Unit: Every drop of water counts!, by Debra Jensen

Read Drop of Water by Walter Wick and I Am Water by Judith Moffatt and Jean Marzollo. Have the class discuss the various forms of water and its uses and misuses. The teacher writes the responses on chart paper as a shared writing activity. Access the activity What is life without water?

Difference between our water needs and water wants.
Terms used: ponds, lakes, oceans, rivers, streams, ice, snow, storm clouds, mist, frost, dew, rain, rainbows

Class reads aloud Water Dance by Thomas Locker, The Water's Journey by Eleonore Schmid or A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney and Michael S. Maydak. Class discusses the journey a drop of water may take. Class sings The Water Cycle Song (lyrics) and puts on a play to act out the life of a drop of water.

The hydrologic cycle of water and the many forms a drop of water can take.
Terms used: vapor, gas, liquid, solid, condensation, evaporation, precipitation

Students work in pairs with a stopwatch to time how long it takes to wash hands or get a drink of water from a drinking fountain. Results are graphed and teacher demonstrates how much water comes out of a faucet in a minute by filling 1-gallon water containers. Teacher also uses water containers to demonstrate how many gallons are used each time a toilet is flushed. The gallon water containers are passed around, so each student gets an appreciation for how heavy a gallon of water is. Class brainstorms ways they can conserve water when washing hands and getting a drink of water.

Students learn about water conservation, measurement, and how to use a stopwatch and graph

Whole class sits in a circle and each child predicts whether their right index finger will fall on water or land when they catch an inflatable globe. The globe is tossed to each student and the teacher makes a tally mark for how many times a student's finger lands on water or land. A class chart is made to illustrate how they landed on water more frequently. Afterwards, each child receives a grid of 100 squares and colors 99 squares red and one square green. The teacher explains that even though water covers three-fourths of the Earth's surface, 97% of the Earth's water is salty seawater and 2% is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps, so only 1% of the world's water supply is usable to the plants, animals and the 6+ billion people on Earth! The 99 squares of the hundreds chart represents the unusable water and only 1 square represents the usable water. The grid illustrates how even though water is everywhere, usable water is scarce and therefore it is important to conserve water and appreciate each and every drop!

Students learn that even though three-fourths of our planet's surface is covered with water, only 1% is usable to people, plants and animals. Terms used: prediction, frequency, percentage, tally

Students tabulate how many times they use water and for what use at home and bring their results to class. The results are made into a chart to illustrate the most common uses for water.

Students develop awareness of how much they depend on water.

Read Water by Frank Asch and discuss the beautiful artwork the author used to illustrate the book. Students make their own picture of water in Asch's style by using cut construction paper. The students' work is made into a class book. Another class book can be made from each student finishing and illustrating the sentence, “If I was a drop of water I would ________________________________.”

Art and language art can be incorporated to facilitate an appreciation for the beauty of water and to imagine the journey and the many forms a drop of water can take.

To help students learn what a valuable resource wetlands are, take them on a field trip to investigate and explore wetlands and learn how many different kinds of living things depend on wetlands for survival. Students can work in pairs or individually and go on a scavenger hunt to find different kinds of animals, insects, grasses, and signs of life. Things to look for: dragonflies or other insects, Great Blue Heron, cattails or reeds, droppings, tracks, flowers, butterflies, song birds, water, black mud and minnows or frogs. Each student gets to share the various items that they found. Students can try to guess whose tracks or droppings they found.

Afterwards, have students spread out and find a quiet place to sit. The children will need to close their eyes, so they can listen to the many sounds of wetlands and count all the different sounds they hear. As a group, have the class discuss the different sounds and try to determine what made those sounds.

The final activity is called “Survival Hopscotch.” To illustrate how important wetlands are to birds and butterflies and what a burden it is to them when people eliminate wetlands, students will pretend they are birds migrating from Canada to Mexico. Draw a hopscotch pattern in gravel. Each square will represent a wetland for the migrating birds to rest at and refuel. After each student hops through the hopscotch pattern, one square is erased. A student is eliminated if he or she misses a square. The game is continued until each student is finally eliminated. Access the activity Wetland Safari!

Students learn how important it is to protect and appreciate wetlands when they discover how beneficial wetlands are to humans, animals, fish, plants, birds, insects and other wildlife!
Terms used: Wetlands, marsh, bog, habitat, ecosystem, pollution, migration, dragonflies, Great Blue Heron, cattails, reeds, droppings, tracks, flowers, butterflies, song birds, water, black mud, minnows and frogs.

Discuss the states of water and have students experiment with the different forms to see if they can convert one to another. The teacher provides different materials (such as a lamp and hair dryer) and divides the students into pairs to have an “ice-melting race.” Each pair chooses a method to make their ice melt faster. Afterwards, discuss the various techniques that they used and which one was the fastest. Fill a jar with sand and one with marbles and ask the students if the jars are full. Pour water into the jars and show the students how water can be added even though the jars seemed to be full.

Students learn the different forms of water through a variety of hands-on activities.
Terms used: solid, liquid, gas, measurement, evaporation and condensation.