Land and Water
Lesson 1
Thinking about Land and Water
In Lesson 1 the class will make a chart describing "What the students know about Land and Water" and "What they want to know about Land and Water." Students will look at various photographs and describe the effect of water on the land.
3. Lesson set up and Management
SYSTEMS GLE 1.2.4 Understand that Earth's system includes a mostly solid interior, landforms, bodies of water, and an atmosphere.
SYSTEMS GLE 1.3.4 Know processes that change the surface of Earth .
- Students will record and discuss what they know and want to know about land and water.
- Students will observe and describe how water and land interact by looking at photos.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
- Setting up student science notebooks; insert lined paper to make a table of contents (students will insert the page numbers as they do the activities).
- Important to try! Instead of using the pictures from the kit, take pictures of your local area for the students to look at. OR have the students go outside and observe around the playground.
- Include two 2" x 2" Post-it notes for each student.
Student Management:
- Have the students work independently when recording in their notebooks "What we know about Land and Water." and "What we want to know about Land and Water." Then have the students write their favorite ideas from each category onto a post-it note. During the class discussion (Procedure 5), have each student place their post-it note onto the chart paper. The notes can then be grouped into ideas that deal with "Land," "Water," and "Land/Water." (Procedure 7) Later the notes can be moved from "What we want to know about Land and Water" to "What we know about Land and Water."
- If using photo cards, pictures from the local area, or direct observation, make sure that the students record which picture/site they used in detail. This will allow the students to return to the same picture/site and modify their observation or description of the water/land interaction as student obtain better understanding of how water and land interact.
- Show photographs that are evidence of water erosion from the students' neighborhood. Try to connect this whole unit to their environment. Refer to these pictures frequently to see if they now understand what caused the land to be shaped that way.
Evidence of erosion in Yakima Area. An example of using photos from the area.
- The independent student work describing "What we know…" and "What we want to know…" could be done as a seatwork activity prior to the science lesson.
- Instead of making two charts "What we know…" and "What we want to know…" make a KWL chart (Know, Want to know, Learned).
- Preconception: Many students think that the earth’s surface only changes because of earthquakes and volcanoes. During the discussion, focus on the things that are observable. Make note of which students have this preconception and monitor their thinking throughout the unit. Check for student understanding of the impact of moving water on the Earth’s surface.
- Divide this lesson into 2 parts, Procedures 1-7 and Final Activity 1-6.
- On page 27, paragraph 1, an important point is made. "Most student responses to the photographs will be limited to descriptions of the scenery and not interactions between the land and water. Some students will have difficulty responding to the questions for each photograph. This is a pre-unit assessment. When students look at these photographs again at the end of the unit and examine other photographs within the unit, you should note considerable growth in their written descriptions." Do not give students all the answers, or have them add to the observations and explanations.
Writing Support:
- If the students are walking around the playground observing water/land interactions. Have the students write a descriptive paragraph of what they observed. Then have the students exchange papers and see if the reader can identify what part of the playground the writer was describing.
- Brainstorm a list of properties that earth materials have. For example: textures; smooth, hard, soft, etc. color; gray, brown, streaked, etc. shape; angular, pointed, rounded, etc.
Last updated 05/14/2007