Folklore meets science when you research rain stories, create a mobile demonstrating the stages of the water cycle, and write original folktales using rhyme, rhythm, and repetition.

• 1.

  Read the Nandi folktale, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, retold by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. Research water cycles, including evaporation, cloud formation, and precipitation. Discuss the effects of drought on plants and animals.

• 2.

  Work in teams to create figures representing stages of the water cycle to hang on a mobile. Cover your work area with newspaper. Use Crayola® Colored Pencils or Color Sticks on to draw clouds, rain, sun, and representations of evaporation.

• 3.

  Cut out each drawing with Crayola Scissors. Trace and mount each piece on cardboard with Crayola School Glue, sandwiching a long string between the paper and cardboard. Dry.

• 4.

  Arrange drawings so they are in a circular formation representing the water cycle. Cut the strings on each piece so their lengths will position them correctly when hung from a recycled cardboard tube. Tie each string to the cardboard tube so drawings hang in a large circle. Run a long piece of string through the tube and tie for hanging.

• 5.

  Use your water cycle mobile to help you write your own rhyming, repetitive folktale about how rain comes to the land. Refer to Aardema's retelling for a suggested rhythm and pattern. Share folktales with classmates.

Standards

• LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
• LA: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.
• SCI: Construct drawings or diagrams as representations of events or systems.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Provide an opportunity for students to share their mobiles with classmates in order to determine understanding of the water cycle and its relationship to weather and climate patterns.
• In small groups, ask students to discuss problems that occur when there is too much rain. Have students compose a list of safety rules for students and their families to follow when heavy rains occur. Have students share these safety rules with family members.