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 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.
Folklore meets science when you research rain stories, create a mobile demonstrating the stages of the water cycle, and