Water Cycle Mania

First off, I want to thank all you soda-drinking families who so generously donated to our classroom.  I asked and I was impressed with how many we collected in just a short amount of time!  What were we doing with all those empty 2-liter bottles, you ask?  Well let us show you. . .

What better day to start a fun, exciting science experiment than the day before a long break.  Right????  RIGHT!!  Everyone was beyond excited to find out what we were doing that they were angels for about 45 minutes (with only 2 hours left until Christmas break - crazy!!) and sat attentively watching what we were doing.  
(I think that is the smartest thing I have EVER come up with. . . ever!!)

Our experiment has to do with the water cycle.  We made six models that represented the water cycle and as I explained to the students, we were going to be predicting, observing, recording, measuring, etc. etc. etc over the next couple of weeks and watch to see what happens.  

Everyone got a chance to help with the experiment and boy was I glad to get the help!  The first thing we did was fill the bottom of one bottle with water, representing the ground water and aquifers in the earth. 

Then we dumped a cup full of soil into the middle bottle that represents the earth and percolation. 

Next we had someone come up and dump a cap full of seeds into the soil and then place the cap face up into the soil.  Some asked what the cap was for. . . Do you know?

The next step (not pictured) was to place the third and final bottle full of water upside down into the middle bottle.  Once we had that, we had our model started.  We broke into groups and took an up close look. 

We also listed at least five predictions.  Because we were headed into a long break I wanted to make sure they made several predictions so that when we came back we could make some observations. 

We had several good predictions and ideas about what was going to happen.  I told them that in all my years of doing this experiment the outcome has never been the same.  Yes, most years we get my desired reaction but at times things just don't "work".  Whether cloudy weather for several weeks so there's a lack of sun, not enough soil, someone drops their experiment, etc.  Once we were finished we moved them all over to the bookshelf by the back door since it gets the most light.  We're all excited to find out exactly what happens while we're gone for Christmas break.  Stay tuned to find out.  What did YOU predict will happen?

***A special thanks to Autumn for being our photographer.  She did a great job!***