Activities:
Activity 1: Watershed Model
This unit will begin with a mapping activity. Instead of making individual relief maps with salt dough, the class will make one larger map. While making this map, the students will learn how to read a topography map and how to make it to scale. For the purpose of combining social studies and science objectives, the map will include the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the state of Virginia.
The map will be constructed with non-permeable materials, so it can be used as a watershed model. The base will be a washing machine pan. These are available in many different sizes and shapes. The map outline will be traced onto the pan using an overhead projector. The water and land will be made of wax. Different colors of wax will be used to denote different geographic regions. The topography can be built up slowly using a layering technique. Students will be able to squeeze wax out of ketchup bottles to construct different landforms. Since the wax will be hot, special care will be taken when handling it. Small groups of students will take turns making the map.
Once the map is constructed, it will be used as a watershed model. Different flavors of Kool-Aid® will be used to represent different types of pollution. The students will have to determine through instruction and research where different types of pollution occur. The students will sprinkle the pollution on the map. Then the rain will come. Spray bottles containing water will be used for the rain. The students will then observe what happens to the water and the pollution when it rains. The model will also be used for other simulations. The rise in sea level associated with global warming will also be simulated. The students would be able to observe the effects to different areas. The watershed model may be saved for use in subsequent years, or the model could be recreated each year. The pan and the wax may be used over and over again. This activity could be done with any geographic region or watershed in the world.
Activity 2: Compare/Contrast Land Use Photos
Students will compare and contrast photographs of the same land taken at different periods of time. By examining photographs, the students will determine how the area in the photograph has changed over time. My students will use photographs found on the website "watersheded.org". These are photos from Virginia. However, photographs of other areas should also be available by searching the Internet. First, we will compare two photographs together as a class. Then the students will work in small groups. The groups will share their findings. By compiling the changes of the class, the students will draw conclusions about the effects the changes have on the watershed.
Activity 3: Adaptation of A River Ran Wild, by Lynn Cherry
Using the book, A River Ran Wild, by Lynn Cherry, the students will look at the history of the Nashua River in Massachusetts. The book traces the story of the river prior to human civilization. It follows the history from the Native Americans, European settlers, an Industrial Revolution, a polluted river, and a community effort to clean up the waterway. The students will be placed into small groups and assigned focus pages from the story. Each group will be responsible for using knowledge learned in class and their own research to tell the history of the Chesapeake Bay. Then the students will work together writing and illustrating their own version of the story. The pages will eventually be combined into a class book.
Activity 4: Action Project: Helping the Local Effort
These two action projects are designed to teach my fourth grade students that they can make a difference in their own community. The first project will be to paint the storm drains in the neighborhood surrounding our school. The students will write a letter to the City of Richmond requesting permission to paint the storm drains. After receiving permission, notifying the neighbors, and ordering the necessary supplies, the students will be organized into groups with parent volunteers. The storm drains will be scraped and primed. Then the message used by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation will be stenciled on the storm drains to notify residents that anything put in the storm drain will go to Chesapeake Bay.
The second action project will be to plant native plants along the banks of the James River. The James River is located in Richmond, but feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. By planting native plants the students will create riparian buffers that will filter runoff before it enters into the watershed. The student council is willing to donate money to purchase plants for this project. However, grant money could be another source of funding for this project or a similar one in your area.
Daily Schedule Overview
Day 1
The concept of a watershed will be introduced beginning with the definition. Using a watershed map of Virginia, I will show the class the portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed that is in Virginia. The four main rivers that flow into the Chesapeake will be identified. Students will complete a mapping activity identifying the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, the Potomac River, Rappahannock River, York River and the James River.
Day 2:
The students will be instructed to take out two items from their desk (not sharp or breakable). The students will line up in single file. The front of the line will begin passing their items down the line. This will continue until the students at the end of the line are trying to hold all of the objects. The connection will be made to pollution and sediments flowing down the river and into the bay.
A map of Virginia will be projected with the overhead and students will take turns tracing the outline onto a washing machine pan. While this is taking place, the class will review Virginia geography. This is the first step in creating our watershed model.
