Big Idea
How land and water interact with the natural water cycle is key to understanding the answer to the question “What is a Watershed?”
Summary
Becoming stewards of our watershed requires an understanding of how it operates and how human activities impact it.
Engage
Students will go on a scavenger hunt around their school or community to identify how water cycles through their watershed.
Explore and Explain
Activity 1:
In this activity, students identify the parts of a watershed on a diagram.
Activity 2:
In this activity, students build a model watershed to visually represent how water moves on land.
Elaborate
Students will use the interactive website Model My Watershed to draw the parameters of their own watershed and identify some of its characteristics.
Teacher Support
Essential Question:
What actions can we do to protect our land and water?
Guiding Questions:
What is a watershed?
How does the water cycle work in the watershed?
What are natural watersheds made of?
What watersheds are we in?
Students will be able to:
Explore and Explain
- identify and list the characteristics of their watershed such as human
made structures, roads, sidewalks, parking lots, as well as natural parts of
the watershed such as parkland, trees, etc. - describe a system (e.g.,watershed) as a group of related parts with
specific roles that work together to achieve an observed result. - describe how scientists use models to explore relationships in natural
systems (e.g., an ecosystem, river system, the solar system). - review a video, analyze a graphic, and build models in order to compare
and contrast natural and urban watersheds.
Elaborate
- understand maps and where key points are located
- draw the parameters of their bio-region (watershed) and/or community,
- identify and list the characteristics of their watershed
- describe how scientists use models to explore relationships in natural
systems (e.g., an ecosystem, river system, the solar system).
Water Cycle Scavenger Hunt.pdf
Model My Watershed.pdf
Label the Parts of a Watershed.pdf
Each group of 2 to 4 students needs these materials:
Aluminum roasting pan
Newspaper, brown bags, or other material that can be crumbled
Masking Tape
Sheet of white plastic, slightly larger than the pan (a kitchen
trash bag cut into single sheet works)
Spray bottle
Blue food coloring (optional)
Paper towels for clean up
A thick book
Watershed noun
an area of land that drains water into a specific waterbody
Headwaters noun
the source of a moving body of water like a river or stream
River noun
a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake or another such stream
Tributary noun
a stream or river that flows into and joins a main river
Vegetation noun
plant life
Runoff noun
the excess water that flows over land when the soil below cannot absorb any more water
Precipitation noun
water that falls to the earth as hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow
Land Cover noun
indicates the physical land type such as forest, grassland, wetland or open water
Terrain noun
the physical features of a tract of land
Climate noun
the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area
Infiltration noun
the process by which precipitation or water soaks into soils
Using the Activities and the Mapping my Watershed Worksheet, students will be able to describe a system (e.g.,watershed) as a group of related parts with specific roles that work together to achieve an observed result.
Compare and contrast how water behaves in natural and urban watersheds
List some characteristics in order to draw the parameters of your local watershed.
Identify the characteristics of your watershed and make a case for why it is important to be able to so.
Describe how scientists use models to explore relationships in natural systems (e.g., an ecosystem, river system, the solar system).
PA STEELS
Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
3.4.3-5.D Environmental Literacy Skills: Develop a model to demonstrate how local environmental issues are connected to larger local environment and human systems.
Related Standards
Education for Sustainability
EfS I1 Sense of Place – Draw the parameters of their bioregion (watershed) , identify and list the characteristics of that bioregion, and make a case for why it is important to do so.