Scientists Everywhere!

After the students made their observations of the river in the Wonder Room, they returned to the classroom to record their observations in their science journals. I was very proud and amazed at the observations made by the students! We have scientists on our hands!! :) 

What are containers of water?

Not only have the students learned that water is a valuable resource and there is a scarcity of clean drinking water, but they have learned about the different containers of water. The containers of water are rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and oceans. The students were able to observe how water flows in a river because Mrs. Mac and her husband built a river for the students to observe in the Wonder Room! Thank you Mrs. Mac!!!  The students made many scientific observations, observing with their eyes. The pictures below capture all of the wonder, amazement and learning taking place! 

Plans Put into Action!

The plans to make the trip to retrieve water faster included..... tops on buckets, put buckets directly underneath faucet, choose one person to fill up the bucket.... and the plans worked!!!! Instead of it taking them 25 minutes to retrieve water from the cafeteria, it only took some groups 5 1/2 minutes! The longest it took was 7 minutes! Check out the pictures below! 

Water, Water Everywhere!!!

Our Water PBL (Project Based Learning) has been launched!! The students have learned so much in just a short period of time! They have learned that water is such a valuable resource because it is used for so many things. Also, they have learned about the different types of water, the amount of salt, ice, and fresh water on Earth, the scarcity of clean drinking water (yes, they know what scarcity means!), and much more! 

Last week, the students learned that people in other countries are not as fortunate as we are because of the scarcity of clean water. Sometimes, they have to walk several miles a day just to obtain water to drink. The water they obtain in a bucket is used for things such as drinking, bathing, and washing clothes and it must last them all day. The students were able to experiment fetching water from a "far away" place. From the experiment, the students began to understand that not all people are as fortunate as we are to be able to walk down the hall and get water out of the water fountain. 

Below, you will see pictures from our journey to the cafeteria to fetch water and the journey back to the classroom with the water. Not only did the students fetch water from a "far away" place, but they learned how to collaborate as a team to get the job done! 

This "village" is working together to get their bucket filled up!

This group is using a cup to fill their bucket with water.

This journey took the class 25 minutes, so we had to come up with a plan to fetch the water faster! The students meet with their "village" and devised a plan to obtain the water from the cafeteria faster. Some of the groups decided that their bucket needed a lid, while others said they would just put the bucket directly under the faucet. Below are pictures that show the students collaborating about their new plans of action. 

Check out our next blog post to see how long it took to fetch the water with the new plans of action! 

Learning About Water on the Field Trip

Not only did the students have fun experimenting and exploring, but they also had fun learning about water on our field trip. They learned that not all water is safe to drink and many things in our environment can pollute water, making it unsafe to drink. The students also learned about the Reedy River and how things can pollute the river. 

In addition, the students learned that water is indeed wet!!!