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11 Where Is Water?
BROWARD COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCIENCE BENCHMARK PLAN
Grade 3—Quarter 2
Activity 11
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The student knows that 75 percent of the surface of the Earth is covered by water.
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The student knows that a model of something is different from the real thing but can be
used to learn something about the real thing.
ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The following suggestions are intended to help identify major concepts covered in the activity
that may need extra reinforcement. The goal is to provide opportunities to assess student
progress without creating the need for a separate, formal assessment session (or activity) for
each of the 40 hands-on activities at this grade level.
1. Tell the students they will play a game of catch with an Earth globe. (Try to obtain an
inflatable plastic globe.) Tell them that each time they catch the globe, they will have to
see where the tip of their right index finger landed, on water or on land. Ask them to
predict where the fingertip will land most often and to explain why. (Water, because there
is more water than land covering Earth’s surface.) When students play the game, they will
find that the percentage of times the fingertip lands on water will be about the same
percentage as that of water covering the planet, about 70–75 percent.
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2. Use the Activity Sheet(s) to assess student understanding of the major concepts in the
activity.
In addition to the above assessment suggestions, the questions in bold and tasks that
students perform throughout the activity provide opportunities to identify areas that may
require additional review before proceeding further with the activity.
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activity 11 Where Is Water?
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11 Where Is Water?
OBJECTIVES
Students are introduced to the abundance
of water on Earth. They explore major
locations of water and ice on Earth.
The students
make a list of bodies of water on Earth
map some locations of water and ice on
Earth
SCHEDULE
About 40 minutes
VOCABULARY
glacier
MATERIALS
For each student
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1
1
Activity Sheet 11
crayon or marker, blue*
For the class
Delta Science Reader Water Cycle
1
globe, or map of the world*
*provided by the teacher
PREPARATION
1
Make a copy of Activity Sheet 11 for each
student.
2
Study the globe or wall map to locate
some of the major rivers and lakes of the
world. Some specific ones to look for
include the Great Lakes of North America,
Lake Victoria in Africa, Lake Aral in Asia,
the Caspian Sea (salt water) in Asia and
Europe, the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers in North America, the Nile, Zaire,
and Niger Rivers in Africa, the Amazon
River of South America, and the Ob, Chang
Jiang, Amur, Yenisei, Lena, Huang He, and
Mekong Rivers in Asia.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
When viewed from outer space, Earth appears
blue, with a covering of white wisps of clouds.
The reason Earth appears blue is because
about three-quarters of its surface is covered
by water.
Most of the water on Earth is salt water and is
found in oceans, seas, and saltwater lakes.
Less than 3 percent of Earth’s water is fresh.
The largest freshwater lake in the world is
Lake Superior in North America, one of the
Great Lakes. It is 560 km (about 350 mi) long
and covers 80,000 sq km (about 30,000 sq
mi).
The longest river in the world is the Nile River
in Africa. It extends for 6,400 km (about 4,000
mi) before emptying into the Mediterranean
Sea.
Less than one-third of the fresh water on
Earth is available as surface water or
groundwater. A large amount of Earth’s fresh
water is frozen in glaciers. A glacier is a huge,
slow-moving mass of ice and snow. About
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Activity Sheet 11
y
Where Is Water?
Color all the water and ice blue.
activity 11 Where Is Water?
Pacific
Ocean
Coral
Sea
South
China Sea
Weddell
Sea
Ross
Sea
Atlantic
Ocean
Lake
Victoria
Indian
Ocean
Zaire
(Congo) River
Niger
River
Nile
River
Amazon
River
Pacific Ocean
Mekong
River
Antarctica,
ice-covered
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Mississippi River
Bering
Sea
Greenland,
ice-covered
Missouri
River
Great
Lakes
Caribbean
Sea
Atlantic
Ocean
Black
Sea
Lake
Aral
Arabian Sea
Amur River
Chang Jiang River
Huang He River
Caspian
Sea
Mediterranean
Sea
Arctic Ocean
Sea of
Japan
Students should color all the oceans and seas,
plus Antarctica and Greenland.
Sea of
Okhotsk
30,000,000 cubic km (7,200,000 cubic mi)
of ice currently cover Earth’s surface. If all
the ice and snow on Earth melted,
scientists estimate that the level
of the oceans would rise by 30 m to 60 m
(about 100 ft to 200 ft).
Guiding the Activity
1
Additional Information
Show the students the globe or wall map of
the world and ask, What color do you see
the most?
blue
Ask the students, How can you explain that
Earth is so blue?
The blue represents water, and a great deal
of Earth is covered by water.
Tell the students that about three-fourths of
Earth’s surface is covered with water. Ask,
Where is most of the water on Earth’s
surface found?
Students should say that most of the water is
found in the oceans.
Point out to students that all Earth’s oceans
flow into one another and are really just one
big body of water. We call different areas of
ocean water by different names, however.
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2
On the board write the heading Locations
of Water on Earth. Ask the students, What
are the names of the world’s oceans? As
volunteers name the oceans, have them come
to the front of the room and point them out
on the globe or map of the world. Write them
under the heading.
The names of the world’s oceans are as
follows: Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.
Ask, Where else can water be found on
Earth?
