Pre-Visit Activities : Water Wonders
K-Second Grade Online Curriculum : Habitats

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MAIN

Focus Question
Why is water important to living things? Where does the water in habitats come from? Where does the water in habitats eventually go?

Activity Synopsis
Students will participate in an inquiry-based activity in which they use their senses to explore the properties of water, determine why living things need water to survive and determine how water can collect in habitats for living things to use. 

Time Frame
Three half-day sessions

Student Key Terms

Teacher Key Terms

OBJECTIVES

The learner will be able to:

STANDARDS

Standards Supported in Water Wonders Activity    
      

Grade Level

Standards

Kindergarten

K-1.1, K-1.2, K-1.3, K-1.5, K-2.1, K-2.2, K-5.1

1st Grade

1-1.1, 1-1.2, 1-1.3, 1-1.4, 1-2.1,1-4.1,1-4.4, 1-4.5

2nd Grade

2-1.1, 2-1.2, 2-1.3, 2-1.4, 2-1.5, 2-2.1, 2-4.1
* Bold standards are the main standards addressed in this activity.

 

 

 

Kindergarten Indicators

K-1.1 Identify observed objects or events by using the senses.
K-1.2 Use tools (including magnifiers and eyedroppers) safely, accurately, and appropriately when gathering specific data.
K-1.3

Predict and explain information or events based on observation or previous experience.
K-1.5

Use appropriate safety procedures when conducting investigations.
K-2.1 Recognize what organisms need to stay alive. (including air, water, food, and shelter)
K-2.2 Identify examples of organisms and nonliving things.
K-5.1

Classify objects by observable properties (including size, color, shape, magnetic attraction, heaviness, texture, and the ability to float in water).

First Grade Indicators

1-1.1 Compare, classify, and sequence objects by number, shape, texture, size, color, and motion, using standard English units of measurement where appropriate.
1-1.2 Use tools (including rulers) safely, accurately, and appropriately when gathering specific data.
1-1.3 Carry out simple scientific investigations when given clear directions.
1-1.4

Use appropriate safety procedures when conducting investigations.
1-2.1  Recall the basic needs of plants (including air, water, nutrients, space, and light) for energy and growth.
1-4.1

Recognize the composition of Earth (including rocks, sand, soil, and water).

1-4.4

The observable properties of water (including the fact that it takes the shape of its container, flows downhill, and feels wet).
1-4.5

Illustrate the locations of water on Earth by using drawings, maps, or models.

Second Grade Indicators

2-1.1 Carry out simple scientific investigations to answer questions about familiar objects and events.
2-1.2

Use tools (including thermometers, rain gauges, balances, and measuring cups) safely, accurately, and appropriately when gathering specific data in US customary (English) and metric units of measurement.

2-1.3 Represent and communicate simple data and explanations through drawings, tables, pictographs, bar graphs, and oral and written language.
2-1.4  Infer explanations regarding scientific observations and experiences.
2-1.5

Use appropriate safety procedures when conducting investigations.
2-2.1 Recall the basic needs of animals including air, water, food, and shelter for energy, growth, and production.
2-4.1

Recall the properties of solids and liquids.

BACKGROUND

Key Points
Key Points will give you the main information you should know to teach the activity.

Detailed Information
Detailed Information gives more in-depth background to increase your own knowledge, in case you want to expand upon the activity or you are asked detailed questions.

Without water, there would be no life on earth. Single cell organisms and most of the cells in multicellular organisms need to be submerged in water to survive. The cells themselves are comprised of approximately 70 to 90 percent water. Water, in liquid form, covers 75% of the Earth's surface as oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, creeks and ponds. Water appears on our planet in solid form as ice sheets, icebergs, sleet, snow, and hail and in its gaseous form as water vapor, visible to us as steam. Water, in its liquid form, is suspended in gas in the form of mist and fog and, in both solid and liquid forms, is suspended in gas in the clouds. Water is the only common substance to exist in the natural environment in all three physical states of matter: liquid, solid and gas. Water is truly an amazing substance with extraordinary properties.

A water molecule, at first glance, is quite simple. It is comprised of one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen.

