“A person’s a person, no matter how small” – Dr. Seuss
Wise Water Habits for Young Learners
By Elizabeth Waldon-Brooks
July 2015
Overview:
Keywords with
student friendly
definitions:
This lesson will give first grade students the opportunity to think about why
water is important, ways that they use water personally, and ways they can
help conserve water. Hopefully, even young learners will feel empowered to
change daily habits that waste water based on information learned in this
lesson.
natural resources – something that a country has that comes from nature that
can be used or sold
preserve – to keep safe from harm or total loss
reduce – to use less
Subject:
Science
and Language Arts
Age / Grade Range:
1st Grade
Background:
While teaching about water use and conservation at the first grade level, the
teacher may need to prompt students as the class works to analyze and
identify ways humans use water. Possible answers to this question: flushing
the toilet, brushing teeth, washing hands, bathing, preparing food, drinking,
travel, recreation, as a provider of energy, etc. Ways children can conserve
water may include: turning off faucet while brushing teeth or soaping up
hands, taking a shower instead of a bath, turn off water when not in use, don’t
litter, turn off lights when not in use, unplug more and go outside! These lists
are just a starting point. Hopefully students will be able to collaborate to
generate more extensive lists.
Common Core and
Idaho Content
Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences
or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade
1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an
array of strategies.
State of Idaho 1st Grade Science Standard 5: Goal 5.1: Understand Common
Environmental Quality Issues, Both Natural and Human Induced
The goal of this lesson is for students to identify their own personal water use
and to come up with ways they can reduce the amount of water they use.
Goals:
Objectives:
Essential Questions:
How do you use water?
How can you use water properly to be healthy and to ensure that plants and
animals have the safe, clean water they need?
What happens to plants and animals if they don’t have clean water?
Students will identify ways they personally use water.
Students will participate in discussions as a class to collaboratively answer
the question, “What can we do to conserve water?”
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Materials:
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Paper for students to create a water use web (ways that they use
water) and to answer the question “How do people change the way
plants and animals get water?” An example of a web can be found at
the following website;
http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2013/04/creating-symmetryand-natural-resources.html
Smart Board/ projector to play Water, Water Everywhere book read
aloud at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b0e_KtVOZ0
Smart Board/projector to play
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l67HwLegDLE through minute
6.26, and again from 11.13 to the end
Chart paper and markers for teacher use
Set up:
Pull up you tube videos so they’re ready to go, and turn on Smart Board/
projector, get student papers copied and ready and gather chart paper and
markers
Time/ Duration:
A single 1-hour session
Introduction
(Engage):
The teacher can being by saying to the class, “First graders, I want you to spend
some time thinking about why water is important.” (Give students a minute or
two to think). Then ask a few students to share why they think water is important.
Then ask students to think about and predict how many ways they use water
everyday.
Once students have had a minute or two to think about their own personal water
use, pass out a blank paper or this sheet found at
http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2013/04/creating-symmetry-and-naturalresources.html and students can independently write as many ways as they can
think of that they use water. The web can look something like this:
Activity (Explore):
After students create their webs to illustrate personal water use, the teacher should
have students share in pairs, small groups, or with the whole class.
Once students have had the opportunity to share how they know we humans use
water, the teacher can ask students, “Where does water come from?” and “Will we
ever run out of water?” Facilitating a class discussion regarding these two
questions will prompt students to begin thinking about water as a resource, even
though they haven’t learned that word quite yet!
Next, the teacher can explicitly teach the three vocabulary words listed above in
this plan using the attached printable/post-able vocabulary cards with words,
definitions, and kid friendly pictures/icons. Once students have learned the
vocabulary words, ask them where they might find water in the world/where does
water come from. Have some students share their ideas with the whole group or in
small groups. Then, play the youtube version of the book, Water, Water
Everywhere found at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b0e_KtVOZ0
Ask students if they noticed any similarities between what the class discussed and
what the book listed regarding where we find water in our world and where it
comes from. During class discussions for this lesson, the teacher should be
constantly referring to the three vocabulary words listed on the board and saying
those words repeatedly and having students try using the vocabulary words during
discussion time.
Next, play this video from the beginning until 6 minutes and 26 seconds,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l67HwLegDLE During this video, students
will see what our world would be like if we didn’t have any water. After stopping
at 6.26 of the video, ask students if they think the video’s situation could really
happen or not. You may notice that students of this age think that it is
IMPOSSIBLE to run out of water, so teachers may need to ask questions like, “Is
there ever a time when you use too much water?” or “Have you and your family
talked about how to use less water?”. And if students still think running out of this
natural resource is impossible, mention a time when YOU used too much water
and see if that prompts critical thinking about this natural resource.
Explanation:
Elaboration:
Evaluation/
Assessment:
Next, pass out blank pieces of paper and ask students to draw a picture of what our
world would look like without water. Ask them to think about the plants and
animals that are plentiful with water, and what would happen to them if there
wasn’t any water. Once students have had a few minutes to draw picture (of
hopefully barren, brown dirt and dust), ask students to raise their hand if they want
to live in this kind of world. Then, ask students to flip their drawing over and
draw what our world looks like WITH water. After students have had enough
time to complete their drawing, ask students to raise their hand if they would like
to live in THIS kind of world.
Now, ask students if they know of any ways that we all can conserve water. As
students call out ideas, act as the scribe and write their ideas for conserving water
on the chart paper with a marker. Once students run out of ideas to add to the list,
return to the youtube video that you stopped at 6.26, and begin the video again at
11 minutes 13 seconds. Before starting the video, ask students to pay close
attention to the last few minutes of the video to learn about MORE ideas they can
conserve water. After the video ends, ask students what else we can add to our list
of ways to conserve water. Once the list is complete, read the list together once
more to review ways we can all do our part to conserve water.
As the lesson comes to a close, ask students to reread their web that listed
ways they use water. Then, pass out one post-it to each students and explain
that this post-it will be their ticket out the door. On the post-it (as an
assessment), each students must write 3 ways they can conserve water in
their own life. Collect student webs and post-its together to assess student
learning and to see if individual students met the learning objectives.
Additional resources:
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At this website,
http://teachunicef.org/sites/default/files/documents/dropbydrop_ncss_arti
cle.pdf, first grade teachers can view lesson plans about water, conservation,
and sanitation provided by Unicef
At this first grade blog,
http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2015/04/lets-get-ready-for-earthday.html, teacher can find other ideas related to earth day and conservation
United Water of Idaho has a link for teachers at
https://www.unitedwater.com/idaho/education.aspx
Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) has information at
http://www.watereducation.org/project-wet
Family/ Community Connections:
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United Water of Idaho has provided some community connections at
https://www.unitedwater.com/idaho/community.aspx
Information is provided by the Department of Environmental Quality at
https://www.deq.idaho.gov/water-quality/source-water.aspx for families
and community members
The Rural Community Assistance Corporation has water information at
http://www.rcac.org/idaho
The Water Education Foundation has information for kids and families at
http://www.watereducation.org/water-kids
Additional resources are attached:
natural resources
something that a country
has that comes from nature
that can be used or sold
preserve
to keep safe from
harm or total loss
reduce
to use less