Weekly Activities

At the end of each unit, a summative task is designed to assess each student's understanding of the central idea. For this summative, the children worked individually to paint a river and salmon. They were asked the following set of questions relating to the central idea: What do you know about water? Why is water important to people? (what do they use it for) Why is water important to animals?   Why is water important to plants?    What would happen if there was no water? How can we make sure this never happens; how can we save water?

Bela had very important information to share with the group this week.  He told us that there had been an oil spill in Vancouver waters and that it was "really bad for the animals and us." The children were really interested in learning more so we took this opportunity to learn about oil spills and their impact. We looked at images of the oil spill in English Bay and discussed how the oil would affect the birds, fish, and others whose habitat is there.  As well, we talked about how the oil is not safe for us to touch and that the shellfish and fish that live in the water are no longer safe for us to eat. The children became very aware of the negative results of the oil spill.  We re-enacted an oil spill in the water table.  The children quickly spotted the oil floating on top of the water.  Once they started moving the water, they could see how easily the oil spread and was no longer contained in one spot. To help the children see th...

After learning about fresh water last week, the children wanted to find some groundwater.  Armed with shovels and pails, we set off for the sandpit.   The children were eager and determined to find water.  They worked in groups to dig two holes but despite their effort didn't find any groundwater. They did dig deep enough to reach wet sand. All this work made the group extremely  thirsty and very appreciative of their water bottles. Start digging! Is it deep enough yet? Even deeper but still no water! "Don't throw garbage in here because this water goes to the stream." Ryleigh

We drink fresh water. There is a lot of water! All the water in the world is in this pot. How much is fresh water?  Looking at the globe, the children can see that the Earth has lots of water. What they didn't know was that a very large percentage (97%) of that water is salt water and only a very small fraction is fresh water. To help the children understand the difference, a pot was filled with water to represent all of the water on Earth. The children took turns scooping all the salt water out until 3 teaspoons were left representing the fresh water.  The children also made a chart representing the water on Earth to help visual the difference. Charting the amount of fresh water and  salt water.