What makes water special is that one side of the molecule carries a positive charge (the side where the hydrogen atoms are located) and one side carries a negative charge (the side where the oxygen atom is located). A molecule that contains opposite charges on opposite sides of itself is called a polar molecule. The polarity of water gives water its unusual properties. The positively charged hydrogen atoms of one molecule of water are attracted to the negatively charged oxygen atom of a neighboring molecule. The oxygen and hydrogen atoms bond with one another and these bonds are called hydrogen bonds. As a result of hydrogen bonding, water molecules stick together cohesively.

The cohesion (sticking together) of water molecules is one of the properties that makes water so interesting. Cohesion of water molecules at the top of a body of water results in surface tension. Surface tension is the resistance the top of a body of water has to breaking apart and can sometimes give water the properties of a solid. Surface tension can be seen when insects such as water striders walk across the surface of water or when you jump into a pool flat on your stomach and it initially feels like you landed on the ground before you sink in. That pain you feel is caused by surface tension.

Cohesion also enables water in plants to travel from the roots to the leaves. Water enters a plant through its roots and then it is carried up tiny tubes, called the xylem, through the stem to the leaves. In some plants, such as redwood trees, this can be a trip of hundreds of feet. When the leaves open their stomata (the holes in the leaves) for respiration, some of the water molecules in the xylem are lost from the plant to evaporation. The water molecules that evaporate are still attached to the rest of the water molecules in the xylem by cohesion. The evaporating water pulls the water molecules behind it, like a locomotive pulling boxcars. The water molecules at the bottom of the xylem in the roots will pull new water molecules in the roots from the soil. This way, water is continuously moving through the plant by cohesion.

Water is important to living things because of its properties as a solvent and a temperature moderator. Many substances dissolve in water. Because some substances have electrical charges that are attracted to the electrical charges of water molecules, the molecules of these substances will bond with the molecules of the water. This is what happens when salt or sugar is poured into a glass of water. The salt or sugar molecules will bond with the water molecules and, to the eye, seem to disappear. Because of this solvent property, water is necessary for digestion and for transporting substances around an organism's body. In animals, water helps to break down food into its usable nutrients, and then the water in the blood helps to carry the nutrients to the various cells of the body as well as to carry the wastes out of the body.

The ability of water to maintain a constant temperature is also necessary for keeping living things at a constant temperature. Extreme temperature changes can be fatal to most living things. It takes a lot of energy to raise water even a degree in temperature. Because of this property, high proportions of water in living things help to keep the organism's body temperature in a limited range conducive for the survival of the organism. The water in the body retains heat when it is cold outside and resists heating when it is hot outside. If it is too hot, water can be released outside of the body in the form of sweat for increased cooling. It takes a great deal of heat to turn liquid water into water vapor (539 calories per gram of water). This heat to evaporate the sweat is taken from the body and the loss of body heat lowers the body temperature.

Water is also very important as an ingredient in chemical reactions. For example, plants produce food in photosynthesis by combining molecules of water with molecules of carbon dioxide. Without the food energy produced during photosynthesis, most living things could not survive.

Because water is being used in so many different ways by living things, it constantly needs to be replenished. The living thing has to regularly intake water to replace water lost during its regular life processes. For this reason, living things can only be found in habitats that contain water.

Luckily, water can be found all across the earth. 75% of the Earth's surface is covered with water with 70% of the surface covered by the oceans. Water is abundant to living things that can live in saltwater. 97% of water on earth is saltwater in the oceans. Of the remaining 3% that is freshwater, 2% is found as ice in glaciers and polar caps, more than 0.5% is in the ground as groundwater, so less than 0.5% of water on earth is freshwater in rivers, streams and lakes. This freshwater can be found in most land habitats on earth in greatly varying degrees of abundance.

The abundance of water in the habitat will often determine the biodiversity, amount and variety, of life found in the habitat. For example, the tropical rainforests of the Amazon Basin have much higher biodiversity than the Saharan Desert. By the same token, the well-watered habitats of South Carolina have much higher biodiversity than the arid habitats of Nebraska. The presence of large amounts of water allows a larger variety of living things to flourish.

All of South Carolina receives a high amount of annual average rainfall ranging from 45 inches a year in the Sandhills to 80 inches a year in some parts of the Mountains. Look on a map of South Carolina and you will see that each region of the state contains many large bodies of water ranging from mountain streams to rivers to blackwater swamps to salt marshes. The high amount of rainfall helps sustain a high biodiversity in our small state.

