Watershed Map Making—Buddy Project

Overview:  This activity gives 4th graders the opportunity to lead the Watershed Map Making activity with their younger buddies from a buddy class.  We assume that they have already participated in the Watershed Map Making project as part of their BioSITE program, so have experience with both the concepts and the activity itself.

Time required:  1 hour

Connects to 4th Grade Science Content Standards:

Life Sciences  

3.  Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival.   As a basis for                understanding this concept:

 Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.

 Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Skills fostered:   Communicating ideas, reinforcing learning, expressing ideas, applying, presentation skills, confidence  

Unique specifications for project display:  We suggest that for this activity, the best way to display the project is through photos taken on the buddy day.

Background:  All 4th grade BioSITE students engage in the Watershed Map Making activity early on in the BioSITE program.  This activity includes an introduction to the concept of a watershed and a hands-on activity using paper and markers to create a relief map.  Children spray water on their relief maps using spray bottles to simulate rain and then discuss the effects of erosion on the land, the plants, and the human-made structures represented on their relief maps.  This activity gives 4th graders the opportunity to re-visit the watershed introduction and the hands-on activity, talking with younger children about their local watershed, erosion, and actions that they might take to help the local environment.  

Instructions:  CDM staff will be happy to facilitate this activity and/or provide the materials for the buddy session.  To facilitate the session on your own, we suggest:

Pre-activity

Review what a watershed is and how the activity was conducted in BioSITE.

Put two fists together to be like two mountains with a valley of water in between.  Show children how the water would flow down in the ridges of your fingers to the riverbed.

Remind students about using their fists as a model of a mountainside and a watershed.

Ask students what they hope their buddies will learn from this activity.

Remind the children to let the younger children actually do the steps of the activity themselves.

After they’ve finished facilitating the activity with younger children, invite your 4th graders to reflect on what went well and what might be changed for the future.

Watershed Map Making

Put your name in pencil on the back of the paper

Crumple the paper.

Open it up slowly and carefully.

Use markers to mark the different parts on your watershed map.  

Mountains=Sticky-up parts=Brown

Water=Sticky-down parts=Blue

Plants=where you think they would live=Green

Human-made items=where humans have built things=Red

Wait until everyone is ready and go outside to make it rain in your watershed.  Be sure to let                 your buddy be the one to spray the watershed.

Suggestions for activity steps, explanations, and further questioning:

A watershed is an area of land where water collects on its way to the ocean.

What would be the walls of a watershed?  Mountains

What kinds of things are inside of a watershed?  Natural things and Human-made things

Did the water go where you thought it would go on your watershed map?

What did you notice about the human-made objects on your map?  What happened to them when it rained?  

What ideas do you have about how to keep your watershed healthy?

The science behind it:

A watershed is an area that collects, stores, and releases water.  It is usually defined as an area of land that drains water to a common point, such as a river, the bay, or the ocean.  Precipitation falls onto Earth’s surface where it runs down slopes, and is collected by valleys, soil, plants, and by man-made surfaces, like streets, becoming part of a watershed.  In a watershed, water is stored in wetlands, lakes, and reservoirs.  It is also stored in soil as it slowly moves down into the groundwater supply.  Water leaves the watershed by flowing out through rivers, through evaporation, or through drainage to another watershed through man-made pipes.

Since watersheds include land and the water flowing from it, all living things live in and are part of a watershed.  A healthy watershed is necessary for the plants and animals living there.