Big Idea
Water is essential to our lives and all life on Earth — so it is important to take care of our water resources and we have an important role to play.
Summary
Once students start thinking of all the ways they enjoy water, but also depend on it, they will be glad to learn that they can play a role in taking care of it.
Engage
The slide deck will guide students through a discussion about the importance of water.
Explore and Explain
The article from Readworks is available HERE and in the student materials menu on the right.
Students will use Google Images to find 1 image each of different ways people benefit from water to add to the shared digital bulletin board.
As a class, students will sort and group like images together and label them by category. One bulletin board page per category. See below for some examples of the list of categories that could emerge–if any of these are missing from the students’ images, prompt them to find and add them–if new categories emerge, that is great!
Ask the following questions to your students:
- Is there anything you want to add? What would happen if we took one of these categories away?
- Ask students to choose one category to eliminate and describe [in a pair share] what their lives would be like without it.
Final activity:
Work in pairs to create a poster illustrate one or several ways people benefit from water and how they can take care of it.
Teacher Support
Essential Question:
What can students do to contribute to a healthy and just Philadelphia for all Philadelphians?
Guiding Question:
Who depends on water?
Students will be able to:
Recognize (in writing or verbally) ways that humans benefit from the use of water resources (e.g., agriculture, energy, recreation).
Fresh Water (noun)
naturally occurring water that is not salty, and is suitable for consumption if clean or processed.
Salt Water (noun)
water of or found in seas and oceans, containing salt
Adapt (verb)
make (something) suitable for a new use or purpose; modify
Ecosystem (noun)
a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a living community
Food Web (noun)
the natural interconnection of food chains of all living creatures within an ecosystem
Impact (verb)
have a strong effect on someone or something
Student will produce a poster that demonstrates their understanding of the many ways people, animals, and our entire ecosystem benefit from water.
PA STEELS Standards
Environmental Literacy and Sustainability