Grade 6 Lesson plan
Why Halbeck Stays Dry: Modeling Wind Over Dalerift Ridge
A grade 6 science lesson in which students build and use a cross-section model to explain why a fictional coast town is wet and a town past the ridge is dry.
NGSS · Middle School (6–8)
MS-ESS2-4 Model the water cycle driven by the sun and gravity
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle. Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.
Assessment boundary: A quantitative understanding of the latent heats of vaporization and fusion is not assessed.
Why water teaches this standard well
This is the middle school water-cycle anchor, and it is entirely about water: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff powered by the sun and gravity. A model that follows water from the ocean through clouds, rivers, and aquifers doubles as the map of where a utility finds its source water in the first place.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , including its clarification statement and assessment boundary, and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
22 materials aligned to MS-ESS2-4
Lesson plans
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Larch Basin's Water Cycle: Where Water Waits and How Long
A 45-minute grade 7 lesson where students model the water cycle driven by sun and gravity, then use a 1,000-marble jar to picture how Earth's water is split.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Windward Ridge Water Cycle: Tracing Sun and Gravity
A 45-minute grade 8 science lesson where students model a fictional watershed and label each water-cycle step as driven by the sun's energy or by gravity.
Grade 6 Lesson plan
Tracing Quarry Ridge's Water: A Watershed Water-Cycle Model
A 50-minute grade 6 lesson in which students model how water moves through a fictional mountain watershed, from snowmelt to a town reservoir and back to the sky.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Basalt Hollow's Water Budget: Where a Year of Rain Actually Goes
A 50-minute grade 8 lesson where students calculate how a fictional town's yearly precipitation splits among evapotranspiration, runoff, and groundwater infiltration.
Worksheets
Grade 6 Worksheet
Which Way Is the Groundwater Moving Under Denholm Yard?
A grade 6 science worksheet using three fictional monitoring wells to find water-table elevations, the flow direction of a diesel spill, and where to drill the next well.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Where Earth's Water Is Stored: A Kestrel Bend Water Model
A grade 6 science worksheet where students build a jar model of Earth's water, using percentages and residence times to see how little fresh water people can reach.
Grade 7 Worksheet
Sannox Ridge Snowpack: Snow Water Equivalent and Spring Runoff
Students turn snow depth and density readings from a fictional mountain basin into snow water equivalent, forecast spring runoff, and model the path to a reservoir.
Grade 7 Worksheet
Phase Changes at Stourton Reservoir: A Grade 7 Water-Cycle Worksheet
A grade 7 worksheet using a reservoir through the seasons to model how heat changes particle motion during freezing, melting, and evaporation in the water cycle.
Grade 8 Worksheet
Thornhollow Reservoir's Water Budget: Residence Time and Notation
A grade 8 worksheet where students use real residence-time data to compare how long water stays in the atmosphere versus two fictional aquifers.
Math problem sets
Grade 6 Math problem set
Evaporation at Tarrant Reservoir: Depth, Volume, and Gallons
Ten grade 6 problems that turn a six-inch summer evaporation loss at Tarrant Reservoir into cubic feet, gallons, and a share of the reservoir's full pool.
Grade 8 Math problem set
Sarsen Basin Snowpack: A Linear Model of Spring Melt
A grade 8 science problem set on a fictional basin's snow course: rate of change in snow water equivalent, melt-out dates, and basin storage in scientific notation.
Labs & experiments
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Which Ground Soaks Up Rain? Tamworth Field Infiltration
A grade 6 lab where students time how fast water passes through sand, loam, and clay, then compute infiltration rates and connect the results to runoff and groundwater.
Grade 7 Lab / experiment
Perrin Bay Solar Still: Pulling Fresh Water Out of Salt Water
A grade 7 science lab where students build a solar still that evaporates and condenses salt water, measure the fresh water collected, and calculate percent yield.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
Leaving the Salt Behind: An Evaporation and Water-Cycle Lab
A grade 8 science lab where students evaporate salt water, measure the salt left behind, and scatter-plot class data to model the water cycle and distillation.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
Rookery Field Soil Infiltration: Sand, Loam, and Clay Rates
A grade 8 science lab where students time how fast water passes through sand, loam, and clay, calculate infiltration rates, and connect them to recharge and runoff.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
The Three-Bag Transpiration Test: Leaves, Stems, and Air
A two-session grade 8 science lab in which students bag a leafy shoot, a stripped stem, and empty air, then graph class data on leaf count against water collected.
Classroom activities
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Crumpled-Paper Watershed: Placing Monitoring Stations to Find a Leak
Grade 7 groups swap crumpled-paper watersheds, place up to three monitoring stations, and use upstream and downstream results to find a hidden leaking site.
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Hollowmere Tabletop Watershed: Point and Nonpoint Pollution Sources
Grade 8 groups compare pipe and runoff pollution on a paper watershed, classify six sources as point or nonpoint, and weigh permits with a phosphorus budget.
Writing prompts
Grade 8 Writing prompt
Why Port Aubrey Gets Rain and Sennick Valley Does Not
A grade 8 science explanatory writing prompt on prevailing winds, a coastal current, and a mountain range that leave two fictional towns with very different supplies.
Projects
Grade 6 Project
Surface Area and Evaporation: A Science Fair Investigation
A five-session, two-week grade 6 science fair project testing whether container opening size changes evaporation rate, with data logging and graphing.
Quizzes & test questions
Grades 7–8 Quiz & test questions
Water Cycle Systems Check: Sun, Gravity, and Time
Twelve items testing why water moves through the cycle: sun-driven evaporation, gravity, transpiration, and residence time, with data and a molecule-tracing item.