Two identical cups of water, one on a sunny windowsill and one in a shady cupboard, are measured each day for four days on this 4th grade water cycle sheet. Students read a table that runs from 100 mL at the start to 40 mL and 84 mL on day 4, and find how much each cup lost. They plot both cups on a line graph with days 0 to 4 across and 0 to 100 mL up the side, then finish a conclusion sentence. Page 3 gives the amounts lost and the plotted points.
“Read a table of measurements and find how much changed over time.”
Questions 1 and 2 ask for the amount lost by each cup over four days, 60 mL and 16 mL.
“Plot two sets of data on one line graph.”
Question 3 gives a labeled grid and asks for both cups, ten points in all.
“Explain that warmth makes water evaporate faster.”
Question 4 asks which cup lost more water and why.
A small picture of the two cups, a table of the water left each day, and two questions on how much the sunny cup and the shady cup lost in four days.
A blank line graph with water level from 0 to 100 mL in steps of 10 and days 0 to 4, with a key for the sunny line and the shady line. Below it, a sentence to complete about which cup lost more water and why.
The two subtractions (100 - 40 = 60 and 100 - 84 = 16), the points for both lines and a model conclusion about heat and evaporation.
Run the real thing first
Set up two cups in class on Monday, one by the window and one in a cupboard, and let students measure. Use this sheet on Friday to compare their results with the table.
Check the graph at the start
Ask students to plot day 0 and day 4 for both cups first. If those four points are right, the rest of each line is easy to place.
Push the conclusion
Tell students that the word because needs a reason that mentions heat or the sun. One sentence on what the water did is not enough.
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