Water wonders - Summative assessment

Transdisciplinary Theme: How we Share the Planet

Title: Water wonders

Central Idea:

The decisions people make about water affects everybody.

Summative Assessment Task:

For the Water Unit Summative, the children gathered all their knowledge on Water and presented it through a 3D Mural. The children created a landscape around a river waterway that has been created for them by the teacher as a starting point. The four groups (Water, Wind, Fire and Earth) worked together to plan and then build a community around that waterway. They each shared their contribution to fishing, housing, drinkable water, ponds, animal life, plants, transportation, ways to cross the water.

Criteria to include in the mural was:

* Water cycle

* Conservation of water

* Discussion about impact of humans on the river

* Show how Aboriginal Peoples are connected to the water.

The Water Cycle

"Where does water go?" Simon asked. "Up in the sky" said Trystan. "But how?" Sarah inquired.

 From the children's knowledge and guesses, we started exploring different ideas that would help answer all the questions. 

We used water to paint outside on the asphalt. The children noticed how on the sunny side, the water disappeared quickly compared to the shady side. From that experiment, the children noticed that the sun heats up the water and the water "goes up in the sky", as Trystan said. I told the children that the process is called - EVAPORATION- 

A quiet thinker, after a few seconds, Simon said, "So, the sun heats up the water and it evaporates" - "RIGHT" added the other children. 

From this discovery, the children wanted to learn more about the process. To help gain more knowledge, we watched the movie "All Wet" by The Magic School Bus. 

After the movie, the children showed a greater understanding of the water cycle and the importance of keeping the water clean. Trystan said, "So water evaporates and travels all over the place". Simon added that, "The fish might get the water that evaporated from a puddle here at school". 

At the end, to show our knowledge, we gathered all the necessary materials and we dramatized the water cycle. This was a way of assessing our knowledge and getting a better understanding.  

* Trystan was the ocean.

* Sofia the mountain with snow.

* Emilie the waterfall.

* Simon the clouds.

* Sarah the sun. 

When Sarah came out from between the clouds, Trystan felt the warmth and started evaporating. The water turned into water vapours and went up to the sky. As you get higher, it becomes colder, so the water vapour starts condensing. All the water droplets gather together to form clouds. And so the process begins again -> Water Cycle. 

#3 INANIMATE OBJECTS

Non-living things don't require water to survive, but living things might need to use water to maintain non-living things. Byron said, "Toys are non-living things that need water - we need to wash the toys." Emilie added that because we all play with the toys, germs and dirt are some factors that can affect our health. In order to maintain a healthy environment, and keep the toys clean, the children took initiative and washed some toys at Creative Minds. What a caring and principled act they displayed. At the end, we compared the difference between fresh water (before they washed the toys) and the dirty water that resulted after washing the toys. For the next few days, we will be discussing the importance of conserving fresh water. 

#2 LIVING THINGS NEED WATER

"Animals need water" - Emilie remembered the commitment that we made during our generosity unit. The children connected the units with each other and talked about the importance of water; living things need it in order to survive. As a result of our knowledge and our commitment, we changed the water in the fish tank. Howard and Emilie said that the fish look very happy in fresh water. Sarah mentioned that, "It looks like the fish are dancing, that's how they show their appreciation and happiness." 

Exploring different uses of Water - #1 WATERCOLOURS

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The children experienced the importance of water in painting with watercolours. Sarah said, “The more water you add to the colour, the lighter and paler it becomes.” Trystan added to Sarah's comment, "More colour and less water gives us a stronger, darker colour." We all enjoyed painting with watercolours and presented our drawings at the end. 

Investigating Water Sources

The Wind group and Fire group got together to go on an investigation. We were all looking for water sources around our school. On our way to the forest, the children noticed some puddles. Trystan said, "Puddles form when it rains", and Julia added, "Water from a puddle goes in the ground." Trystan also mentioned that, "Water from the puddle goes up into the sky", referring to evaporation. 

Sofia found water on some leaves and noted that, "Plants and tress need water to grow. They drink it."

Grace noticed the drain and shared her knowledge with the group: "The water goes in the drain, in through the water pump and into the ocean". Howard said that the water from the drain "goes to the fire hydrant and it's used by the fire fighters to put fires out." 

We collected water from the ocean, the stream in our forest, puddles and the river. We will compare these samples throughout the inquiry. The children are very enthusiastic to further explore water in our surroundings. 

Commitment

From the story "The Quiltmaker's gift", the children discovered that sometimes gifts come with responsibilities. The King gave the boy a marble. He could play with it, paint with it, etc. but when he decides that he doesn't want it anymore, he can store it somewhere or give it to someone else. In the same story, the King gives away a bowl of fish. Living things require care and commitment. The children connected that situation with the fish that we recently received. As a group, they all decided to take responsibility and care for the fish. We read "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister and the children found out that fish live in water and that they need friends. While we were looking at our fish bowl, we realized that the water is very dirty - it needs CARE! All the children in the wind group agreed to commit as a group and take care of the fish. Emilie: "I am sure the fish will appreciate that"; Simon "They will show their appreciation by letting us admire them and feed them". Together we gathered all the things needed to change the water and yes, it required lots of patience, attention and work, but we all enjoyed the process. 
The children will make sure that the fish are fed 3 times a day, that the water is clean and to let everyone know that they need to take care and be gentle around the bowl. 

The Water will be changed every week and we hope that our fish will enjoy and appreciate the generous act the children are showing.