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"Choose Your Own" Water Cycle or Rock Cycle Story Template

I love adding a creative twist to lessons about Earth's cycles. Storytelling, writing, illustrating and comic-making are great ways for children to learn the water cycle and rock cycle. Whether you teach science, STEM or STEAM at the elementary or middle school level, homeschool or are the parent to a budding author/ illustrator you will definitely want to try this "Choose Your Own Story" writing activity.

Participating in or organizing the "Imagine Your Story" summer 2020 reading program at your local library? You or your patrons will love imagining your own water cycle or rock cycle adventure! Read on to find out how you can teach about the water cycle or rock cycle and access the "Choose Your Own Story" writing template.

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Choose Your Own Adventure

I enjoyed reading books in the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series when I was a kid. After using games and comic strip drawing to teach the water and rock cycles for years I realized that a choose your own type story would also work well.

Although both are cycles and the events happen over and over, rarely do they happen in a neat and tidy way like on a diagram. That is not to say a diagram isn't an excellent tool to show some of how this happens, but it is more realistic to have students imagine and model the myriad of ways a water drop or rock transforms over time.

Teaching the Water Cycle

When I teach the water cycle to elementary students, I use several picture books and activities. If your kids or students are unfamiliar with the water cycle, I'd recommend trying one or all of these before you send them off to create a water cycle "Choose Your Own Story".

Read a picture book.

Read Ice Boy by David Ezra Stein. This is a really cute adventure of an ice cube who wants to get more out of life and escapes the freezer to go on an adventure. As he travels he experiences the phase changes of water as he moves along the water cycle.

Another good one is A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney. Beautiful illustrations depict a drop of water as it travels all over the place around the planet: underground, the ocean, in a plant, etc. I find this one to be a great way to illustrate that the water cycle is not just a stationary cycle, it is water moving all over the globe.

You'll find other water cycle picture books I recommend on my Earth Science book list on Bookshop.

Build a water cycle in a plastic baggy.

I don't have a blog post outlining this activity, but this water cycle in a bag activity is very similar. It is a simple and effective way to watch evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection happening on a small scale. You can also try this earth spheres in a bag activity that models the same process, yet adds soil and plants.

Examine a diagram to go over your water cycle vocabulary.

Play a water cycle game!

Project Wet's activity "The Incredible Journey" is awesome. You can find the Incredible Journey lesson for free here. It takes some prep work, but kids really grasp the water cycle after moving through it themselves. This is the perfect jumping off point to create a water cycle comic strip (you can find a comic strip template here) or a "Choose Your Own Story".

Use the "Choose Your Own Story" Template for the Water Cycle

Download the "Choose Your Own Story" Template (find out how below) and have your children or students create their own water cycle story. You can choose a starting point in the water cycle and have everyone begin there, or allow them to choose. Maybe the water drop begins its adventure in a puddle on the sidewalk, maybe in a whale's belly, perhaps in a cloud above Mount Everest...the possibilities are almost endless. The only rule is that at each opportunity for the reader to make a choice, the story must proceed in a way that would be possible on Earth. For example, the water droplet in the sidewalk puddle can't simply choose to become an icicle on a castle window if the water hasn't traveled there somehow (evaporation) and then cooled to ice. Challenge the kids to end the story in a way in which it cycles back to the starting point!

More Water Cycle Activities

Explore the different phases of water (ice, water, vapor) with these wonderful water cycle activities.

You will find additional digital and hands-on water cycle resources and activities from The Water Project here.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD THE "CHOOSE YOUR OWN STORY" TEMPLATE!

You can download a .pdf version of the "Choose Your Own Story" book template for FREE at my Teachers Pay Teachers store now through September 30th, 2020. After that the template will still be available for a nominal price. Follow this link for the download.

Teaching the Rock Cycle

I always enjoyed teaching the rock cycle as well. Here are some of the activities and lessons I've used and recommend for elementary science.

Use Picture Books to Teach the Rock Cycle

Some of my favorite science lessons to teach are those in the Picture Perfect Science series, which pair great children's books and authentic science and STEM lessons. I love the lesson, "If You Find a Rock" in More Picture Perfect Science Lessons.

