Lesson 1
Discovering the uses of water
This lesson will encourage children to think about all the different ways that they
use water, and also get them talking about how things are different in other
countries. They will learn that water is a valuable resource that’s not to be
wasted, and that all living things depend on it. They will also be using ICT for
research.
Learning objectives:
What water is and how it is used all over the world
Why it is important not to waste water
To understand why people ask questions
To use the Internet and ICT to research and record data
Success criteria:
Children should be able to:
understand that water is a universal need
understand that access to water varies in different parts of the world
understand the issue of wasting water and what happens to water once it has
been used
Curriculum links:
Geography
1a ask geographical questions [for example, 'What is this landscape like?', 'What
do I think about it?']
2a to use appropriate geographical vocabulary [for example,
temperature, transport, industry]
2f to use ICT to help in geographical investigations [for example,
creating a data file to analyse fieldwork data]
2g to recognise how places fit within a wider geographical context
[for example, as part of a bigger region or country] and are
interdependent [for example, through the supply of goods,
movements of people].
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ecosmart water conservation
Lesson 1
5a recognise how people can improve the environment [for example, by
reclaiming derelict land] or damage it [for example, by polluting a river], and
how decisions about places and environments affect the future quality of
people's lives
5b recognise how and why people may seek to manage environments sustainably,
and to identify opportunities for their own involvement [for example, taking
part in a local conservation project].
6c water and its effects on landscapes and people, including the physical
features of rivers [for example, flood plain] or coasts [for example, beach],
and the processes of erosion and deposition that affect them
Science
2e the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle
Literacy
Non-fiction – note taking, speaking and listening
ICT
1a to talk about what information they need and how they can find and use it [for
example, searching the internet or a CD-ROM, using printed material, asking
people]
1b how to prepare information for development using ICT, including selecting
suitable sources, finding information, classifying it and checking it for
accuracy [for example, finding information from books or newspapers,
creating a class database, classifying by characteristics and purposes,
checking the spelling of names is consistent]
1c to interpret information, to check it is relevant and reasonable and to think
about what might happen if there were any errors or omissions.
5a working with a range of information to consider its characteristics and
purposes [for example, collecting factual data from the internet and a class
survey to compare the findings]
Preparation required/resources:
Small whiteboards (can also use scrap paper)
Large water jug or bucket
A glass filled with water
Blue food colouring (optional)
Laptops or use of a computer suite
Activity sheet: Where Water is From
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Lesson 1
Creating a water cycle in a jar:
An air tight jar (a Kilner jar is ideal, although cling film can help if an ordinary jar
is not 100% airtight). If you want to do this as a class activity, you will need 5
or 6 jars
Soil or compost
Water
A feature such as a small figurine or a living plant
Activity sheet: Water cycle
You can create your own working model of the water cycle to display on a warm
windowsill in the classroom.
Just take one large glass jar with an airtight seal and fill it half-way with soil or
compost. Add enough fresh water to saturate the layer of soil and create a water
table. Use a spoon to sculpt the earth and then place your feature in the middle so
that vapour can evaporate easily. Seal the lid and leave in a sunny location on a
windowsill.
Within a few hours, water vapour will begin to condense on the inside of the jar,
forming droplets which trickle down and flow back into the soil. Placing a living
plant in the jar can help the process by releasing water vapour through its
leaves.
Children can observe the process as a miniature water cycle. Plants will soon
spring up inside the jar, including grass and moss, making a carpet of vegetation.
Water droplets will even condense on plant leaves as dew.
Starter:
Tell the class that they are really lucky because today you’ve brought one of the
most precious things in the world in for them to see. Get them to
try and guess what it is that you’re about to show them.
Present a glass or bottle of water! Make sure that you tell them
they’ve made some good guesses, and that all of the things they
came up with were indeed precious, but that water is the most
precious of all.
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Lesson 1
Challenge the children to come up with as many facts about water as possible. Ask
them to write down everything they’ve heard or know about water on a
whiteboard. Talk about some of the more interesting examples and point out
anything that might not quite be true!
