allow them to understand the
order in which the water cycle takes place and still encourages their creativity through
images. For more advanced students you can give them a harder setting or ask them to
involve additional information or details that the is specific to their story.
I will organize the activities so the shorter activities happen earlier in the week so as
they become more familiar with the material they activities are longer and more
complex with making them apply the knowledge that they gained from the beginning.
3
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
I could choose groups based on students understanding of the material to allow them to
feed off like-minded individuals. I could also give groups unique settings for their
raindrop story, with simple settings like at the beach and more complicated setting like
in the rainforest. More complicated settings may involve students having to do basic
background research to decide how they want to take their story. This discovery process
will also allow them to research the water cycle in a way that interests them.
Magic School Bus book or video if book is unavailable, Pipe cleaner, multicolored
beads, IPad/ laptop cart
4
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development