In this lesson students learn and investigate the different properties of rocks and then apply their knowledge in a "Pet Rock" project. The stories that are the backbone of the activities are
If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian and Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth and Rough by Natalie Myra Rosinsky

You'll find other rock cycle picture books I recommend on my Earth Science book list on Bookshop.

Take a Ride on the Rock Cycle

NPS / Public domain

In this rock cycle activity students become a part of the rock cycle. I've used this one with younger students and adjusted vocabulary as necessary. You can also journey along the rock cycle with this NGSS linked rock cycle activity.

Investigate a rock collection or go on a rock hunt!

Go on a rock hunt and collect some rocks. Compare them to some rock collection specimens in the classroom. You'll find reasonably priced rock collections of Igneous Rocks, Sedimentary Rocks and Metamorphic Rocks from Educational Insights.

Use the "Choose Your Own Story" Template for the Rock Cycle

Download the "Choose Your Own Story" Template (more details above) and have your children or students create their own rock cycle story. You can choose a starting point in the rock cycle and have everyone begin there, or allow them to choose. Maybe the rock begins it's adventure being rolled around in a river, being eroded from a mountain top, or even as dust in a cloud...the possibilities are almost endless. The only rule is that at each opportunity for the reader to make a choice, the story must proceed in a way that would be possible on Earth. For example, the rock in the river can't choose to instantly become lava in a volcano. Challenge the kids to end the story in a way in which it cycles back to the starting point!

Even more rock cycle activities!

Go on a deeper rock exploration with these rock and mineral books and activities. Make edible sedimentary rock sandwiches. Make your own metamorphic rocks at home or school. Here is a fun igneous rock lesson and science experiment.

Share your "Choose Your Own Story" with us!

I would love to see your illustrations and stories, share a picture with us on Facebook or via e-mail!

T. Rex Tracks: A Math and Science Activity with Turtle Trails Publishing

I am thrilled to share this guest post from my friend Carla from Turtle Trails Publishing. You may also know her from the excellent learning activities she shares at Preschool Powol Packets and Teaching Without Chairs. Your kids are going to love getting outside and trying this dinosaur-themed STEM activity!

Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of the most popular dinosaurs of all time for a lot of reasons, but how much do you actually know about this dinosaur? I have an awesome science + math activity you about T. Rexes for you and your kiddos today!

T. Rex Dinosaur Math and Science Activity

Hi! My name is Carla Mae Jansen, and I recently finished writing A Dinosaur Made Me Sneeze, a picture book about the rock cycle (more on that below!). Anyway, since I’ve been working on this book we have been doing a ton of dinosaur activities lately--partly because the book is on everybody’s minds and partly because we all love dinosaurs! Seriously, I think there’s a part of me that will be seven forever.

Anyway, today I’m excited to share this T. Rex Tracks activity with you! It’s a low-prep, easy to do dinosaur activity that has your kids use science reasoning and math skills to create T. Rex “tracks!”

Simple Supplies:

1- Track Markers (masking tape OR paper OR sidewalk chalk if you’re outside!)
2- Measuring tape or rulers

Easy How To:

1- To begin, ask your kids to guess how tall their legs are. Most kid legs will be 2-3 feet high. Tell them that most T. Rex legs were about 11 feet high! Measure 11 feet high along a wall, and see where the T. Rex leg would be! The rim of our basketball hoop was right at 11 feet...and yes, my 7 year old can climb straight up to it!

2- When we did this, I told the kids that since T. Rex legs were so tall, their steps were HUGE! But before we looked at T. Rex steps, let’s see what kid steps look like. Let the kids work in teams to mark a set of kid “tracks” showing at least 10 steps. Is this different if they run?

3- Ask your kids how many kid steps they think would fit inside of one T. Rex step (or stride). If you have paper, write down their guesses. Since we were outside, we just talked about it.

4- Ask the kids how they can figure out how many kid steps fit inside on T. Rex step. It might help them to know that T. Rex steps when walking were about 5 feet long and when running were about 12 feet long! According to our measurements, my 4-year would have to 6 steps to keep up with a T. Rex, my 7-year old would have to run 4 steps for every 1 T. Rex step, and my 10 year old would have to run 3 mighty leaps to keep up.