Explain that they are going to find out even more about water, and why it’s the
most precious thing in the whole world.
Whole class introduction:
Ask the children to answer a simple question - “What is water? Put them into pairs
and ask them to talk about their answers. When the time is up, ask children to
volunteer to give the class their answers. Write their comments down on the
board.
Ask another question to get them thinking - “Why do we ask questions?” Again, get
the children to give you their answers and write them down on the board.
Finally, ask the class why they think that it might be important to ask questions
about water? Record their answers on the board. If they seem confused, suggest
something along the lines of “It’s important to ask questions about water
because...we all need water to stay alive!”
Independent, paired work:
Activity 1:
Explain to the children that they are going to be doing some important research on
the Internet to find out about how water is used.
1. Ask the children to write down as many uses for water as they can think of, on
the whiteboards. Talk about the results with the class.
2. Give children the following questions to look up on the
Internet:
“Where does water go after it disappears down the sink?”
“Why is it important not to waste water?”
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Lesson 1
Ask them to make a note of the answers, and record the results in a Word
document or similar.
If the children haven’t found this out for themselves, make sure that you tell
them, using a two litre bottle as a prop if you like, that the average family of
four in the UK uses 480 litres of water a day.
Tell them that in fact we only need to use about three litres of water each per
day and that we should be drinking most of it! Spend a few minutes discussing the
other interesting facts and figures that the children have come up with.
Activity 2:
Fill a jug with water (you might like to add some food dye for effect) and explain
to the class that this jug of water represents all the water on the earth.
Pour one glass of water from the jug and explain to the children that this one
glass represents all the glaciers, ice caps and fresh water in the world.
Take one of the children’s hands and put two drops of water into it. Ask the
children to guess what they think that two small drops might actually represent?
Once they have told you all of their answers, you can explain that those tiny
drops represent all the water in lakes, rivers and streams that is available for
people to drink.
Talk to the children about why this means that we have to preserve water, and
why it’s such a precious resource.
Alternative activity – creating a water cycle jar
Working in groups, the children can create their own water cycle
jar, following the instructions provided under the ‘Preparation
required/resources’ section. The children can monitor the activity
in the jar over the next few days and explain what is happening.
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Independent work:
Give the children an atlas and the ‘Where Water is From’ activity sheet. Ask them
to record their answers to the questions on the activity sheet.
If you have time, and for an extra challenge, you could ask the children to find
famous rivers in the atlas, such as the Nile, the Amazon and the Mississippi.
Plenary:
Ask the children what they think about what they’ve just found out. Do they think
any differently about ‘boring old water’ now?
Talk about how lucky we are that when we need a drink or to wash, all we have to
do is turn on a tap or shower. Explain that it’s harder in other parts of the world
where people walk for miles to collect clean water from boreholes, wells and
springs.
Tell the class that not only do people have to walk for miles, but that many of
these sources of water are contaminated and that dirty water is one of the main
causes of illness and death in developing countries. Finish by telling the class
that two million children die every year because they have no clean water to
drink.
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be ecosmart
Water Cycle
condensation
water
vapour
water
saturated
layer
Use the space below to describe
what is happening in the jar.
ecosmart water conservation: worksheet
be ecosmart
Where Water is From
How much do you know about where water is from?
Use your atlas and what you already know to answer these questions!
The oceans contain 97% of all the water
in the world.
Which is the world’s largest ocean?
Where would you find salty water?
Why is it not healthy to drink sea water?
There are billions of tonnes of ice at
the South Pole.
Can you find another name for the South
Pole?
The people of ancient Athens used to
boil their water before they drank it.
Where is Athens?
Why do you think they boiled their water?
Why do you think we still boil our water
today?
The people of Egypt take their water
from a very important river.
What is the name of the river that flows
through Egypt?
The Three Gorges Dam holds back the
river Yangtze and forms the largest
reservoir in the world.
Where is the river Yangtze?
ecosmart water conservation: worksheet