Rainfall is just one part of the water cycle, the cycle by which water circulates endlessly from the ocean, the land and the atmosphere. The two primary factors driving the water cycle are evaporation (the change from liquid to gas, such as water vapor) and precipitation (rain, sleet, hail and snow). The heat from the sun causes water on earth to warm and to evaporate. As it rises, the water vapor cools and forms clouds. Precipitation in the form of rain occurs when water cools and condenses (the transition from water vapor to liquid) around small particles and the water falls to the ground. Precipitation in the form of sleet and snow occurs when water freezes around small particles and the water falls to the ground.

Because the ocean covers 75% of the Earth's surface, most precipitation falls into the oceans, where it stays until it eventually evaporates again into the atmosphere. The water in precipitation that falls on land can do one of several things. Most of the water that falls on the ground will end up seeping into the soil where it will either be collected by plant roots and brought into a plant or will become part of the groundwater. Groundwater is all of the water that collects in the spaces between rocks underneath the surface. The groundwater will flow slowly towards the ocean and eventually may resurface to feed a stream, swamp or other body of water. Some of the water that falls on land as rain will travel downhill across the land as runoff to join larger bodies of water, such as lakes, streams and ponds.

All of the water on land is part of a watershed. Watersheds are areas of land where all of the rainwater that falls in that area eventually drains into a particular body of water. South Carolina has four major watershed areas: one that drains into the Savannah River, one that drains into the Santee River, one that drains into the PeeDee River and a collection of smaller watersheds all contained within the Coastal Plain, which drain into such rivers as the Edisto and the Ashley. All of the watersheds in South Carolina eventually flow into the ocean, because elevation drops as you travel from the mountains to the sea across South Carolina. Some of the water in these watersheds may evaporate before it reaches the ocean, and become part of the atmospheric water and then continue the cycle again.

Water in watersheds flows through many habitats and all of the organisms that live in the habitat depend on it for survival. Our planet is unique among the ones we know because of its abundance of liquid water and its abundance of life. It is the presence of liquid water with all of its amazing properties that have allowed life to flourish on Earth.

PROCEDURES

Materials

Procedure

Session One Procedures

  1. Give each student a cup of water. Have them observe the water with their senses. How does it look? How does it smell? How does it feel? How does it sound? How does it taste? What color is it? What shape is it? What size is it? Can the size and shape change? Write their observations on a chart in front of the class.
  2. People are supposed to drink eight glasses of water every day. Ask students why humans need to drink so much water. Have them think about it and discuss their ideas. Discuss with students how water helps us eat our food (saliva), helps to keep us cool (sweat), helps to carry vitamins and minerals around our bodies (blood) and helps to remove wastes from our bodies (urine).
  3. Using their cups of water, have the students conduct some experiments to see what water does for their bodies. Have the students roll up their sleeves, and spritz some water on their arms. Have them wait about a minute, and then describe how the water makes their arm feel. Ask them, "Why is it good to sweat when you have been running? How does the water in the sweat help your bodies?"
  4. Give each student a sugar cube and have them drop it in their cup of water. Have the students observe what happens to the sugar cube in the water and describe what they observe. Discuss with them how the water helps break the sugar cube up into little pieces and how the saliva in our mouths helps to do the same thing to the food we eat so it is easier for us to chew it.
  5. Have the students gather around a table for this demonstration. Set up a tray on the table so it is at an incline. Place a teaspoon of dry Kool-aid powder near the highest part of the tray. Pour water on the tray so it flows over the Kool-aid powder and have students observe and describe what happens. Discuss with the students how the water picks up and carries the Kool-aid and how the water in our blood does the same thing with vitamins and minerals, the good stuff in our body, so it can be carried to all parts of our body, and how urine does the same thing with wastes, the bad stuff in our bodies, so it can be carried out of our bodies.
  6. Discuss with students whether plants and other animals need water. Ask them if they give water to their pets and houseplants. Discuss with students what these living things might need water for and whether they think all living things need water.

