The Incredible Journey

Program Overview

This 60-minute Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) activity is available for 5th grade classrooms. Students will role-play as a water molecule, which helps them conceptualize the water cycle as more than a two-dimensional path. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will have made a water cycle bracelet that describes their “Incredible Journey” as a water molecule. The objectives covered in the lesson include: the movement of water within the water cycle; the different states of water as it moves through the water cycle; the location of most of the water on Earth; and the concepts of evaporation and condensation. As a language arts extension activity, teachers have the option of having students write a story about the water molecule’s journey. The classroom activity directly correlates to the 5th grade Next Generation Science Standards.