For grades 3-4

(Purely descriptive—no atomic-scale descriptions).

• Water in air
  • Water can be in air even though you cannot see it.
  • Humidity is a measure of the amount of water in air.
• When water evaporates, it
  • Cools, when the container is open.
  • Results in water mixing with air.
  • Is the opposite of condensation.
• When water condenses, it
  • Warms, when the container is open.
  • Comes from water being in air.
  • Is the opposite of evaporation.
• Examples of evaporation
  • From a cup of water
  • From other liquids
  • Not from oil
  • From liquid air
  • From streams, lakes, and the ocean.
  • From anything damp—wet towel, wet sand, soil.
  • Clothes dryer.
  • From the skin and lungs of people and animals
  • From plants.
• Examples of condensation
  • On outside of cold cup.
  • Cold mirror after a shower.
  • Glass inside a car.
  • Clouds and fog.
  • Dew.
  • Silica gel and other desiccants.
  • "Steam" from a boiling teapot.
• Precipitation
  • What forms are there?
  • What happens to the snow?
  • Why does ice build up on the poles?
  • What happens to the water?
  • What happens to water that does not evaporate?
• How can you make
  • Dry air?
  • Wet air?
  • Clouds?

Additional content for grades 5-6

Here, we use atomic models.
(Interesting study: If you don't have an atomic view, you have to learn a lot of disconnected facts about evaporation and condensation. If you have an atomic view, it all falls into place. So, look at learning differences between kids who do and do not look at atomic pictures. In true UDL fashion, we will make the grade 5-6 materials available to the younger kids. )

• States of Matter
  • Most everything can be a gas, liquid, or solid.
  • Atoms and molecules—water, oil, alcohol, sugar, salt.
  • Atomic view of the states of matter.

• Mixtures
  • When atoms and molecules mix, one type disburses in the other.
  • There is sometimes a limit to mixing—like finds like and from clumps.

• Recognize that evaporation
  • Involves liquid molecules mixing with air.
  • Absorbs heat energy
  • Is limited by the condensation of atoms.

more needed............