Rain Garden Similes
Adapted from Project WILD Aquatic “Wetland Metaphors” lesson plan
Objectives: Students will describe the characteristics of a rain garden and evaluate the importance of
rain gardens as a low impact development technique.
Appropriate Grade Levels: 4th – 12th
Standards Addressed:
NC Essential Science: 4.L.1; 5.P.2.1; 6.E.2.4,
8.E.1.4, EEn.2.4.2
Common Core Literacy Standards: L.4.5.A;
L.5.5.A
Materials: Bag or container of items listed:
coffee filter, pasta strainer, hotel, home,
cradle, soap, sponge, loofa, funnel, baseball
mitt, bowl, baby bottle, food wrapper, whisk
Method: Students will collect items from the
“rain garden similes” bag and describe how the items relate to rain gardens.
Background:
Clean coastal waters are vital to our health, economy and lifestyles. Along the coast, the waters
we depend on for fishing and swimming are becoming polluted by stormwater runoff.
What’s all the fuss about a little rain?
When rain falls on hard surfaces such as parking lots, roads and rooftops it is not absorbed into
the ground. Instead this “stormwater runoff” along with water from sprinklers and home car
washes collects pollutants such as pet waste, auto fluids, sediment, fertilizers and pesticides and
flows into our creeks, rivers and sounds. This brew of chemicals, nutrients and sediment can
lead to fish kills, closed swimming and shellfish harvest areas and buried oyster beds.
Stormwater runoff is the biggest polluter of coastal waters, making it a top priority for the North
Carolina Coastal Federation.
A Solution to Pollution
An easy way to prevent stormwater runoff is to enable water to soak into the ground. Soil and
plants will filter out pollutants, and the water can recharge our groundwater and feed our
streams and wetlands. Rain gardens are one of many low-impact development tools that can
reduce the stormwater water entering our coastal waters. The federation works with schools
along the coast to install rain gardens that are designed to catch and infiltrate stormwater
runoff before it can pollute coastal waters.
Rain gardens are important because they:
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provide food and shelter for many creatures
collect and filter pollutants from stormwater runoff
provide aesthetic value, enhanced views, and a sense of place
Reduce flooding
School Yard Rain Gardens: Living Classrooms
Rain gardens are constructed shallow depressions containing native plants and soils. They work
the way nature does. They capture stormwater runoff so it can soak into the ground.
Rain gardens are a type of Low-Impact Development (LID).LID is an economical and effective
strategy for protecting and restoring coastal water quality by preventing polluting stormwater
runoff. LID prevents stormwater runoff from polluting waterways by mimicking a site’s natural
surface water and groundwater hydrology. LID includes many decentralized stormwater design
techniques that infiltrate, filter, store and evaporate runoff. Instead of directing stormwater to
centralized ditches, pipes and ponds, LID maintains a landscape that captures and absorbs rain
before it has a chance to become polluted runoff.
Procedure:
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Prepare a “Rain Garden Simile” bag. You can have items for all of your students or have them
work in groups, but have enough items for at least groups of 4 or less.
Have your students stand in a circle.
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Engage:
 Ask students if they know where rain goes once it hits the ground. Take the class outside to
observe where water from a watering can goes after it lands on different surfaces (soil, grass,
sidewalk, parking lot etc.) Be sure to point out impervious vs. pervious surfaces during this
exercise. Allow the students to help pour the water on the surfaces, and have them develop a
hypothesis of what will happen prior to pouring out the water (you can have students raise their
hands and vote whether or not they think the water will soak through). Talk about how
impervious surfaces can pick up different pollutants and carry them to our local waterways.
 Discuss the school rain garden (or natural landscaped areas if your school does not have a rain
garden) and what makes it special (see background section).
Explore:
 Explain to the students that they will pull an item randomly from the bag and determine how it
can relate to a rain garden using a simile.
 Review with students what a simile is (a comparison between two things that uses like or as. (ex.
As quiet as a mouse)
 Allow each group or student to collect an item, and give them some time to think about a simile.
Explain:
 Go around the circle and let each student/group identify their object and its relationship to a
rain garden in the form of a simile.
Examples:
 A rain garden is like a coffee filter because it filters pollutants and allows clean water back into
the ground.
 A rain garden is like a pasta strainer because it filters pollutants and allows clean water back
into the ground.
 A rain garden is like a hotel because pollinators come to pollinate flowers at certain times of the
year.
 A rain garden is like a home because a variety of plants occupy the same area for the entire
year; a variety of animals may call it home.
 A rain garden is like a cradle it gives way to juvenile plants at the beginning of the season and
allows for an ideal place to grow.
 A rain garden is like soap because it makes the water clean before it enters back into the
ground.
 A rain garden is like a sponge because it has plants which soak up pollutants.
 A rain garden is like funnel because it captures runoff from various places and guides water
through the infiltration process reducing the amount of runoff that ends up in a waterway.
 A rain garden is like a bowl because it collects stormwater runoff.
 A rain garden is like a baseball mitt because it catches pollutants.
 A rain garden is like a loofa because it works to clean out pollutants coming from stormwater
runoff.
 A rain garden is like a baby bottle because lots of juvenile plants and animals can live there.
 A rain garden is like a whisk since it catches a mix of different pollutants; there are a mixture of
plants in the garden, there is a mix of animals who can live there.
 A rain garden is like a food wrapper because it provides food for insects and other animals who
feed off of native plants.
Elaborate & Evaluate:
 Ask students why rain gardens and other low impact development techniques are important for
water quality. They help to slow down, filter, and reduce the amount of polluted stormwater
runoff that flows into our waterways, thus improving water quality.
 Ask students what other benefits rain gardens may provide? Habitat for plants and animals,
aesthetic benefits to the community, living classrooms for students
Extension:
 Visit a rain garden to verify the appropriateness of the similes mentioned.
 See if students can come up with new similes or metaphors.
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If your school doesn’t have a rain garden, look into building one with the students. If you live in
coastal NC you can contact the NC Coastal Federation at [email protected]. If you live
elsewhere, try contacting your local Cooperative Extension office, Soil and Water Conservation
district office, Riverkeeper, or environmental departments of local universities.