Little Raindrop
Book Spotlight: Little Raindrop
Welcome to the STEMHAX Book Spotlight. Today, we explore Little Raindrop written by Melanie Joyce. This is a fun introductory book for children to explore science. The book introduces children to the water cycle.
Kids enjoy reading the same book over and over again. A physical copy of the book is highly recommended for the first reading of Little Raindrop.
HINT: After you have introduced and explored this book, kids can utilize the YouTube read aloud in a listening center or quiet activity when they have finished their work.
Overview
Little Raindrop shares what happens to a raindrop, from the beginning of its adventure to the return home. This beautifully illustrated book examines the water cycle in a simplistic and understandable view of a young learners world.
Little Raindrop – Read Aloud
Exploring Little Raindrop with Young Learners
First, start with a book cover inspection. Show children the cover of the book, and ask, “what do you think this book is about?” Follow this with some open ended questions to get their minds warmed up.
- What are some different types of weather?
- What is your favorite kind of weather?
- What are the four seasons?
- What are some objects that you see in the sky?
After reading the book for the first time, ask more open-ended questions. Remember there are no wrong answers. Some questions might include:
- What is a raindrop?
- How do clouds form?
- What falls from the sky?
- Why do flowers like the rain?
- Why did a rainbow appear in the sky?
- How did the raindrops get back in the cloud?
- Why is the sun important for the water cycle?
HINT: There are two options of physical books for hands on reading; Padded board book (for younger learners) and paperback for elementary explorers.
Vocabulary
- Streaked – move very fast.
- Trickling – flowing in a small stream.
- Wriggling – Twist and turn with quick withering movements.
- Shoots – part of a flowering plant seen above the ground.
- Peculiar – strange or odd.
- Wibbly – moving unsteady from side to side.
- Drifted – carried slowly by a drift of air.
- Resist – Withstand the action.
- Weather Vane – a revolving pointer that shows the direction the wind is flowing.
Extend the Lesson
The following videos are a great way to extend the lesson. It will help you to learn further what and where to take your lessons, for the water cycle.
Where Does Water Come From? – SciShow Kids
Jesse and Squeaks explain where and how the water cycle works. If you follow my blog you know that I love this YouTube Channel. Kids really pick up a lot of information from this video.
The Water Cycle Song – Scratch Garden
Next, you can extend the lesson by introducing some more scientific words through the Water Cycle Song by Scratch Garden. Words such as evaporation, precipitation and condensation.
Hands-On Explorations
Finally, enjoy some hands-on explorations. Here are two to get you started. The first is a simple science experiment and the other crosscuts math and art.
Water Evaporation Experiment
“Have you ever seen water disappear in front of your eyes? How does this happen? Where does it go? Try this experiment and explore how evaporation works and discover how water changes from liquid to gas. There’s lots to learn about water!” – Excerpt Sydney Water TV YouTube Channel
Clouds That Look Like Things
Add some math and art to your cloud/water cycle lesson plans. Getting them outside for some green time exposure, we are going on a cloud watch. Taking children outside to observe nature is not only beneficial, it’s fun. Simply have students draw what shapes or pictures they observe of the clouds, in the sky. Kids will need a clipboard, paper and writing implements.
HINT: Watch all videos before sharing with students. There is a shorter version of this video, however it has some inappropriate images.
FREE Water Cycle Resources
Here are some amazing free resources from some of my peers at TPT. Simply click on the image to visit the Teachers Pay Teachers website for the download.
Digital Distance Learning Science Lesson: The Water Cycle
This resource can be used by students on Google Drive or Google Classroom. To access this resource, you’ll need to allow TpT to add it to your Google Drive. – Excerpt Thrifty in Third Grade by Cassie Smith
Water Cycle Kindergarten Activity Craft
This is a water cycle smartboard document to share whole group as well as two different worksheets to complete. Students can label the diagram with words OR cut and paste the pictures into the diagram. – Excerpt Meaghan Kimbrell
Weather Number Bonds to 10
Check out this free digital download from STEMHAX. This is a one page sample of a larger packet that includes several worksheets and activity task cards.
FREE Read Aloud Book Report
Need accountability in a listening or iPad center? Check out this FREE Book Report available in my TPT Store CLICK===>HERE for Download.
Thank you!
We appreciate you taking the time to learn about this fabulous read aloud book Little Raindrop. Please consider following our YouTube Channel for more read aloud books relating to academic interest subjects.
Hands-On “Weather Science Box”
“The weather crafts inside this Weather Science Box are sure to turn any child into a mini meteorologist as they create their very own Weather Station, Cloud Finder, and Wind Sock. They’ll have a blast creating their own, unique weather instruments, then continue the fun as they track and measure the weather patterns using their handcrafted tools.” – Excerpt Green Kid Crafts
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