Day 3:
The class will review the four main rivers and the definition of a watershed. A map of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed will be projected using the overhead. While students trace it to the washing machine pan, the class will identify the other regions in the watershed including: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The size of the watershed and the variety of species found in the watershed will be discussed.
Day 4:
Topography maps will be introduced to students, and the class will learn how to read them. Students will complete a mapping activity using a topography map. Small groups of students will add the five geographic regions of Virginia (coastal plain, piedmont, blue ridge mountains, valley and ridge, and Appalachian plateau) to the watershed model.
Day 5:
The class will review topographical maps. I will teach the class how to scale the topography map of Virginia to fit our model. The class will break into five small groups. Each group will be assigned a region to scale. Calculations will be shared and checked as a class. Then the class will assemble by the washing machine pan, the base of our watershed model. The group assigned to the coastal plain will spread the wax throughout the coastal plain region. I will teach the class how to do it, as the students observe.
Day 6:
The class will again break into groups. Each group will scale the topography of the areas outside of Virginia that are within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Small groups will continue to create their assigned regions on the map.
Day 7 and Day 8:
The watershed model will be completed.
Day 9:
The watershed model will be used for watershed simulations. The teacher will introduce the students to the different industries in different regions. The students will determine what types of pollution could be produced in each area. The Kool-Aid activity will be conducted.
Day 10:
The land-use photo activity will be taught.
Day 11:
An experiment will be set up with two aquariums. Key concepts of scientific investigation will be taught through this experiment. Both will be filled with the same amount of bay water. An oyster will be added to one of the aquariums. The students will record observations throughout the day. Students will draw the conclusion that oysters clean the bay.
Day 12:
Students will review the experiment with the oyster. The students will be broken into small groups. Each group will be given an information packet about a species that lives in the bay. Each group will complete the species resume (questionnaire) and develop a poem, rap, song, or skit about their species. Each group will present to the class.
Day 13:
A science experiment will be set up using two aquariums and water. An elodea plant will be placed in one of the aquariums. The students again will review the key concepts of scientific investigation. Then the students will record their observations throughout the day. The conclusion is that the elodea plant produces bubbles or oxygen. I will introduce the class to submerged aquatic vegetation and to the benefits it provides the bay. Students will draw a picture to show one benefit of submerged aquatic vegetation.
Day 14:
The importance of aquatic vegetation will be reviewed. A demonstration will be performed. Begin with a rectangular Pyrex® pan. Place a thin layer of sand in the bottom and add about two inches of cool water. Allow the sand to settle. Then slowly pour in hot, saltwater with a drop of food coloring into the pan. The students will see currents swirling and stirring up the sand. This demonstrates how changes in salinity create currents, decrease water clarity and affect the amount of light reaching the aquatic vegetation.
Day 15:
The book, Why are the Ice Caps Melting? will be read aloud. Global warming and its affects on the bay will be discussed. Students will begin work on a flipbook about global warming.
Day 16:
The book, What's So Bad About Gasoline, will be read aloud and students will continue to add information to their flipbook.
Day 17:
Students will gather around the watershed model and conduct a simulation to determine the effect of the projected sea level rise on the Chesapeake Bay. Students will scale the sea level rise to fit our model. The effect of global warming on the bay will be discussed.
Day 18:
Pollution and its affects on the bay will be examined. Students will work in small groups to discover the affects of bioaccumulation on organisms. Students will use food coloring, sugar cubes and Jell-o to simulate the build-up of pollution in organisms.
Day 19:
Endangered and invasive species will be examined. The students will be broken into small groups and assigned an endangered or invasive species. Each group will read the information and become the experts on their species. Then the groups will be shuffled, forming new groups with one person from each original group. The students will record three facts and draw a picture for each species.
Day 20:
Students will learn about fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. A short video of menhaden fishing will be shown. Students will analyze species data by reading and interpreting bar graphs.
Day 21-24:
The book, A River Ran Wild, will be read aloud. The class will create a new version of the book.
Day 25:
The class book will be read aloud and we will discuss what we can do to help. We will discuss the action projects that will take place throughout the year. We also will discuss small changes that each student can make around their home and at school to help the bay.
During language arts, a persuasive essay will be written to convince others to take care of the bay.
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