4th grade · Science · Unit 9 of 17
Water World
The water cycle
What your child practices
The water cycle, where our water comes from, and simple ways to save water and keep rivers clean.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.10(A) · the water cycle, powered by the Sun
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- The sun warms water, which evaporates and rises as vapor.
- The vapor cools and condenses into clouds.
- Rain or snow falls, and water collects in rivers, lakes and oceans. Then it starts again.
- We can save water, like taking short showers.
Example: Water vapor cools high in the sky. What happens next? Cool vapor condenses into tiny drops. The drops gather to make clouds. Answer: clouds form
Water World in Texas
In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 9 of 17 in 4th grade Science, after Circuits and before Energy from the Sun.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Put the water cycle in order. Start with the sun warming the water.
- ☁️Clouds form
- 🌧️Rain or snow falls
- 🌊Water collects in rivers and oceans
- ☀️Sun warms water and it rises
Sun warms water and it rises → Clouds form → Rain or snow falls → Water collects in rivers and oceans
Hint: Warm water rises into the sky, makes clouds, falls as rain, and collects in rivers and oceans.
Question 2
Where does our drinking water often come from?
- 🌙the moon
- ☁️clouds on the ground
- 🏞️lakes, rivers and underground water
🏞️ lakes, rivers and underground water
Hint: Water from lakes, rivers or underground is cleaned before it comes out of our taps.
Question 3
Does it save water or waste water?
Sort into: 👍 saves water · 👎 wastes water
- 🚿take a short shower
- 💦leave the hose running
- 🪣collect rain for plants
- 🚰let the tap drip
- 🛁take a really full bath
- 🪥turn off the tap while brushing
👍 saves water: take a short shower, collect rain for plants, turn off the tap while brushing · 👎 wastes water: leave the hose running, let the tap drip, take a really full bath
Hint: Using only the water you need saves it. Leaving water running wastes it.
Question 4
A glacier is a big piece of…
- 🌋hot lava
- 🧊ice that moves very slowly
- 🏖️warm sand
🧊 ice that moves very slowly
Hint: Glaciers are huge rivers of ice found in cold, mountainous places.
Question 5
Steam from a kettle is water as a…
- ♨️gas
- 🧱solid
- 🪨rock
♨️ gas
Hint: When water is heated until it boils, it turns into a gas called water vapor.
Question 6
Water falling from clouds as drops is called…
- ☀️sunshine
- 💨wind
- 🌧️rain
🌧️ rain
Hint: Clouds fill with tiny drops of water. When the drops get heavy, they fall as rain.