Sunny pond-side puddle with Pip watching Drip begin to rise
“Drip! You were in our puddle a minute ago. Now you’re floating up!”
A sunny morning beside a puddle.
FWOOSH
Drip beginning her journey upward from the puddle
“I didn’t disappear—I’m starting a trip around Earth. Let’s flow!”
Drip rises as a tiny invisible traveler.
Water is always moving among places on Earth. The water cycle is a repeating journey, so rainwater, puddle water, and cloud water can be the same water at different times.Water keeps traveling—it does not simply disappear.
Sol’s golden rays warming Drip in a pond
“Warmth on the way! My energy warms the puddle.”
Sunlight reaches the water.
GLOW
Pip watching the sunlit pond
“Will she sink, stay put, or head into the air?”
Make your prediction before the next panel.
Drip rising as water vapor from the warm pond
“Up I go as invisible water vapor—this change is evaporation!”
Liquid water changes into gas.
WHOOP
When the Sun warms liquid water enough, some changes into invisible water vapor and moves into the air. This is evaporation.
Question 1

Pip points at a wet sidewalk after a sunny afternoon: “Where did some of this water go?” What should Drip say?

Pip beside a leafy tree and pond
“Our tree is sending water upward too?”
A leafy tree stands beside the pond.
Vapor rising from leaves and pond together
“That’s transpiration—a plant-powered part of the trip!”
Vapor rises from leaves and pond together.
PFFT
Evaporation lifts water vapor from open water. Plants also release water vapor from their leaves through transpiration.
Drip rising into cool sky above the pond
“Brrr! Higher air is cooler.”
Drip floats into cooler air.
BRRR
Pip looking into cool sky
“What might invisible vapor become?”
Predict Drip’s next change.
Drip joining sparkling cloud droplets
“Cooling caused condensation!”
Many droplets gather into a cloud.
PLOP
Cooling water vapor can turn it into tiny liquid droplets, a process called condensation. Many droplets or ice crystals together make clouds.Clouds are condensed liquid droplets or ice crystals, not visible water vapor.
Question 2

Pip says, “I can see a cloud, so I can see water vapor!” Which reply best helps Pip revise that idea?

Puffy cloud full of droplets
“Our cloud looks puffier and heavier!”
More droplets crowd together.
RUMBLE
Drip peering over a cloud edge
“When drops grow too heavy, gravity calls.”
Drip peers over the cloud edge.
Pip and Drip considering a cloud claim
“Choose our cloud claim!”
Which idea fits what the friends see?
Condensation makes tiny droplets that form clouds. When droplets or ice crystals become large enough, gravity pulls them down as precipitation.
Drip falling as rain from a cloud above Pip
“SPLASH! I’m falling as rain—this is precipitation.”
Drip races down from the cloud.
SPLASH
Snow, sleet, and hail falling from clouds
“It can be snow, sleet, or hail too!”
Different kinds of water fall from clouds.
TINK
Precipitation is water falling from clouds. It can be rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Question 3

Drip is making a mini-comic. Which panel order tells a sensible beginner version of her trip?

Rain reaching a green hillside
“I can race downhill or soak into the ground!”
Rain reaches a green hillside.
RUSH
Hillside with runoff toward a stream and water soaking into soil
“Every path leads to a storage place.”
Arrows show several paths from the hill.
Gravity can move water downhill as runoff into streams, lakes, and oceans. Some water soaks into the ground and becomes groundwater.
Drip returning to a sparkling pond
“I’m back in the pond—for now.”
Drip rejoins a sparkling pond.
PLOP
Sol rising over the pond
“What could happen next?”
The Sun rises again.
Circular water-cycle trail connecting pond, cloud, rain, and land
“Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection!”
A circular trail connects pond, sky, cloud, rain, and land.
TA-DA
A useful beginner model traces collection, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection again. The Sun and gravity keep the system moving.The water cycle repeats, even when each droplet takes its own path.
Final Challenge 1

What is liquid water changing into invisible water vapor called?

Final Challenge 2

Put these captions in order from sunny pond to rain.

water vapor cools into cloud droplets
rain falls from the cloud
the Sun warms pond water
water changes into invisible vapor
Final Challenge 3

Drip lands on a hill. Which caption best traces a possible next journey?

Final Challenge 4

Pip says, “Clouds are visible water vapor.” Write one or two sentences using cooling and condensation to correct Pip.

Final Challenge 5

Rain falls on a paved parking lot and a grassy field. Which prediction best uses water-cycle ideas?

Drip and Pip's Results

tap to continue