Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
1
Lesson
Student Book pages 4-5
In this lesson: Children examine photographs
to identify various ways that people, animals,
and plants use air, water, and soil.
Getting Organized
Materials: paper; pencils
Suggested Grouping: group/class
Outcomes
Children will have opportunities to:
• describe physical properties of air, water, and
soil (T1)
• distinguish ways in which air, water, and soil
interact (T2)
• explain why air, water, and soil are important
for living things (T3)
• classify objects, events, and organisms (P4)
• use their senses to interpret observations (P5)
• show respect for the environment and use
resources carefully (A5)
Also P1, P2, P3, P7, P9
Assessment
• Baseline Task: Have children draw a picture
that shows the importance of clean air, water,
and soil for humans, plants, and animals. At
the end of the unit, have children review their
pictures and make any revisions they think
are necessary. (T3, P4, P5, A5)
• Listen to children’s responses during the
Extending Learning activity. Are children able
to identify other questions they have about
air, water, and soil? Are children able to
identify ways of finding answers to their
questions? (P1, P2, P3, P7, P9)
• Review each group’s completed charts. Are
children able to record information on a
chart accurately? Are children able to record
examples of how living things use air? Are
children able to record examples of how
living things use water? Are children able to
record examples of how living things use
soil? (T1, P3, A5)
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?
Suggested Time: Activate 15-20
min; Explore 30-45 min; Apply 15-20 min
Plant Centre
Set up a Plant Centre as an area for ongoing
observation during this unit. Organize children
into groups and have each group plant bean
seeds in a pot of soil. Instruct some of the
groups to water the seeds every day. Instruct
the remaining groups not to water their seeds
at all. Pose the Think! question. Ask what they
think will happen and why they think as they
do. Have them observe the pots daily. After
two weeks, invite the groups to compare their
plants. Ask children:
What do your plants look like?
What were the plants that grew given to
drink?
What were the plants that didn’t grow given
to drink?
To demonstrate that most plants require soil,
prepare three cuttings from a plant (ivy, coleus,
impatiens—any plant that will root fairly
quickly) by placing them in water until they
grow roots. Have the children place one
cutting in soil, one in sand, and leave one in
water for two weeks. Have them water the
cuttings that are in soil and sand. Ask children:
What do your plants look like? Which plant
looks healthiest? Which looks the least
healthy?
Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
What do you think might happen to each of
these plants in future? Why?
What do you need in order to grow and
stay healthy?
What do you think might be in the soil that
helps the plant grow and stay healthy?
P re c o nc ep
ti ons
Children may
not realize t
hat all living
things canno
t survive wit
hout water.
Content Background
T
he Earth is a planet that is able to
support life. It has air that animals and
plants can breathe. Living things could not
stay alive for more than a few minutes
without air. Air is the mixture of gases that
surrounds the Earth. It is invisible, tasteless,
and has no smell.
The Earth also has water. Water covers
over 75 percent of the Earth’s surface. All
living things need water. Without water,
they would die in a few days. Water makes
up about two-thirds of the human body.
Blood and other fluids in our bodies are
composed mostly of water.
Soil is found at various stages of
development. It is a mixture of weathered
rock, organic matter, mineral fragments,
water, and air. Soil goes through a number
of processes as it breaks down from its
parent material and is affected by climate,
local vegetation, and the amount of
available water. When warmth and
moisture are present, soil organisms break
down plant and animal matter, changing it
to humus, which holds nutrients and water
for plants. Soil is crucial, providing nutrients
for many organisms and a place for plants
to sink their roots and anchor themselves
so that they can resist strong winds.
Soil is also crucial in a relatively new
technology, geothermal energy. This is a
technology used to heat and cool homes
and businesses. It does not require the
burning of fuel. Instead, a series of pipes,
called a loop, is buried deep in the ground
(the loop can also be submerged in a pond
or lake). Fluid circles through the loop,
absorbing the thermal energy (originally
from the Sun) stored deep underground,
and carries it to the building to heat it. In
summer, a reverse process takes place so
that the building is cooled.
The Earth’s water and air are moving all
the time. This movement of water and air
together with the heat of the sun also
creates the Earth’s weather.
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?
Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
Activate
Introducing Air and Water
Ask children to brainstorm everything they
know about air, water, and soil. Write their
ideas on the board under the headings “air,”
“water,” or “soil.” Ask:
How does water feel?
(Answers will vary. Possibilities include wet, cold,
hot.)
How does water taste?
(Although water is tasteless, children will likely
give a variety of responses. Acknowledge all
responses.)
How does water smell?
(Water is odourless but children will likely give a
variety of responses. Acknowledge all responses.)
Post the chart in the classroom. Invite children
to add other facts as they work on this unit.
Choose a convenient spot in the school
grounds and tell the children that this will be
their Special Place. Discuss it with them—what
kinds of plants grow there? Do they look
healthy? What does the soil feel and look like?
Tell them that they will be observing this area
as they learn about soil and water in this unit.
Have them draw the area in their Journal and
describe the plants that are in it.
From time to time throughout the unit, you
will see reminders to have the children check
the area for changes. Have them record any
changes in their Science Journal.
Where can you find water?
(Answers will vary. Possibilities include lakes,
rivers, kitchen taps.)
How does air feel?
(Answers will vary. Possibilities include hot, cold,
wet, dry.)
How does air taste?
(Air is tasteless but children may suggest a
variety of responses. Acknowledge all responses.)
How does air smell?
(Air is odourless but children will likely give a
variety of responses. Acknowledge all responses.)
How does soil feel?
(Answers will vary. Possibilities include dry,
powdery, rough, stony, grainy, gritty, sandy, lumpy.
Acknowledge all responses.)
How does soil smell?
