5. Water

Steps

  • WATCH – Cue up the video below and watch it with the class
  • DESIGN TIME – Give students time to reflect and design in their planning booklet
  • SHARE – Have students share their ideas with the class or work in their groups
  • GO DEEPER – Add an activity from the extension buffet below (optional)

 

 

Extension Buffet

  • DISCUSS – Ask students what they love about water. Do they have a special place near the water that they like to visit?
  • WATCH- Sustainable Rain Water Infrastructure video (3:35) learn more about wetlands, rain gardens, street plantings and how they contribute to cleaner water in our communities.
  • GO OUTDOORS – Take your students outside for a water walk around your schoolyard or community and have students identify where they see water and think it might be. Water is found almost everywhere. After students have explored their local area, have them gather in a circle and share their observations on water.
  • WATCH – Listing to a reading of Water Walker‘s book, ‘The Importance of Water’, and a closing water reflection (8:16)
  • FIELD TRIP – Take a walk to a local wetland/river/lake or water treatment plant.  Invite your community water manager, a local watershed group, or local First Nations elder to speak about water.
  • WATCH – Learn more about the UN goal of Clean Water and Sanitation (2:45)
  • WATER AROUND THE WORLD – Explore how people access water around the world
  • WATCH – Meet clean water activist Autumn Peltier (3:23)
  • ECOCHALLENGE – Challenge students to reduce the length of their showers with the Short Shower EcoChallenge
  • QUICK SKIT – Have students create a quick skit (like charades with no talking) to share how they use water. Have them do their skit with the class and see if they can guess.
  • WATCH – A kid’s crash course on the Basics of Freshwater (4:16)
  • EXPLORE- Minecraft for Education explores how wastewater is treated.
  • CRAFT – Create an easy stormwater model to explore why green infrastructure like (wetlands, and rain gardens) helps to keep water clean with this Project WET video (3:14)

3 responses to “5. Water”

  1. I am so thankful for warmer weather. This lesson was accompanied by a walk to the river to talk about preservation of our water supply, conservation as the weather is worrying us this year, and even land conditions as the walkway has had to be rebuilt due to extreme erosion. I was glad for Autumns video to be part of this as I am working hard to ensure there are First Peoples connections being made. Our class has a very thoughtful class conversation about safe water supplies, that not all Canadian communities can boast the same (and which one are more likely not to…) and how to make sure we keep our supply safe. I have done the eco challenge of short showers with a class before, with great success. I am running out of time to try that this year though.

    After each lesson, I am having the kids share how they will incorporate their new learning to the communities they are designing. I love the fact with each new learning, they really are making thoughtful changes and adjustments to what they thought were their original plans. Only a couple more weeks before we embark on the final project! That will be a fun day for our class!

  2. This was a great extension of our field trip at the beginning of May to Kingfisher where we released our salmon. One of the stations there focussed on our watershed. The had a visual representation that compared the salt and fresh water in the world. This lesson was great as the kids already had some knowledge and ideas coming into it. We were able to build on some previous ideas. The kids seemed really interested in the short shower challenge so I think that we will start that.

  3. This lesson includes a lot of information for the students to think about. The importance of this is very obvious when you live by the wetland. We had discussions about our responsibility to protect the lands around the water because of how the land and wetlands are connected. The Importance of Water: Book reading of Water Walker and closing Water Reflection is well done and the students made connections to this. We did the shower challenge and we have started reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Next time I will try to set up a tour of the water and waste water facilities in our town.
    The Heart of a River is also a beautiful book to compliment this topic.