MICHIGAN FORESTS FOREVER TEACHERS GUIDE

WATER CYCLES

"Water Wonders", Project Learning Tree Pre K-8 Guide, Seventh Edition, page 142, Activity #44

Overview

The water cycle is the system by which Earth's fixed amount of water is collected, purified, and distributed f rom the environment to living things and back to the environment.  Plants play a large part in the cycle by absorbing water with their roots and transpiring it as vapor through their leaves.  This activity will introduce students to the various steps of the water cycle and to the various paths water can take.  They will also make connections between the water cycle and all living things.

Objectives

• Simulate the paths that water takes in the water cycle
• Describe the importance of the water cycle to living things
• Conduct an experiment to discover how plants affect the movement of water in a watershed
• Describe how plants are important in maintaining water quality

Teacher Guide Link  

Note:  Many of the activities on this website reference Project Learning Tree (PLT) activities.  PLT has copyrights on these activities but has granted permission to provide outlines to render a general ideas of what each activity covers.  There are two PLT activity books, one for Pre K-8 and another for high school (recent revisions).  There are also a number of special modules available through PLT in 2004.  For more information about PLT, visit the national website at www.plt.org and the Michigan PLT website at www.michiganplt.org. 

	This website was developed and created by Michigan State University Extension for the teachers of the State of Michigan.

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