Session Two Procedures

  1. Discuss with students whether or not they think that a living thing could survive without water. If a habitat is a place where living things can get the things they need to survive, ask students if it is possible to have a habitat without water. Ask students to name some of the ways that water gets into habitats (rain, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps, the ocean, groundwater).
  2. Ask students to think about and discuss how raindrops become a lake or river or other body of water that animals can drink from and/or live in. To get them thinking about rain, as a class, create the sounds of a rainstorm. Perform the following motions and rain sounds while the students imitate:
    • Rub palms together back and forth (wind)
    • Snap fingers slowly then quickly (raindrops)
    • Clap hands, not all in the same rhythm (steady, light rain)
    • Slap thighs (heavy rain)
    • Stomp feet rapidly on the ground (downpour)
    • Slap thighs, clap hands, snap fingers quickly and get slower, then rub palms.
  3. After creating the rainstorm, give students a piece of wax paper and have them put two drops of water on it with an eyedropper so they can see how water will join together. Ask students to place the two drops of water as close together as possible, without them touching. Ask students to lightly blow the drops together and observe how they are attracted to each other. Ask students to describe how the water drops cannot touch without becoming one large drop. Discuss with students how raindrops come together to form streams and rivers and lakes and other bodies of water that become important habitats for living things.
  4. Have students observe and describe what happens to the water when they tilt the paper up at one end (water flows downhill). Ask the students what they think will happen to raindrops falling on top of a hill.
  5. Have students lay their palm flat on the table on the wax paper. Tell students to pretend their hand is a hill. Drop raindrops on top of the "hill". Spritz water on the students' hands so they can observe and describe what happens (water flows downhill and collects to form a large area of water). Discuss with students how the puddles on and around their hand are like the streams and lakes that would form around a hill after a rainstorm and become habitats for many living things. 

Session Three Procedures

  1. Have students examine a 3-D topographic map of South Carolina placed at the front of the classroom. Explain to the students that blue on the map represents water. Have students trace their fingers along the blue lines on the map to see that water can be found in habitats across South Carolina.
  2. Have students determine which part of the state is the highest and which part is the lowest, (the mountains and the coast). Review with students how water flows downhill. Ask students, which way they think the rivers in South Carolina will flow and where do they think the water in the rivers eventually goes (they flow to the Ocean).
  3. Give students the cutout of the raindrop, and ask them to place the cutout in the mountain region on the map. Tell them they are going to listen to a story to find out how the raindrop might travel across the state. Read River Story by Meredith Hooper. As you read the book, have the students move the raindrop cutout from the mountains to the sea across the South Carolina map to follow the story.
  4. Discuss with students how water is constantly flowing across South Carolina and name some of the different habitats it will travel through and some of the living thing that would be found in each of the habitats.
  5. Sing the The Raindrops Journey Song to reinforce what students have learned.

Follow-Up Questions:

  1. Are there any habitats on earth that do not have water? Are there many living things that can be found there?
  2. If water travels across the state, if someone throws some trash in a stream in the mountains can it eventually end up in the ocean?
  3. Do we just get water in our bodies by drinking plain water? Do other things we eat and drink have water in them?

ASSESSMENT
Have students tell or write a story about what they think might happen if it stopped raining in South Carolina.

Scoring Rubric (Out of 5 points):

Cross-Curricular Extensions
Music Extension
Have the students develop movements to act out The Raindrops Journey Song while they are singing it. Words & Music by Karey Santos.

Science Extension
Have students examine a drop of pond water under a microscope and then pose the question "What is living and nonliving in the drop of water?" Water is nonliving, but each drop contains living things.

Art Extension
Create rainmakers using toilet paper or paper towel rolls, tape or fabric and rubber bands (to cap the ends of rolls), and materials to place inside the rolls (rice, dried beans, paper clips, etc.). Let students experiment with different materials to produce the most realistic sounding rainmaker. Introduce the art activity by reading Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; ISBN number 0-8050-0682-

English Extension
Read the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker. Before turning to the last page, ask the students "What am I?" (Answer: water). Read the book Rain by Manya Stojic. Discuss which body parts enabled each animal to sense the arrival of a rainstorm. Which sense did each animal use? Which sense can the students use when it is raining?

