Living in Our Watershed

Key Topics/Vocabulary: Watershed, Runoff, Development, Permeable, Impermeable, Water Cycle, Pollution, Marine Debris

Grade Level: 3rd-6th

Click here for Series #6 Description

Spanish Lesson Plan

Science Framework

Lesson Overview:  

Students will learn about watershed stewardship and observe how water and pollution run off/infiltrate landscapes. We will also investigate watershed habitats and explore relationships that contribute to health or harm our watershed.

Learning Objectives:

• 4:

• 4-ESS2-1 How does the water cycle affect a landscape?

• 5:

• 5-ESS3-1 How can we prevent water pollution?

Essential Question(s) that Connect CCCs and SEPs:

• What can you learn about the way water flows from your watershed model? (Energy & Matter; Developing & Using Models)
• What sorts of things can a river carry to the ocean from land? (Energy & Matter; Asking Questions & Defining Problems)
• What effect does littering at our school have on animals in the ocean? (Cause & Effect; Asking Questions & Defining Problems)
• What does soil structure have to do with how water flows on a landscape? Would larger or smaller particle size cause water to soak into the ground instead of turning into run-off? (Structure & Function; Constructing an Explanation and Designing Solutions)

Vocabulary:

Watershed- An area of land where water drains and collects in one place by way of rivers, lakes, and seas

Runoff- The water that falls from the sky and runs off the surface of the land and flows downhill into streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and oceans

Development- When hard surfaces like roads and buildings are created to make it convenient for people to drive and live

Permeable- When a surface has air space for water to pass through (ex, pebbles, wood chips, grass)

Impermeable- When a surface does not have space for water to pass through (ex, concrete, asphalt)

Water Cycle- The continuous journey water takes from the sea to the sky to the land and back to the sea

Pollution- When harmful materials are brought into the environment

Marine Debris- When litter ends up in the ocean

Materials:

• Garden Journals (Optional)
• This slideshow (Optional)

Activity Option #1: Crumple a Watershed

• 1 Spray Bottle (or hose with sprayer)
• One sheet of paper per student
• Colored Markers
• Something to wipe down wet tables with

Activity Option #2: Mini Watershed Model

• Water source: Hose or watering can

Prep:

Send out the River Runner link to teachers! This allows you to place a raindrop anywhere in the US and watch where it ends up. Great for visualizing where water travels in a watershed!

Activity Option #1: Crumple a Watershed

• If done indoors, anticipate how you will clean it up. You can expect wet desks from the crumple watershed activity. Have a trash receptacle ready for the paper.
• Gather your supplies and have them ready for distribution
• Understand which watershed is which in our local area and preview the school's watershed. See the SLO Watershed Project map.

Activity Option #2: Mini Watershed Model

• Decide where and how you will construct your mini watershed (Refer to Our Lesson Video for a demonstration) alternatively you can use the Make your at home watershed model
• Watering can or squirt bottle with water

Activity Procedure:

Engage:

Does anyone have any idea how creeks and rivers become polluted? What animals live in the creeks/rivers near us? Does the rainwater that falls on our school go to these rivers? How about the ocean?

Explore:

Walk with students through the garden and consider where water would flow if it were raining. For this age group, it is best to focus on how water flows from high to low places. Do you see water pooled anywhere? Where might it pool if it was raining?

Explain:

Thumbs up/down: Do you know what a watershed is?

 The word ‘shed’ doesn’t just mean a small building where you put away tools. Who can tell me what it means when a cat or dog sheds fur? (It loses fur). A watershed is an area of land where all the water shed off the surface funnels to the same place. The water might flow into a stream, creek, lake, or bay. Right now, we are standing in one particular watershed, but if we climbed over a big mountain, we might be in another watershed where the water would flow into different creeks and streams.

Hold up your hands with your palms together and fingers out. You already have in your hand a map of a watershed. Wiggle your fingers. These are like the little creeks (or tributaries) that flow into bigger rivers. See the area where your palms meet. That is the main water channel, and the space between your arms is the ocean!

Think, Pair, Share: What materials might get picked up as water flows across a watershed?

A watershed connects all the plants, animals, and people that live in it and the non-living components like rocks. We all depend on the watersheds we live within to help keep us healthy. It is important to understand watersheds to ensure we don’t do things that accidentally pollute the water that so much life depends on to survive.

Let’s think more about how humans impact watersheds. Any ideas? Human development often involves building surfaces that we define as ‘impermeable’ (define impermeable). Can anyone give me some examples of impermeable surfaces? (Asphalt, concrete, compacted soils). So if we know what impermeable means, what types of surfaces would we consider permeable? (Gardens, grassy areas, hillsides - anything not developed). How can human development negatively impact watersheds? Define the remaining vocabulary words.

Action:  Watershed Modeling

Option #1: Crumple a Watershed

1. Review your Garden Agreements
2. Make a watershed out of paper. Demonstrate each step with your piece of paper so the class can follow along. Begin by taking your piece of paper and crumpling it

into a tight ball. Then, gently open up the paper, careful not to flatten it out completely.

The highest points on the paper now represent mountaintops, and the low places represent valleys.

2. Depending on the age of your students, you can have them color mountain ridges or just see if they can point to where the ridges might be. If you do decide to color, select one color marker and draw lines to connect the highest points on the map. These are the mountain ridgelines.

3. Color or point to where the water would flow. Choose a second color and mark the low places where different bodies of water might be found (creeks, rivers, lakes, the bay etc.)

4. Color or discuss human activity. With a third color, mark four or five places to represent places of human activity: housing, factories, shopping centers, schools, etc.

5. Predict the flow of water. Point or mark the path water might take in the watershed if it rained on the watershed.

6. Observe the flow of water. Using a spray bottle, lightly spray the paper watersheds and observe where the water flows (it may be wise only to spray your own paper as a demonstration).

Option #2: Mini Watershed Model

1. Select an area in the garden where you can build your watershed with the class. You could use a mound of soil, a stack of rocks, or a hillside or dry creek bed. Students can even help you construct your watershed by adding sticks representing trees, etc. OR use your make at home watershed model.
2. Discuss your mini watershed's features and how it could be scaled to represent a large watershed.
3. Have students make predictions about how water will flow in your mini watershed.
4. Using a watering can or spray bottle to add water to the highest point and see if the predictions are correct!

Reflect:

What observations can be made about how water travels in the watershed? Where did you place the human activity on your map? Why? (Crumple a Watershed)What path did the water follow? Were your initial predictions correct? What materials might the water pick up as it moves through the watershed? (hint: pollution) How can we reduce human impact on our watersheds?

Extension Activities:

• What is a Watershed? Intro Video
• Resource alert: River Runner allows you to place a raindrop anywhere in the US and watch where it ends up. Great for visualizing where water travels in a watershed!
• Rent the EnviroScape Watershed Model from the Morro Bay Natural Estuary Program OR Central Coast Salmon Enhancement. Available to those in Central California.
• Write a story from a first-person perspective, which is a journal entry about how you are interacting with the watershed. Talk about how you feel, what you think, and your ideas on how you will influence the watershed. (ex. Beaver, football stadium owner, etc.)
• Watch our virtual lesson video as a preview or review.

This lesson was prepared by One Cool Earth under award

NA20NOS4290033 from the Bay Watershed Education and Training Program

of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S.

Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and

recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the views of NOAA or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

This lesson was updated on 2/2024 with the Morro Bay Natural Estuary Program.