How close were their guesses from #3?

T. Rex Fun Fact: Some researchers believe that T. Rexes could have run up to 20 miles per hour, but would not have run faster than that because if they were to fall going any faster the crash would have killed them!

To finish off the fun, we read A Dinosaur Made Me Sneeze!

This is my new dinosaur-themed, science-based picture book! It’s a delightful rhyming story that introduces rock cycle science (complete with vocabulary like “sedimentary,” “igneous,” “metamorphic,” and more!) with fantastic characters and a hilarious story! It showcases the changes that the Earth and rocks on the Earth make as years go by. You can learn more about it, see some of the illustrations, and more HERE! I really hope you love it!!

I hope you have a “roar-some” time with your T. Rex tracks!!

Thanks again for letting me join you, and happy educating!

Carla Mae Jansen

Carla Mae Jansen is an educator, author, and mom who lives in Virginia, USA. She loves going rock-hunting, eating chocolate, and exploring new places with her family. She has a master’s degree in teaching science, and is always looking for something new to learn! You can follow along with her publishing adventures at Turtle Trails Publishing.

ABC's of Earth Science

A is for Asteroid?! It is in the ABCs of Earth Science, part of the Jumbo Minds' Science ABCs book series. In this book, illustrated with bright, bold colors, each letter of the alphabet is paired with an Earth Science vocabulary word and definition.

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This book series, that also includes the ABCs of Biology, Chemistry and Physics is based on the idea that children's capacity to learn new concepts and vocabulary at a young age is so great. Why not incorporate science into their study of the alphabet? A isn't just for Apple after all!

As an early childhood science teacher for many years, I found that young children are indeed capable of learning the words used in science when they are paired with age appropriate activities. You don't have to be teaching rocket science to help build a strong foundation for the later years in science. Using vocabulary like "hypothesis" and "observation" from the get-go allows students to accurately convey the process of science in experimentation through play or classroom science activities. Teaching the alphabet through science fits perfectly into my early childhood teaching philosophy.

The ABCs of Earth Science would be a great book to use along with any early childhood science or alphabet curriculum. Introduce cloud types while reporting the weather during morning calendar activities, N is for Nimbus! Teach the difference between rocks and minerals when you set out the rock collection in the science center, M is for Mineral and R is for Rock.

Although designed for a young audience, the definitions in the book accompanying each letter of the alphabet are not watered down. This makes the ABCs of Earth Science useful in the elementary classroom as well. In addition to the kid-friendly illustrations, the text is designed for all learners using a dyslexic-friendly font to increase readability.

This is certainly a series I will recommend to my colleagues who teach in the early childhood classroom, and for families with young children.

A copy of ABCs of Earth Science was provided by the publisher for review, however the author was not compensated in any other way for this review. All opinions in this post are those of the author.

Changing Seasons: So Much More Than Temperature!

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Autumna-wha? More on that later, just know that September 22nd is the official beginning of the fall season! In this post you'll find some great resources for explaining the changing seasons to kids, and some pitfalls to avoid.

If you live where the leaves change color you might be seeing some of that happening, and you may be somewhere where the temperature is cooling. What other signs have you experienced as the seasons change? Migrations, plants dying back, fuzzy caterpillars, apples, etc. etc. The days begin to get shorter, with a little less daylight each day...ahhh, now we're getting somewhere.

Why do the seasons change?

Do you know what causes the changing seasons? I'll give you a second to think about it.... Got it?

Did you say the seasons change as Earth moves closer and further from the sun? How good do you feel about that answer?

Hate to tell you, but that is incorrect. The good news is- you are not alone. This is probably one of the most pervasive science misconceptions we face. Just remember this- it's all about that tilt.

This post contains affiliate links, please see disclosures for more information.

Science Misconceptions

For those of us who have taken a science teaching methods course, this is probably a familiar topic. An interesting video that was made quite a while back called, A Private Universe, explores these misconceptions. In what is now a well-known opening scene, Harvard students on their graduation day are asked what causes the Earth to have seasons. Although you have to purchase this video to see it in its entirety, here is a snippet.

You quickly begin to see that regardless of a high quality education, science misconceptions lurk!

