The water cycle
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can recognise, describe and sequence processes in the water cycle.
Key learning points
- There are four main processes in the water cycle. Evaporation of liquid water creates water vapour in the atmosphere.
- Air containing water vapour rises, then cools down causing condensation which turns water vapour into droplets of water.
- Water droplets in clouds grow bigger and bigger until they fall from the clouds as wet weather called precipitation.
- Precipitation is then collected and stored in water bodies, or by vegetation, or soaks into the ground or down drains.
Keywords
Process - A process is an ordered series of actions, events or changes that make something happen.
Liquid - A liquid is a form of matter that can flow and does not have a specific shape like solid matter does.
Water vapour - Water vapour is water in a gas form rather than liquid form, for example when it evaporates from being heated.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that new water is formed by the water cycle.
The amount of water on earth is the same as it always has been. It is constant. Water can be distributed and stored in different ways and in different places over time but new water is never added to or created by the water cycle.
Teacher tip
Pupils could use craft materials to make a tactile water cycle diagram, for example using cotton wool for clouds, blue and green paper cut out for landscapes and water bodies, sticking on arrows and boxes for labels of the processes.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these is a body of water?
Q2.Which of these types of weather conditions are wet?
Q3.Frozen water is called ...
Q4.What is the name of the planet we live on?
Q5.Which of these are examples of vegetation?
Q6.What do plants usually grow and spread their roots in?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Complete the sentence. Evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection are processes in the ...
Q2.Order the four processes of the water cycle.
Q3.Precipitation is...
Q4.Match the processes to the explanations.
The sun heats water and it turns to water vapour.
Water vapour rises, cools and forms water droplets.
The water droplets get heavier and fall back down to Earth.
Precipitation is stored in lakes, oceans and rivers.
Q5.True or False? New water never joins the water cycle.
Q6.Which of these are examples of how water is stored on Earth?
To help you plan your 3 geography lesson on: The water cycle, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 geography lesson on: The water cycle, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 geography lessons from the The water cycle: why is it important? unit, dive into the full primary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.