Heading Planners’ names: Selena Cruz and Brynn Leafblad Lesson Title: Water we Consuming? Grade band: 3 rd -5 th Green and Health School Focus Area: Water Possible subject areas addressed by lesson: Social studies, science Essential Questions How can you help keep the plastic out of the lakes and ocean? Do you know far your food travels? What is carbon footprint and how do you calculate your own? Learning Outcomes Students will be able to recognize the effects of plastic in the ecosystem Students will be able to observe and calculate their carbon footprint Students will be able to log how much water they use on a daily basis and reduce their use Materials and Resources - One large world map - Ipads for each student - Food magazines (around 20) - About 3-5 plastic materials (from teacher’s home) - One roll of tape - Ball of yarn/string - One turtle puppet, 3 fish puppets - 3 mini white boards - 3 white board markers - One potato and one can of corn - One cotton shirt Standards WI Model Academic Standards for EE: PERFORMANCE STANDARDS By the end of 5 th grade students will: 1
Transcript
HeadingPlanners’ names: Selena Cruz and Brynn LeafbladLesson Title: Water we Consuming?Grade band: 3rd-5th Green and Health School Focus Area: WaterPossible subject areas addressed by lesson: Social studies, science
Essential QuestionsHow can you help keep the plastic out of the lakes and ocean?Do you know far your food travels?What is carbon footprint and how do you calculate your own?
Learning OutcomesStudents will be able to recognize the effects of plastic in the ecosystemStudents will be able to observe and calculate their carbon footprint Students will be able to log how much water they use on a daily basis and reduce their use
Materials and Resources- One large world map- Ipads for each student- Food magazines (around 20)- About 3-5 plastic materials (from teacher’s home)- One roll of tape- Ball of yarn/string- One turtle puppet, 3 fish puppets- 3 mini white boards - 3 white board markers- One potato and one can of corn- One cotton shirt
StandardsWI Model Academic Standards for EE: PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
By the end of 5th grade students will:
A. Questioning and AnalysisA.4.1 Make observations, ask questions and plan environmental investigations* (See Science [SC] Inquiry; English/Language Arts [LA] Research)
C. Environmental Issue Investigation SkillsC.4.2 Apply ideas of past, present, and future to specific environmental issues (See SC Connections)
E. Personal and Civic Responsibility
1
E.4.2 Understand how their personal actions impact their civic responsibilities toward the environment (see SS Political Science and Citizenship: Power, Authority, Governance, and Responsibility)
2
Background
Carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by
humans that make CO2. Carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and other
carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by humans. The
first step is understanding how much carbon a household emits. There are websites
online that will help measure individual's carbon footprint. The US Environmental
Protection Agency has a carbon footprint calculator that tells you how much CO2
people contribute each year based on activities such as transportation, heating, and
recycling. According to National Geographic, in the United States, the average
emission is about 17 metric tons (37,400 pounds) per year. (Nunez, 2017)
Here are a few examples of ways to reduce your carbon footprint: recycle and
reduce. The EPA estimates that recycling glass, aluminum, plastic, and paper could
save 582 pounds of CO2 each year, which is equivalent to more than 600 miles of
driving. Another thing could be bringing reusable bags or buying in bulk to reduce
packaging. Reduce consumption of bottled water and other packaged drinks. Driving
up demand for plastic means driving up the demand for fossil fuels.
Food not only uses a lot of carbon dioxide, but it also uses a lot of water. We
use a lot of water, too. An average person uses about 80 gallons of water each day.
Water usage is all around us, nearly everything needs water starting from the shirt
you are wearing to the food that you eat, water went into making those things. Only
about one percent of all of earth’s water can actually be used and consumed by
humans, so water conservation and reducing the water footprint is also important,
1. Pow! – Have the kids name where they get most of their food.
What supermarket do you go to? What’s your favorite food from the store?Then ask if they know how their food made it to the store.
Have a PowerPoint describing carbon footprint (see attached).Carbon Footprint: The amount of CO2 and gas you release into the environment by using energy
2. Activity – Invite the students to act like detectives and have them try to figure out where a few common fruits and vegetables originate. Divide the class into four groups and hand one group a picture of a cutie, a potato, banana, and chocolate. Ask them to think about where the item originated from, how many miles do they think it traveled, and how much CO2 does it release. There will be a map on the board with pictures of each item.