(Answers will vary. Possibilities are, “like earth,”
“like dead leaves.” Acknowledge all responses.)
Caution children not to taste the soil.
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?
Chilean cacti in the Atacama
desert can go without water for
400 years! But when it rains, the
cacti really soak it up. Some become
90 percent water and use this
water to survive the next dry spell.
You may wish to obtain pictures
of soddies to display in the
classroom. Tell the children that the
pioneers who built these kinds of
homes made use of the soil to build
their homes and keep them warm
through cold prairie winters.
Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
Explore
Read aloud the opening paragraph on Student
Book page 4 or ask a student volunteer to read
it.
Think about air, water, and soil.
1. Organize children into groups. Have each
group examine the photographs on Student
Book pages 4-5 and discuss how air, water,
and soil are being used. Instruct each group
to decide on a way to record their
responses, for example, charts, tables, lists,
and appoint a recorder to record the group’s
ideas. Explain to children that they should
devise a method that allows them to easily
compare air, water, and soil. If children are
experiencing difficulty deciding upon a
recording method, suggest they make one
chart for each. Tell them to divide each
chart into three parts and label the parts
“People,” “Animals,” and “Plants”
respectively.
Make three charts similar to the ones
described above to record children’s ideas.
Alternatively, you might want each group to
share their recording method and, as a class,
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
each one, and choose the most appropriate
one for a class chart. Have each group share
their ideas with the class about how air,
water, and soil are being used in the
photographs. Record each group’s ideas on
the class charts.
2. Have each group discuss and record one
other way either people, animals, and plants
use air, water, and soil. Have each group
share their ideas with the class. The
completed class charts may resemble the
following:
AIR
People
• to breathe
Other Animals
• to breathe
• to dry clothes
• to dry
themselves
• to smell scents
• to cool
themselves
• to fly
• to smell scents
• to cool
themselves
• to fly
• to sail boats
Plants
• to carry seeds
to new places
• to grow
• use CO2 in air
to make food
WATER
People
• to make food
Animals
• to wash food
• to wash food
•
•
•
•
• to drink
• to bathe
• to swim
to drink
to bathe
to swim
to make plants
grow
Plants
• to carry food
from soil
• to support their
mass
SOIL
People
• to grow flowers
• to grow food
• to grow trees to
make furniture,
build homes
Animals
• to live in
• to find food
• to lay eggs in
Plants
• to grow roots
• to get food
• to support them
Troubleshooting
You may want to have children browse through
magazines or books to look for other ways people,
animals, and plants use air, water, and soil in order to
help them complete step 2.
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?
Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
Apply
Exploration Results
Finding Similarities
Children will record various ways people,
animals, and plants use air, water, and soil.
Their responses should help them realize that
all living things need both air and water in
order to survive and use air and water in a
variety of ways, and that most plants require
the nutrients available in soil in order to
survive. These ideas will be confirmed by their
observations of the plants in the Plant Centre.
Have the class examine the chart. Challenge
children to identify similarities between the
way people, animals, and plants use air, water,
and soil. Use different coloured chalk or
markers to identify these similarities on the
class chart.
Have the class use the chart to make a
collage to demonstrate the importance of air,
water, and soil to all living things. Have
children work with the same groups they
worked in earlier and assign one of the three
categories: people, animals, or plants to each
group. Challenge the groups to find pictures
from magazines of each example in their
category as well as others that would fit in
their category.
Think!
Plants, like all living
things, need water in
order to live.When
plants don’t get
water, they dry out
or wither (children
may say they begin
to droop or turn
brown) and
eventually die.
As children observe
the cuttings, they
should recognize
that most plants also
need soil in order
to thrive.
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?
Air and Water–BC Teacher's Guide
Apply
Gifted Learners
Challenge children to do some research and
make up a True and False quiz about air, water
and soil. Encourage children to use it with their
classmates and family members.
Extending Learning
Ask the children to explain what they have
learned about air, water, and soil. Ask them:
What other questions do you have about
air, water, and soil?
How could you find answers to your
questions?
Post the questions and the ways to find
answers on the chalkboard. Invite children to
select a question to answer during the course of
the unit. Encourage questions that require
simple experiments. Have the class brainstorm
possible steps in such experiments and what
materials they will need. Provide time for
students to carry out simple experiments and
to either demonstrate their experiments or
report their findings. (For example, they might
want to compare the number of days seeds
take to germinate when given different
amounts of water. They might wish to compare
the speed at which different plants grow in the
same soil.) Children could post their findings
so that others can read them. Encourage
children to include the method they used to do
their research.
As an extension to their study of soil,
provide each group with a magnifying glass
and a sample of garden soil, clay, and sand.
Have the children place a small amount of each
sample on a sheet of recycled paper and spread
the material out so that they can examine
individual grains through the magnifying glass.
Have them draw what they see. Provide water,
and let the children find out how each sample
feels when it is wet. Have them complete a
chart similar to the following:
Soil
Wet/Dry
Sand
Wet/Dry
Clay
Wet/Dry
Colour
Size of Grains
Feel
Tell the children that people who work with
soil, such as farmers and gardeners, can tell a
great deal about soil, what will grow in it, and
what kind of treatment it will need, just from
the feel of it.
Integrating Science
Music: Songs About Air, Water, and Soil
Invite the class to share any songs they
know about air, water, or soil. Try to find
the words or a recording of these songs and
teach them to the children. Alternatively,
children could use the tune of a song they
know to invent their own song about air,
water, or soil.
Language Arts: Legends
Invite a representative from a local tribe to
tell the class legends and stories from his or
her culture about air, water, or soil.
Alternatively, the person could simply
describe that culture’s attitude to, and
respect for, the environment and its bounty.
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Lesson 1:Why Are Air and Water Important?