[If you are a teacher, I'd recommend getting your hands on this video. Despite being a bit dated (if you haven't seen anyone dressed like this in real life then you must be younger than me!) the problem still rings true today. Misconceptions are hard to break, even after evidence has been presented otherwise.]

Why Do We Experience Seasons on Earth?

Harvard students take note: It's all about that tilt. The Earth rotates on its own axis as it revolves around the sun. Imagine the Earth is a cherry tomato and we put a skewer through the center. The skewer is the Earth's axis. This axis does not stand perfectly upright, it leans to one side. (Scientists believe at some point we were hit with something big that knocked us off kilter.) Now, maintaining your angle of axis, revolve your skewered tomato around the "sun"- a basketball perhaps. Is the same part of the tomato leaning towards the sun?

by-woodleywonderworks Flickr Creative Commons

The Autumnal Equinox

As the planet revolves around the sun, in what is almost a perfectly circular orbit, there are points of time when the Northern hemisphere receives more direct sunlight than the Southern hemisphere. At this time of the year, the Northern hemisphere is experiencing summer, the Southern hemisphere is experiencing winter, and vice versa. For a great graphic illustrating this concept visit NASA's Space Place page on seasons.

Ok, so what about that whole "Autumnal Equinox" thing? There are 2 points in the year when the hemispheres receive equal amounts of sunlight because for just a short period of time the Earth is "upright" rather than tilted, in relation to the sun. Today we will have the equal amounts of daylight and night time- about 12 hours each. You may have noticed equal and equinox share the root- equ meaning similar. The second equinox is in the springtime, or the Vernal Equinox.

Below are some resources and activities to help students understand the seasons better, beyond the seasonal changes we can observe in nature. Pop Quiz: What are you going to remember? Yup, it's all about that tilt. (See? You could have gone to Harvard too!)

Resources for Teaching and Learning About the Seasons:

Where is the Sun? Model the changing position of the sun with simple materials
Dress for the Weather- Preschool level digital interactive for learning 4 seasons
Kinesthetic Astronomy Lesson- Middle Grades
NASA Space Place: What Causes the Seasons?
Annenberg Learner Resources: A Private Universe

If you are teaching or studying about changes that happen in the autumn, you'll want to try this science experiment that helps us understand why the leaves change color.

You also won't want to miss these 20 must-try science experiments for fall!

The Earth's Inner Core has an Inner Core!

image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Do you teach Earth Science or have you ever built a model of the layers of the Earth? You might want to rethink your lessons and layers! Research published today in Nature Geoscience indicates that there might be more to the core of the Earth than we once thought. It turns out that the inner core of our planet might actually have an inner core of its own!
Researchers at the University of Illinois and the Nanjing University in China used seismic waves from earthquakes to analyze what is actually far below the Earth's surface. Seismic waves are the vibrations made when an earthquake or explosion occurs. Studying the way the waves move and resonate as they travel through the Earth is a good way to understand the material that the wave passes through. As we can't actually travel inside the Earth, scientists have been using seismic waves to understand the Earth's interior for quite some time. Until now it was thought that the inner core was a solid ball of iron. In this recent study, researchers saw that there was a distinct inner core within what we've known as the inner core. The difference of the two regions of the inner core is that the iron crystals in the outer portion are oriented north-south, while some of the iron crystals in the innermost portion are oriented roughly east-west. This is significant because it might shed some light on how the Earth was formed and how it is evolving.

This new information about the Earth's core follows research published last December concerning the inner core. University of Michigan researchers theorized a new model that would resolve some long unanswered questions about the chemical make-up of the core. The model indicates that two-thirds of the Earth's carbon might be stored within the inner core, essentially making it the biggest carbon sink on the planet! The researchers will indeed need to do further testing to determine how accurate the model is. Just like the inner-inner core study, their testing will involve analysis of seismic waves that help to indicate the materials of the interior parts of the Earth. This discovery would also shed some light on the early development of the planet.

Are you ready to shift your thinking and include an inner-inner core in your Earth models? Let's hope they find a less confusing name for it! This is a great way to study how scientists must make inferences to learn about things they cannot actually observe. I could see inferences and shifting theories being an interesting future discussion topic in your classroom and at home.

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