Cutieso Location: San Joaquin Valley, Calio 2100 miles (CA to WI)o 84 grams of CO2
Potatoeso Location: Larsen Farms in Idahoo 1400 miles (Idaho to WI)o 122 grams of CO2
Costa Ricao 3217 miles (Ecuador to WI)o 380 grams of CO2
Chocolateo Location: West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria)
5390 mileso Location: Indonesia
9148 mileso Other locations: Brazil, Ecuador (South America) or Indonesia, Malaysia
(Asia)o 277 grams of CO2
(Calculate how many miles the food traveled.)
4
The string on the map will help show the distance food travels to get to the supermarket.
3. Closure – The kids will have a better understanding of where their food comes from and how going to the grocery store has an impact on their carbon footprint. Having an awareness of carbon footprint at a younger age will help kids think of ways to reduce their footprint and be more environmentally conscious. Have the students use iPads and go tohttps://calc.zerofootprint.net/results
to calculate their carbon footprint. The website will ask to make a username and also put the name of the school as a location. Compare everyone’s footprint and ask about ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
One solution: Eat locally produced food13% of US greenhouse gas emissions result from the production and transport of food. Transporting food requires petroleum-based fuels, and many fertilizers that are also fossil fuel-based. The fact is that every choice we make impacts the environment in some way, and increases the chances that climate change effects will impact us negatively. Share your tips for leading a sustainable lifestyle on Facebook, and read more everyday tips on how to change the world!
2. Activity- have the students try to guess how many gallons are used to consume basic foods. For the activity, use a potato, corn, and a cotton shirt as examples. Right below this page, find the answers for each item in gallons of water use. For the examples, use the USGS website and use their water calculator. If available, have each student use an iPad or laptop to see the website and how many gallons of water are used daily and on simple items most might not consider use much water to make. https://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-watercontent.html
Also, show them how items such as a cotton shirt have a large water footprint. Explain why products have such a large water footprint. Challenge the kids and tell them to just fill out how much water they use on the water use survey on the next page on a daily basis. The water use survey is from “What’s Good in my Hood.” It’s amazing to see how little normal tasks really add up to a large number. Try and have them guess how many gallons were used to make a few simple everyday products. Explain why it takes so much water to make each item used as examples.
3. Closure – The students will have a better understanding of how much water they consume on a daily basis (from more than just drinking water and brushing their teeth). The food they eat has a large water footprint, as do simple everyday items. The “What’s Good in My Hood” worksheet of water usage challenge really helps kids see how much water they use and makes them more self-aware on thinking of ways to reduce little by little.
Survey from “What’s Good in my Hood” as homework from activity.
8
Activity 3: “Water Rules” song (beat to “New Rules” by Dua Lipa)1. Pow! – Have the kids close their eyes and picture being underwater in a lake
or in the oceana. Q: What kind of creatures do you see? How clear is the water? Did
anyone picture the creatures being surrounded by plastic?
2. Activity: “Water Rules” song (beat to “New Rules” by Dua Lipa)
One, pick up the plasticYou know it’s only gonna end up in the trash binTwo, don’t let it flow, Into a fishies underwater homeThree, be Earth’s friend, Let’s reduce pollution and fight for a solutionOne, two, three, this can be our resolutionThese are the water rules!
Also have puppets, such as fish or turtle to have visuals and get the kids really involved in the song.
3. Closure – have the kids come up with their own resolutions during “1, 2, 3” in the song and have three students volunteer to hold up three whiteboards while learning/performing the song
Talk about various ways to reduce plastic in everyday life, including using
reusable bottles, grocery bags, and containers
Assessment Students will be able to calculate their own carbon footprint Students will fill out a survey that shows how water users rely on the goods
and services provided by other water users
Differentiation For activity one, use a map and magazines instead of going to the
market/store For the plastic demonstration, try to mention the effects on how different
lakes and oceans are, but also relate to how they connect with one another For students will special abilities (cognitive and physical), keep an eye that
the student isn’t struggling and keeping up with students with the iPads
9
ReferencesAquatic Wild. Council for Environmental Education. “Water we Eating?” “Water
Works.” “Plastic Voyagers.” 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
Fortier, John. Grady M. Susan. Lee A Shelley. Marinac A Patricia. Wisconsin’s Model
Academic Standards for Environmental Education (1998) Retrieved 15
