The Water Cycle Song: Sprinkle Sprinkle Little Drop!

Description

Students will learn the water cycle through music. By incorporating a mixture of gestures, sounds and song, students will become familiar with the six parts of the water cycle.

Objectives

Students will:

learn about the six major components of the water cycle (precipitation, evaporation, condensation, transpiration, runoff and infiltration).
create gestures and sounds to represent each component of the water cycle.
describe the water cycle through song.

Grade Level

Preschool-3rd

Materials Needed

You will need:

your voice
water stage pictures (included)
Albuquerque Water Cycle poster (optional)
accompaniment instrument (i.e. guitar, piano, etc.), optional

Background Info

The water cycle is the paths water takes through its various states- vapor, liquid, and solid- as it moves throughout Earth’s systems (oceans, atmosphere, ground water, streams, etc.) The six major components of the water cycle are:

Precipitation- water falling, in a liquid or solid state, from the atmosphere to the earth.

Runoff- precipitation that flows overland to surface streams, rivers, and lakes.

Infiltration- the process by which water that falls to the ground seeps downward through the soil and permeable rock formations into the aquifer or is taken up by the root systems of plants.

Evaporation-the conversion of a liquid into a vapor usually through the application of heat energy.

Transpiration- the process by which water absorbed by plants is evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surface.

Condensation- the process by which a vapor becomes a liquid.

Up to now, 100% of Albuquerque’s drinking water has come from an aquifer that is deep underground, and the water is brought to the surface through a system of over 90 groundwater wells. The problem is that we have been pumping it out faster than it’s being replenished naturally. In our area, it takes a long time for rain and river water to seep down and replenish the aquifer. To make matters more difficult, we live in a high desert ecosystem where droughts are common, everyone wants and needs water, and the population keeps growing.

By summer 2008, the Albuquerque area will begin to use surface water (the Rio Grande) to reduce our aquifer pumping so the aquifer can begin to recover on its own. The aquifer will remain an important reserve to draw on during drought. Most students do not realize where their drinking water comes from or what role it plays in the water cycle.

Procedure

Students sit in circle on floor. Lay pictures on floor or standing up.
Explain the water cycle, which includes six main water stages with pictures. Go over each water stage picture. Have kids pronounce each word.
Decide what hand/body signs and noises they should assign each picture. Example: Precipitation = fingers with rain going down, drip drop or pat their legs and say “pada pada.”
Practice gestures/sounds by pointing to a picture.
Sing practice verse. Kids make gestures/sounds until you sing the last word “Stop!”
Sing each verse.

The Water Cycle Song

Practice verse