Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
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Unit Purpose:
Watershed S.O.S. concerns gaining knowledge and discovering ways to protect the watershed. This unit includes lessons about the water cycle, how the watershed works, pollutants of the watershed, uses of water and water as a nonrenewable resource. The unit is interdisciplinary with science, English, social studies and philanthropic components. Scientific experiments and demonstrations are included in the lessons. The unit lends itself to advocacy. Students would educate, take action through the political process by contacting local governmental agencies (DNR, contact state or U.S. Representatives, or write letters to the editor of a local newspaper concerning protecting their watershed. In order to be a good citizen, one must protect their environment and advocate for the protection of their watershed. This unit includes lessons about the importance of water, the watershed, water as a nonrenewable resource and ways that learners can be advocates and protectors of their watershed. The unit is interdisciplinary and has many hands on activities as well as experiments included in the lessons.
Unit Objectives:
The learner will:
- identify sources of water.
- list several uses of water.
- explain why water is important.
- explain why water is a nonrenewable resource.
- explain why it is important to be a good steward of water and how this relates to the Core Democratic Value – Common Good.
- define watershed as the land area that drains into a particular lake, river, or ocean.
- draw a picture of their watershed.
- write a short story detailing at least one way their watershed could become polluted.
- list three reasons why it is important to protect their watershed.
- tell the story of Poseidon.
- write a letter to Poseidon concerning good stewardship of their local watershed.
- Tell in their own words the difference between the literary term, myth, and reality.
Service Experience:
Create a classroom newsletter detailing why water is important and why it is necessary to take care of it. The newsletter could include such aspects as an informational piece, a letter to the editor, a comic strip, and a game or puzzle using vocabulary from the lesson. They will share these with others in the school and community advocating for clean water.
The learners will take information from the letters to Poseidon and write a class letter to a local government official, newspaper, or company telling why protecting their local watershed is important and soliciting support for protection of their watershed.
Unit Assessment:
Here are several options for assessment/reflection.
- Learners should answer the following questions and should include details from the unit study. Encourage creativity (Ex. Give themselves a name and tell what kind of fish they are and in what water source they live.) If you were a fish and could talk, what would you say to people about protecting the watershed? Would you be thankful for the efforts you have made to make others aware of the need to protect water?
- After getting a response from their class letter, have students write responses to the following question: How does it make you feel that your voice/activity may or may not lead to change for the common good? If you did not get a response from your letter, what could be a next step to take? If you got a response, what will be your follow up activity?
- Share a written and oral plan of what your family is doing to conserve water. Have you noticed any difference in the amount of water used? How does it make you feel? Have you gone a step further and talked to any other family members or friends about taking care of our water supply? Consider how an unhealthy watershed someplace else in the country might affect ours. What further steps could we take to make a difference?
School/Home Connection:
“Copy-and-Paste” Class/School Newsletter Information Insert:
Our class has been studying about the water cycle and our local watershed. They have learned that water is a nonrenewable resource and must be protected. The students have become good stewards of the watershed and advocates for its protection. In their studies they have discovered that washing a car uses a hundred gallons of water, on average a person uses a hundred gallons a day and that a meal at a fast food restaurant can take 1,400 gallons of water to make burgers, fries and a drink! Is it any wonder that we should protect our watershed for the Common Good?Interactive Parent / Student Homework:
See Lesson Two, What is a Water Shed? The learners will write a letter home to parents explaining our study of the watershed and asking them to help devise a plan to reduce water use in their household.
Notes for Teaching:
Prepare a classroom terrarium to demonstrate the water cycle a few days before beginning this unit.
State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:
See individual lessons for benchmark detail.
Lessons Developed and Piloted By:
Pat Grimley
St. Charles Community Schools
Anna M. Thurston Middle School
893 W Walnut St
St. Charles, MI 48655
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.