WATER POLLUTION: IT BEGINS WITH YOU 
Extend the concepts covered in… 

sScience P.L.U.S. Performance Based Learning and Understanding in Science-PG CO Public Schools

"Salinity-Systems and Interactions"-Grade 5 

fExplore-Grade 5:

Paperback Plus Book: Come Back, Salmon 

fTotally Awesome Health-Grade 5

Lesson 37:  How Does Water Pollution Affect My Health? -Pg.283

How Can I Help Reduce Water Pollution? -Pg.284

How Can I Conserve Water? -Pg. 293 

…with a demonstration by one of our staff members using the Enviroscape model. This demonstration shows the origin of both point and non-point sources of water pollution and how a watershed works. HOW WATER POLLUTION OCCURS & HOW YOU CAN PREVENT WATER POLLUTION will be discussed with each group.

• This presentation also supports the goals defined in the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement. 

If interested, please call the William Schmidt Center at 301-888-1185 to schedule an hour and a half presentation for your class (1 class per presentation, please). Presentation can be adapted for 4^th and 6^th grade. Scheduling is on a first come, first served basis.

For more information, click below:

www.enviroscapes.com

WATER POLLUTION: IT BEGINS WITH YOU

Grade Levels: 3-6

Subject Areas: science, social studies, math, and language arts

Learning Outcomes Correlations:

Lesson Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and non-point and point source pollution—how it affects the watershed and some possible solutions.  Students will participate in the demonstration of pollutants and the affects of rain.   Students will discuss possible solutions and extension activities.

Time Frame:  90 minutes

Materials:  
Class set of MD state maps *        
“It’s Happening Today on the Chesapeake Bay" video*
Art or computer cart left by the office

access to a sink the morning of the              
1 pen or pencil/student
presentation for the specialist to set up on         

1 PG County map/student *
1 TV/VCR                                                    

1 sheet of water trivia *

*  specialist will bring

Warm-Up: The specialist will ask students if they know how to get to the Chesapeake Bay.   Maryland State maps will be distributed.  The students will be challenged to locate their community and surrounding waterways, using cardinal and intermediate directions.  They will locate the Chesapeake Bay and see that there are many routes that will take them via car to the Bay.  The specialist will ask the students how water gets from land to the Bay to the ocean.  The definition of a tributary will be established. 

Procedures:
1.   The specialist will show a brief video clip on the tributaries and states that make up the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed.  The video will also introduce how the Bay gets polluted.

2.   The specialist will ask the students why they should care about the quality of their fresh water and what’s happening to the watershed.  Students then jot down all of the ways they have used fresh water so far that day.  We all need fresh water to survive; therefore, we need to care about what’s happening in the watershed.

3.   The specialist will discuss the following questions with the group: What do you think of when you hear the word POLLUTION?  What are some sources of pollution?  How does pollution get into the waterways?

4.   The specialist will invite the students to gather around the model and describe the 2 types of pollution: Point Source and Non point Source.

5.   The specialist, with student volunteers, will demonstrate point source pollution using various liquids and powders to represent modern day pollutants from industrial plants, sewage treatment plants, and storm water drain and sewer pipes.

6.   The specialist, with student volunteers, will demonstrate non point source pollution using various powders and liquids to represent modern day pollutants from construction sites; stream banks and lakeshores; forests; plowed fields; crops; lawns and golf courses; highways, roads, and parking lots; cows and other domestic animals; and household products and waste disposal.

7.     Volunteers will assist in making it “rain” over the model.

8.     The specialist will lead a discussion on what they see happening when it rains.  The specialist will ask why they see the pollution heading into waterways.

9.     The specialist will ask the students why they think these pollutants are potentially harmful.

10.  The specialist will explain the effects of pollutants/activities such as: fertilizers, pesticides, air pollution, toxic substances, soil, turbidity, home activities, and storm drains.

11.   The specialist will review the concepts to wrap-up the discussion.

Closure

How can we prevent point source pollution/non point source pollution in our everyday lives?  Some water trivia will be shared to illustrate how we take fresh water for granted.

Follow Up

1.  Create a bulletin board using the vocabulary word wall, the Maryland  

     State maps suggestions for student action, and sample business letters.

2.   Students will take a walk of the school grounds discussing sources of point and non point pollution and possible solutions. 

3.   Students will write business letters to their principal informing him/her of what they’ve learned, identify on-site pollution problems, and potential solutions to these problems.

4.   Students will brainstorm sources of point and non point pollution in the community.  Letters may be written to community members for information about their handling of potential pollutants.

5.   Students will finish watching “It’s Happening Today on the Chesapeake Bay.”

6.   Students will organize a schoolyard clean-up day (or buffer zone planting, storm drain stenciling, etc.).