Students may suggest seas, rivers, lakes,
ponds, streams, and so forth.
Ask the students, What are the names of
some seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds? As
volunteers name bodies of water, add them
to the list on the board.
Students’ answers will vary. They may
suggest famous lakes and rivers or smaller
bodies of water with which they may be
personally familiar.
On the globe or map of the world, point out
some of the world’s seas, such as the
Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean Sea.
Ask, What is the difference between an
ocean and a sea?
Answers will vary.
Explain to students that a sea is a smaller
body of salt water that is usually landlocked.
An ocean is a continuous body of water that
is not landlocked but is broken up into
different names for the sake of identification.
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Guiding the Activity
Additional Information
Also point out major lakes and rivers, such as
the Great Lakes of North America, Lake
Victoria in Africa, Lake Aral in Asia, the
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in North
America, the Nile and Zaire Rivers in Africa,
the Amazon River of South America, and the
Yangtze and Mekong Rivers in Asia.
3
Ask, Is water always a liquid?
4
Refer the students back to the globe or wall
map of the world. Point out areas of Earth
that are permanently covered with ice.
Include Antarctica, the area around the North
Pole, and Greenland.
Students will most likely know that when
water freezes, it turns to ice, a solid.
Write the word glacier on the board. Explain
that a glacier is a huge, slow-moving mass of
ice and snow. Point once again to Antarctica,
and tell students that the world’s largest
glacier is the ice sheet that covers 90 percent
of Antarctica.
Ask, How thick would you guess this ice
sheet, or glacier, to be?
Answers will vary.
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Ask the students, What do you think would
happen if all the ice in these areas melted?
It would turn to water, and the amount of
water in the oceans would increase. In fact,
the levels of the oceans would rise so much
that coastal communities would be flooded.
Give each student a copy of Activity Sheet 11
and a blue marker or crayon. Ask the
students to point out the oceans and seas
and the major rivers and lakes shown on the
map. Have them identify areas permanently
covered by ice.
Make sure the students understand that
only a few of the world’s lakes and rivers are
shown on this map.
Instruct the students to use their blue
crayons or markers to color in the oceans,
seas, rivers, and lakes, as well as areas
permanently covered by ice.
Students may need to refer to the class
globe or world map.
Ask, Is water found anywhere on Earth
besides in bodies of water and in
permanent ice areas?
Tell students that they will investigate where
else water is located in coming activities.
activity 11 Where Is Water?
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Tell students that Antarctica has ice as thick
as 3,048 m (10,000 ft).
Guiding the Activity
6
Explain to the students that they are learning
about the locations of water on Earth as a first
step in learning about what happens to water
on Earth.
7
As appropriate, read or review pages 2–7 of
the Delta Science Reader Water Cycle.
REINFORCEMENT
Provide students with a state or local map.
Have them identify the bodies of water in
their state or neighborhood.
SCIENCE JOURNALS
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Have students place their completed activity
sheets in their science journals.
Additional Information
SCIENCE AT HOME
Have students find out where the water
they use at home comes from. Does the
family get its water from a city or town
water supply? Do they use a bottled water
supply? Does the water come from a well
dug in the yard? If the water is pumped
from a town or city supply, find out the
source of the water. If possible, they could
try to visit the lake or reservoir that
supplies their drinking water. To discover
how important water is, have students
keep a record of how many times a day,
and for how many different purposes, they
or their families use water.
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Connections
Science Challenge
The retention of heat by oceans and other
large bodies of water is partly responsible for
Earth’s climate. Ask students whether they
think water or land holds heat longer, and
record their responses. Then do the following
activity as a demonstration: Fill two identical
cans to the same level, one with water and
one with soil. Put both cans in a warm oven
for one hour or outdoors where they will be
exposed to direct sunlight for several hours.
Bring the cans into the classroom, insert a
thermometer into each, and record the two
temperatures. Leave the cans where they can
cool, and record the temperature of the soil
and water every hour or half-hour for as long
as is feasible. Students will see that water
retains heat longer than soil does.
Science and Social Studies
When the class discussed what might
happen if all the ice on Earth melted,
some students may have suggested that
populated areas near seacoasts would be
flooded and perhaps totally submerged as
ocean levels rose. Ask students to research
the elevation of the downtown area of
major U.S. cities to see how much of a
rise in sea level would cause flooding of
each city.
Encourage students to find out about
the ice ages that have recurred on Earth
during its long history.
Science and Math
Science and Careers
Write the terms hydrology and hydrologist on
the board. Explain that hydrology is the
scientific study of Earth’s water—where it is,
how it moves, how it becomes polluted, and
how it can be cleaned. A hydrologist is a
scientist who studies water. Encourage
interested students to find out about the
different types of work that hydrologists do.
Ask volunteers to create a bulletin board
display showing these roles.
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activity 11 Where Is Water?
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The following activity can be done with
students who understand percentages. Tell
students that although about 75 percent of
the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only a
tiny percentage of that water is available for
use. Ask students to find out the percentages
of salt water, unavailable fresh water (water
trapped in glaciers and ice caps or deep
under ground), and available fresh water
(in rivers, lakes, soil, and air) on Earth. Help
students make a pie chart showing these
percentages.