• Assess the general knowledge of the class through large group discussion, student investigations, and student responses on worksheets.

• Observe student engagement in the guided imagery activity to visualize what causes water to naturally move.

• Listen to student and partner responses to the guided questions during the Read Alouds to check for accuracy.

• Review students’ My Journey to the Sea illustration to check for understanding that water moves from high to lower ground levels.

• Collect the Water Systems Worksheet to assess whether students can identify the characteristics of water in that environment as still or moving.

Day 1

Invite students to the meeting area of your classroom and sit in a circle. Say, “Today we will be going on an adventure field trip in our mind to help us visualize and understand how water moves in our rivers and streams. To get started, I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself as a water droplet up in a cloud.”

Some students may feel the need to keep their eyes open.

“Think: are you a plump drop getting ready to jump from your cozy cloud that you are calling home or a skinny, elongated drop that is stretching as you let go of the cloud to begin your next adventure? You feel the cool breeze from the wind on you as you take the leap. Wow! This is like going down a slide. You notice it is very cloudy and you have lots of other friends with you. Wow! You see the most amazing mountain top and forest below you and wonder how this next adventure will take you back to the sea.

Burrrr! The wind is freezing up here and has now changed you into a frosty snowflake. Picture in your mind how your form has changed. You land back on the earth’s surface as you come to a sliding stop on a side of one of the snow-covered Pocono Mountains. Now, the long wait for you to thaw back into liquid.

It’s quiet this high up in the mountains, and you start to hear the flowing waters of the Delaware River down between two mountains. Then, the suns rays start to warm you up during the big thaw. You bump your way down the mountain meeting up with more and more of your friends along the way. Soon there are more friends than you can count as you travel down a creek, to a stream; then the long journey down the Delaware River to the sea. This journey will take a few months. Just imagine all the sites you see as you pass through all the waterways to get to the sea: the big boulders you slip and slide over; your graceful dive down a waterfall; the tall trees by the sides of the river; animals like a black bear, a white-tailed deer, or a turkey stopping by the side of the river to get a drink; fewer trees and more and more buildings and houses as you pass by small towns, and larger cities as you enter the mouth of the Delaware Bay that leads you back to the sea. You wonder when you evaporate back up to the sky, where your next adventure will find you. Oh, well that’s for another day!”

After students are finished listening to the story, invite them to share their visualizations with a partner of what they saw as they traveled downstream back to the ocean.

Dismiss students back to their seats and give each student a blank sheet of paper. Ask students to label the paper “My Journey to the Sea.” Then ask students to illustrate one of the scenes from their adventure and write a sentence to explain. (Note if their illustration demonstrates the understanding that water moves from high ground to lower ground.)

Day 2

Tell students, “Today you will be setting up and conducting an experiment to observe what happens to water as it travels downstream.” (Note that this experiment can be done as a demonstration if materials are limited or students are not mature enough to independently conduct this investigation.)

Put students into groups of four students (with the roles of materials gatherer, group’s speaker, group’s writer, and aquatics manager). Say, “You will be working with your group to investigate what causes the speed of water to change as the water in a stream moves from one end of the pan to the other.”

Explain all steps, and then ask if they have any questions before proceeding with the experiment:

Step1: Materials gather: brings all materials to team’s table.

Step 2: Use the soil/dirt/clay to make two mountains. The water trail begins in the valley between the two mountains and goes downward, with a pond on one of the sides, into the collection area (the mouth of the river). The end of the pan with the hole needs to be about two inches past the top of the table with a bucket under it to collect the runoff water. The stream will go from one end of the pan to the opposite end. Emphasize that this experiment is to model what would happen in our environment.

Step 3: The Aquatics Manager will slowly pour the water at the top or beginning of the steam. The other team members will closely monitor the water flow.

Step 4: The group’s writer will illustrate and write what the group dictates to the writer on the Group Findings Write-up form (S-K2-11-1_Group Findings Write-up and KEY.doc).

Step 5: After students have had multiple experiences with the model have them put a book or other item (to increase the height of the grade) under the end of the pan where the water originates (the valley between the two mountains). Have students observe and discuss within their team/group what happens and why (e.g., The water moves faster because the steeper the grade of the stream the faster it moves. The more level the grade of the stream the slower the water moves.)

Step 6: Collect materials and bring students back to the meeting area. Have the “speakers/presenters” from each group/team discuss their findings and share/describe the illustrations from their Group Findings Write-Up form.

Share another one of the Read Alouds, such as: Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorros, or Rivers (Water Habitats) by JoAnne Early Macken, with the class and stop periodically for partners to discuss by checking for meaning and understanding. Select one or two students each time to share what they and their partner discussed. Guide students’ thinking to understand why water is essential to life as it makes its journey to the ocean.

Have each student complete the Water Systems Worksheet (S-K2-11-1_Water Systems Worksheet and KEY.doc) to check for understanding of selected water systems.

Extension:

• Students who might need an opportunity for additional learning can bring in a picture from a magazine or the Internet that shows flowing or still water and explain why the water is still or flowing. Compile pictures on a class T-Chart (flowing water/still water). Or, students can select a picture and post it on a chart (called “Precious Water”) that demonstrates the idea that water is essential to life (drinking, cooking with, bathing, watering plants, place for amphibians to raise their young).

• Students who may be going beyond the standards can write an adventure of a drop of water, utilizing the writing trait word choice, using synonyms and descriptive words for moving and/or still water, and then share the adventure with their classmates.