My Water's Place in Space

Melanie Campbell
West Indianola Elementary School
Topeka, Kansas

Overview:
The book My Place in Space centers on an understanding of absolute and relative location in terms of home address, city, state, county, hemisphere, planet, etc. A parallel can be drawn to place in space in terms of water. The goal of this activity is to orient the student to his or her absolute and relative place in space in terms of water address.
 
Grade Level(s):
Intermediate Grades
 
Outcome:
The student will identify his or her absolute and relative place in space relative to water.
 
Geographic Themes:
Location, Movement, and Environmental Interactions
 
KS Social Studies Standards For Benchmarks: Grade Levels 5-K
The student will understand the connections among people, places, and
environments in the local, school, and community, Kansas, the U.S., and
different nations of the world.
 
National Geography Standards:
The geographically informed person knows and understands

#1

how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

#2

how to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.

#4

how physical and human processes together shape places.
 
Performance Objectives:
The student will:
  1. construct a book identifying his or her absolute and relative place in space in terms of water.
  2. sequence water addresses from the most specific to the most general.
 
Vocabulary:
absolute location basin
relative location watershed
 
Materials Needed:
 
Procedure:
1. Read the book, My Place in Space.
2. Discuss the pattern of absolute and relative locations presented in the book.
3.
Brainstorm you class absolute and relative water addresses, sequencing them on the brainstorming sheet from the most specific to the most general. Examples might include: water district, state water basin, regional drainage basin, local river system, connecting river system, major river system draining into an ocean, and the ocean the river drains into.
4.
Cut out small copies of maps which illustrate each of the water addresses brain stormed. Each map should represent a larger and larger area.
Construct My Water's Place in Space flip books:

a.

b.

 

 

c.

 

d.


e.

f.

 

g.


h.
i.

 

j.

You will need five pieces of 8 1/2" X 11" blue construction paper for your flip book.
Using four sheets of paper, stack the sheets on top of one another. Rather than lining up the top and bottom edges, however, stagger them evenly. Use about an inch to an inch and a half stagger depending on how many pages you will need for
your flip book. (See example #1)
Flip the pages over together so that the staggered sheets at the bottom are showing. The staggered edges at the top are now facing down. (See example #2).
Fold the pages so that there are now 8 staggers approximately equal distance apart. (See example #3).
Trace the large water drop pattern on the fifth sheet of blue construction paper.
Glue the flip book to the top of the water drop pattern being sure to line up the bottom edge of the flip book with the bottom edge of the fifth sheet of paper.
Cut out the large water drop pattern through all of the sheets of paper. You now have a water drop flip book.
Title the top sheet My Water's Place in Space.
Glue the map cut-outs in sequence on the flip pages form the most specific water address on the top page to be opened to the most general water address on the last sheet to be opened.
Label the water addresses on the flaps which correspond with the maps.
Page #1
#2
#3
#4
Example #1
 
 
Example #2
Page #1
#2
#3
#4
 
 
Example #3
 
Page #1
#2
#3
#4
#4
#3
#2
#1
 
 
Assessment:
  1. The student will sequence the water addresses from the most specific to the most general (absolute to relative).
  2. The student will identify and describe his or her absolute and relative water addresses.
 
Extensions:
  1. Learn and sing Splish, Splash...Water's Journey to My Glass (attached).
  2. Trace water's journey on a map (from the location where your local water supply begins as rainfall to where it enters the ocean).
  3. Make a watershed model.
  4. Tour you local water treatment plant.
  5. Enjoy related literature, such
     a. A River Ran Wild, by Lynne Cherry

     b.

    		 Where the River Begins, by Thomas Locker

    c.

    		 The Water's Journey, by Elenore Schmidt

    d.

    		 Follow the Water from the Brook to the Ocean, by Arthur Dorros

    e.

    		 The Magic School Bus at the Water works, by Joanna Cole

Resources

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FHSU Geoscience | Kansas Geographic Alliance
National Geographic Society | Kansas Water Office
Fort Hays State University | Kansas State University
e-mail: pphillip@fhsu.edu

 

 irc staff / jh 03/16/98 (updated judi 6/18/98)