This Geography scheme of work video introduces teachers to the water cycle—a vital concept that underpins pupils’ understanding of rivers and their formation. The lesson lays the foundation for further study within the unit, providing a visual and accessible explanation of how water moves through different stores and processes in our environment.

The video explores how water is stored on Earth in oceans, glaciers, rivers and groundwater, and introduces the key processes that move it between these stores: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, percolation and runoff. It explains how these processes work in continuous cycles, with water being reused and recycled rather than created or destroyed.

This video is part of Kapow Primary’s Geography – Rivers Teacher video collection and supports confident delivery of early concepts within the Rivers unit.

See our Year 3 and Year 4 Geography scheme of work and our Mixed-age Geography scheme of work. 

• Geography, Year 4, What are rivers and how are they used?, Lesson 1: What is the water cycle?
• Geography, Year 3/4 (B), What are rivers and how are they used?, Lesson 1: What is the water cycle?