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Grades 2–3 · Earth Science · FireFlash pack · Free

The Water Cycle

Follow water as it moves between sky, land, and water.

Where does a puddle go? The Water Cycle follows water from the Sun's warmth to invisible water vapor, into clouds, back down as rain or snow, and along the different paths it takes on land. It is free and is listed in both the Grade 2 and Grade 3 series.

Open the free pack

Free: no unlock code needed. Teachers share it with students from Share with students.

Rain takes more than one path Rain falls from a cloud onto a hill. Some rain runs downhill in a little stream to the lake. Some rain soaks into the soil and moves slowly underground toward the lake. The Sun warms the lake, and light-blue dashed lines stand for invisible water vapor rising back to the cloud. invisible water vaporruns down a hillsoaks into soilmoves slowly
Water can take many paths.

What students investigate

Students watch the Sun warm water and see evaporation turn liquid water into water vapor. The vapor is drawn only as a dashed model line, because water vapor is invisible, a point many students get wrong.

From there, cool vapor condenses into tiny drops, and a zoom view shows that a cloud is made of tiny drops or bits of ice. Rain and snow fall, gravity moves water downhill, some rain soaks into the soil, and rainwater takes more than one path.

Who it is for

The pack is written for Grade 2 and Grade 3 readers. It works as a first look at the water cycle or as review before older students study it in more depth.

It is a good first FireFlash pack to try because it is free: open it on your classroom screen and teach one Learn card together.

What students learn

10 learning ideas, one at a time. Each one is a silent animated Learn card, then Review and Mastery questions.

  1. The Sun gives energy to warm water.
  2. Evaporation turns liquid water into invisible water vapor.
  3. Cool water vapor can turn into tiny water drops.
  4. Clouds have tiny drops or bits of ice.
  5. Rain and snow fall from clouds.
  6. Ice and snow are solid water.
  7. Water is in rivers, lakes, ponds, and oceans.
  8. Gravity helps water move down a hill.
  9. Some rain soaks into the soil.
  10. Rainwater can take more than one path.

Science words in this pack

Each word is taught on its Learn card, then used again in Review and Mastery.

  • energy
  • evaporate
  • evaporation
  • water vapor
  • invisible
  • gas
  • condensation
  • water drops
  • ice crystals
  • precipitation
  • liquid
  • solid
  • melt
  • river
  • lake
  • pond
  • ocean
  • gravity
  • downhill
  • soil
  • soaks
  • infiltration
  • path
  • runoff

Inside the pack

A puddle evaporates A puddle sits in a dip in the schoolyard. The Sun warms it. The water level drops, leaving darker wet soil where the water used to be. Light-blue dashed lines rise from the puddle. They stand for invisible water vapor going into the air. Evaporationinvisible water vaporwater was here
Water vapor is a gas you cannot see.
What a cloud is made of A white cloud floats over green hills. A zoomed-in circle shows what is inside the cloud: many tiny liquid water droplets and some tiny ice crystals. At normal size you cannot see the droplets one by one. Cloudlook closetiny water dropsice crystals
Clouds have tiny water drops or ice.
Water runs downhill Rain falls from a cloud onto the top of a tall hill. The water runs down the slope in a stream and collects in a pond on the lower ground. Gravity pulls the water down. Gravitytop of the hillruns down a hillfoot of the hill
Gravity helps water run downhill.

How it works in class

  • Learn. 10 silent whiteboard animations, one idea per card. No audio, so it works on a classroom screen or a quiet device.
  • Review. 34 practice questions with feedback. Ideas a student misses come back.
  • Mastery. 33 questions to show what each student knows on their own.
  • Certificate. A student who finishes can print a certificate or save it as a PDF. It shows first-try Review and Mastery results and the ideas that needed a retry.

Standards connections

These cards support parts of the following NGSS performance expectations. They do not replace hands-on investigations.

  • 2-ESS2-3 — core ideas
  • 5-ESS2-1 — builds toward
  • MS-ESS2-4 — looks ahead to

Questions teachers ask

Why is water vapor drawn with a dashed line?

Water vapor is an invisible gas. The dashed line is a model that shows where the vapor goes without suggesting you can see it.

Is The Water Cycle really free?

Yes. No unlock code is needed. Share it with students from Share with students in FireFlash.

Which series is it part of?

It is a free bonus pack in both the Grade 2 and Grade 3 Science in Motion series. See the Grade 3 series guide.

Try it with your class

Open the free pack

Free: no unlock code needed. Teachers share it with students from Share with students.

More in Science in Motion — Grade 3

About the Science in Motion — Grade 3 series