Kindergarten Math extension by SCA Master teacher, Beth Blaskowitz, Blaney Elementary School

RESOURCES

Teacher Reference Books
Audesirk, Gerald and Teresa Audesirk. Biology: Life on Earth, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1993.
This college textbook explains the importance of water to life and the reasons why it has this importance.

Kovacik, Charles F. and John J. Winberry. South Carolina: the Making of a Landscape, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1989.
This wonderful reference book provides information on the abiotic factors that determine the habitats of South Carolina.

Watercourse Publications: Discover Ground Water & Springs, Conserve Water, Big Rivers, and the Water Story, The Watercourse, Montana.
These publications provide information and games on a variety of topics. For additional information visit www.montana.edu/wwwwater

Teacher Reference Websites
Project WET: Water Education for Teachers
www.montana.edu/wwwwet/
This is the home page for Project WET. Visit this site for on-line information and activities.

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control: Bureau of Water
www.scdhec.net/water
This site offers information on drinking water, water pollution control, watersheds plus much more.

Student Reference Books
Cone, Molly. Come Back, Salmon, Sierra Club Books for Children, San Francisco, 1992.
Learn how the students of Jackson Elementary School in Everett, Washington, cleaned a nearby stream, stocked it with salmon and protected it from pollution.

Curricula
Aquatic Project WILD
Aquatic Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on aquatic wildlife and ecosystems. The activities cover a broad range of environmental and conservation topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 734-3814.
For more information click on www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

JASON Project
The JASON Project is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers focusing on the geology, climate, biology and biodiversity of specific regions in the world. The activities cover a broad range of topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call Karen Talbert at (803) 738-1876.
For more information click on www.jasonproject.org

Project WET
Project WET is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on water. The activities cover a wide range of water-related topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 737-0808. For more information visit the website at www.montana.edu/wwwwet

Field Trip Sites
South Carolina's Ecoregions
Each of South Carolina's ecoregions contains many parks and preserved land that make watersheds and landforms accessible to school groups. Below is listed one example from each region.

Mountains
Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area (Jones Gap and Caesars Head State Natural Areas) - The Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area covers more than 10,000 acres of exceptional mountain habitat including Jones Gap and Caesars Head state parks. Education at this site strives to foster an understanding and appreciation of the Mountain Bridge, the Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Through expert instruction and hands-on field experiences, students can investigate the ecology, hydrology and geology of the area. (Greenville County - Caesars Head 864.836.6115; Jones Gap 864.836.3647)

Piedmont
Landsford Canal State Park - Offers teachers activities to use to guide their students investigations of the unique natural communities found in and near the rocky shoals of the Catawba River. Students will explore uniquely adapted plants and animals while investigating the geology and natural communities found in this area of the Catawba River. (Chester and Lancaster counties - 803.789.5800)

Sandhills
Sandhills State Forest - Located near Cheraw, this state forest showcases the wildlife communities that have developed on land that once were prehistoric sand dunes. Though the forest does not have structured education programs available, arrangements can be made for foresters to speak with school groups. The forest is open seven days a week. For more information call (843) 498-6478 or click on www.state.sc.us/forest.

Coastal Plain
Cypress Gardens - Cypress Gardens is a preserved blackwater swamp habitat located between Goose Creek and Moncks Corner. Trails, boats, a butterfly garden and freshwater aquariums can all be found here. The garden is opened seven days a week and offers environmental education programs for school groups. For more information call (843) 553-0515.

Coast
ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve - This reserve, located between Edisto Beach and Hunting Island, contains 12,000 acres of tidal marshes and estuarine waters. The area is rich in wildlife: fish, crustaceans, birds and even mammals can all be found here. Boat tours are available through this area for high school and college students. For more information call (843) 762-5032.

Ocean
Huntington Beach State Park - With its marshes, maritime forest and beach, the educational focus of Huntington Beach will foster understanding of how natural communities are interdependent on each other and dependent on us. To protect our natural heritage, we must learn that we are part of, not apart from, the natural world. Through observation and hands-on activities, students gain an understanding of the importance of the resources found on this park and enhance their appreciation of environmental issues facing their own communities. (Georgetown County - 843.237.4440)

If you are aware of other books, videos, websites, curricula, fieldtrip destinations or other materials that would make excellent resources for this activity, please e-mail them to us for inclusion in this list at: Education@scaquarium.org