1. What is the Water Cycle?

2. First, let’s talk about matter.
Matter is everything around you Look around! What do you see?

3. Matter can change, and that’s what makes it so neat
Matter can change, and that’s what makes it so neat. Scientists identify matter by calling something a . . .
____
_____ __ or

4. Solids are matter that has a shape of its own.

5. Liquids are matter that does not have a shape of its own.

6. Gases are matter that always fill all the space inside a container .

7. Turn to a partner and find an example of each form of matter in your classroom or school.

8. To understand the Water Cycle, you need to know what a cycle is.
A cycle is a process that happens continually in the same order. Think about a wheel on a bicycle.
It goes round and round.

9. Think about the cycle of seasons.
Spring always follows winter.
Winter always follows autumn.
Summer always follows spring.
Autumn always follows summer.

10. The water cycle begins with evaporation
The water cycle begins with evaporation. It is the process of changing from a liquid to a gas .
Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the air.

11. The next part of the water cycle is condensation
The next part of the water cycle is condensation. It is the process in which a vapor or a gas changes to a liquid.
Condensation is when water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid, forming clouds. 

12. The next part of the water cycle is precipitation
The next part of the water cycle is precipitation. It is the process in which snow, sleet, rain, or hail falls to the Earth's surface.
Precipitation occurs when there is so much water in the air it cannot hold onto it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

13. The next part of the water cycle is accumulation
The next part of the water cycle is accumulation. It is when water from precipitation is stored in a river, lake, underground, or other place until it is evaporated and goes back into the cycle.
When water accumulates on land, it will either soak into the earth and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts all over again.

14. Here’s the Water Cycle!
accumulation

15. Fun Water Facts 75 % of the earth is covered with water.
97 % of earth’s water is in the oceans. Only 3 % of the earth’s water can be used as drinking water. 75 % of the world’s fresh water is frozen in the polar ice caps.
Although a person can live without food for more than a month, a person can only live without water for approximately one week.

16. More Fun Water Facts
The average person in the United States uses 80 to 100 gallons of water each day.
Water boils at 212o Fahrenheit or 100o Celsius.
Water freezes at 32o Fahrenheit or 0o Celsius.
If everyone in the US used just one less gallon of water per shower every day, we could save some 85 billion gallons of water per year.

17. Now you are a Water Cycle Expert! Go forth and conserve!