Lesson Opener - To begin the lesson, the teacher will use the interactive whiteboard to allow students to review vocabulary and the steps in the water cycle in small groups. The South East Water for You interactive website will be used. It can be found at this link: http://apps.southeastwater.com.au/games/se-water-cycle.swf.
The teacher will then state poets are some of the sneakiest people she knows! She will say that poets are usually trying to entertain us, but sometimes they sneak some learning in on us. They use rhyming words when they write to hook the reader into reading more and more. She will promise to help them ask and answer questions about what Barbara Shaw McKinney is trying to sneakily teach them. The teacher will remind students that the water cycle is a set pattern in nature. Water condenses, falls as precipitation, and evaporates over and over.
During the Lesson:
-Students will listen to the teacher read the entire poem fluently and expressively one time.
-The teacher will ask students to focus on the first two pages of the poem as she rereads slowly and carefully:
Nestled in a cloud near Maine, (page one)
little droplet longs to rain,
Though not yet big enough to fall,
it waits with others, still too small.
Then adventure starts to blow...
on wings of wind, it’s off they go.
Sailing in the ocean cloud,
moisture feeds “the droplet crowd.”
The journey leads to southern Spain. (page two)
Drop has grown; it’s time to rain.
It falls on the cape of a matador
who fights a charging bull once more.
But luckily, when red is waved,
drop is shaken off and saved.
It quickly sizzles in the heat,
evaporating in retreat!
-The teacher will lead students in asking and answering the following questions about unknown words in the poem.
- “What does the word nestled mean? Are there clues around the word nestled? If the droplet is waiting with others, could that be a clue? How have you felt when you were bunched up with a lot of people waiting on something big to happen?”
- “What about the word matador?” What is a big ‘right there’ clue about what a matador does? Does the illustration give you a hint about what a matador might be?”
-Students will examine the rhyming pattern of the poem by supplying words the teacher leaves out in the second reading of the poem.
-The teacher will encourage students to ask and discuss questions about key details and figurative language in the poem as a whole group and by using quick “turn and talks.” Teacher will direct the discussion as students ask and answer the following questions:
- “Have you noticed that the author describes the little water droplet as “longing” to rain? Isn’t that something people usually do? Is the author trying to make us think of the droplet as a person? When the author describes something that is not a person, but uses qualities of a person, it is called personification. Can you say that word with me?”
- “What does the author mean when she says ‘when the red is waved” the water droplet is “saved”? Does the picture give you a clue?”
- The author says that the wind has “wings”? Do you think the wind actually has wings? What is the author comparing the wind to? (Bird) When an author compares one thing to something else, but doesn’t use the words ‘like' or 'as' he is using a literary device called a ‘metaphor.' Can you say that word with me?"
-The teacher will draw attention to how the author uses personification to describe steps in the water cycle.
- When the author says that the water droplets are nestled together, and describes them as a “droplet crowd” which part of the water cycle is she describing? (Condensation)
- When the author says that the droplets have grown large enough to fall, which part of the water cycle is she describing? (Precipitation)
- When the author says that the droplet sizzles in the heat and goes away, what part of the water cycle is the author describing? (Evaporation)
-Students will be dismissed to use classroom computers and iPads to review the vocabulary and steps of the water cycle. The following program and apps will be utilized for review:
-Students will use classroom computers to review vocabulary and the steps in the water cycle. It is from the EPA.gov website. It can be found at the following link.
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html
-Students will use the classroom iPads to play the game, The Water Cycle. The free app is available from Classroom Complete Press. The Water Cycle HD is available from Sprout Labs, LLC for a charge of $1.99. The tale of a Snowflake is an interactive story rom AppTalia available for a charge of $1.99.
-Students will next break into groups of three to illustrate phrases from the poem that demonstrate the steps in the water cycle. She will remind the students they may use personification or metaphors to illustrate their posters. The content vocabulary words will be written on the white board to aid students in spelling them correctly: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. The teacher will walk around and listen to discussions as students work in order to remediate as necessary.
-Students will write a paragraph demonstrating their knowledge of the water cycle and using the key vocabulary of the process; evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. The teacher will remind them that they may use personification or metaphors to write their paragraphs.