Is there water here?
Nancy Hurt
Lakeside School
Pittsburg, KS 66762

Overview:

Many young children are not aware that much of the water used by people is found below the Earth's surface. This lesson will teach that the landscape can or cannot be a good indicator of whether water is present. There might be as much mater under a prairie landscape as there is in a tropical landscape.


Grade Level: K-3

Time Needed: 50-60 minutes

Geographic Themes:

Place and human/environment interaction


Kansas Social Studies Standards of Benchmarks, Grade Levels 5-K:

The students will understand the connections among people, places, and environments in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations of the world.


National Geography Standards, Grades K-4:

#4	The geographically informed person knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of place.
#8	The geographically informed person knows and understands the distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface.
#14	The geographically informed person knows and understands how Earth's physical and human systems are connected and interact.
#15	The geographically informed person knows and understands the consequences of the interaction between human and physical systems.

 

Outcome:

1. The student will know and understand that the appearance of the landscape is not a good indicator of the presence of water.
2. The student will know and understand that animals and humans rely a great deal upon water for their survival.
3. The student will know and understand that the interaction between humans and the water supply can be positive or negative.


Performance Objective:

The students will create a collage made of pictures of landscapes which appear to either have or not have water present.

 

Vocabulary (see Glossary):

• Landscape
• ecosystems
• aquifer

Materials needed:

• 12 x 18'
• construction paper
• old magazines (nature or travel)
• scissors glue

   

• Procedures:

The teacher will show several pictures of places (landscape) that appear to either have or not have water, for example a rain forest, a prairie, and a desert. A discussion should follow about the kinds of animals or people who could live in those places (ecosystems), emphasizing that they all need water. Since we are Kansans the teacher should discuss the Ogallala Aquifer (a huge subsurface/underground water supply) and how people in Western Kansas rely on this water for themselves, their animal, and their crops. This discussion should include the positive and negative aspects of the use of the Ogallala. following the discussion, small groups of students should be directed to gather pictures of various landscapes from old magazines and to organize these into groups according to the amount of water present. Some will be quite obvious and some will require further discussion. After everyone is satisfied, the pictures should be glued onto the large piece of construction paper (or onto even larger piece of paper if needed.)  

Assessment: Check student completion of collages.  

Resources: Information about the Ogallala Aquifer can be obtained from any set of encyclopedias.

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irc staff 11/13/97 (updated kn 06/18/99) judi 04/19/00 Disclaimer