New Lessons for 2024-25 Academic Year

Pre-festival Lessons

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Teaching the pre-festival lessons should begin after the Anchoring Phenomenon demonstration and at least 2 weeks before the day of the festival itself. They should be completed at least 2 days before your festival. They may be spread out over time, or completed on consecutive days. It is most important that the lessons be taught in order as they build on one another and connect to the Anchor Question. If there is more than a week between Lesson 5 and the Festival day, please dedicate a class period a day or two before the Festival to review the anchor question and the relationships between it and the pre-festival concepts. 

After each lesson students should fill out their Water Notes or write them in their science notebooks.

Investigative Question: How much water on Earth is available for our use? What is potable water? Does everyone have access to potable water? 

Activate: In small groups students take 1000ml of water and get to measure out how that water is represented on earth (ocean, frozen, fresh, potable, etc.). Through this activity students calculate the percentage of freshwater available for human use. This is then connected to the amount of water we have in Arizona as students gain an understanding of the terms evapotranspiration and climate; and analyze and interpret annual precipitation versus evapotranspiration for their city using Arizona Climate Data Tables. 

Check: Students discuss in small groups what they discovered during the activity and share with the class how the climate of Arizona and the water cycle are connected. 

Materials Needed: 

  • 1 Liter of water per group (or for class, if doing class demo) 
  • Small measuring cup of at least 30 mL per group 
  • Globe or world map 
  • 100 mL measuring cup or container per group 
  • 10 mL measuring cup or container per group 
  • Eye dropper (optional) per group 
  • Metal Bucket or small bowl per group

Download:

Digital Resources:

Investigative Question: What are the relationships between heat and the movement of water in the water cycle? 

Activate: Students will use colored water to explore the behavior of liquid water at different temperatures. Students will do a whole-body simulation on the movement and phase changes of water in the water cycle due to the addition or loss of heat (energy). Students will use a simulation to visualize relationships between water molecules and heat energy. 

Check: Students will construct an explanation for what they observed using sentence starters. 

Materials Needed: 

  • 2 one-quart size glass jars 
  • Blue Food color 
  • Ice 
  • Large container of boiling water (an electric kettle or hotplate can be used) 
  • Large container of room temperature water 
  • Large container of ice-cold water 
  • Sticky notes
  • Lesson 1 Molecules in Motion Simulation Worksheet (below)

Each water festival table group will need:

  • 2 clear cups approximately 5 inches in height
  • 2 rubber bands
  • 2 popsicle sticks or wooden skewers
  • 2 small clear vials

Download:

Please find video links to these experiments, if you cannot do these in class with your students. They will be more fun if you can do them in the class, but you can also use these videos to refer back to the experiments if the students need a reminder of what happened.

Digital Resources:

  • Molecules in Motion Demonstration and Experiment Video to use with your class** 

    **I highly recommend muting this video after you have watched it as the instructor, and then run it for your students with you explaining what is happening, so that the students don't get the answers told to them, but rather have a chance to figure out the answers on their own. Also I think it is more fun, not to tell the students that one container is hot and the other cold, but to rather show them the experiment and then see if they can figure out what the difference is between the two jars of water. I would recommend pausing this video several times throughout as well so that the students have more time to make predictions and to take notes.

Other Resources:

Instructional Videos demonstrating how to set-up experiment :

Investigative Questions: What are the relationships between plants and the water cycle? What are the relationships between earth materials and the water cycle? 

Activate: Students investigate transpiration by using a plastic bag to physically capture the water that leaves a plant and explore where that water comes from. Students do a whole-body simulation to model the movement of liquid water through different earth materials. Students experiment with different earth materials and how water moves through each. Students use an online simulation to visualize how water moves through different materials. 

Check: Students will add new parts and processes to their water cycle diagram. 

Materials Needed: 

  • Clear plastic ziplock bag for each student. 
  • Thirsty Plants Data worksheet (below)
  • Transpiration Diagram (found power point slides provided below) 
  • Clear plastic cup for each student (could be something out of recycle bin)

Download:

Digital Resources:

Other Resources:

Investigative Question: How do we manage a watershed to make sure our water is clean and sustainable? How do the parts of a watershed interact with the water cycle? 

Activate: Students construct a model of the land surface to explore the parts of a watershed and observe the relationships between surface water and the land/environment in that watershed. 

Check: Students will do a gallery walk of each unique model and make claims based on evidence about what each demonstrated in relation to watersheds. 

Materials Needed: 

  • Spray bottles 
  • 2 pieces of 8-1/2 by 11 white paper per student (scrap paper can be used if blank on one side) 
  • Water soluble markers (green, blue, brown, red, purple) 
  • Scotch Tape 

Download:

Digital Resources:

  • Alternatively, students can watch the watershed video to learn how to make their own watershed model at home or teachers can use the video to facilitate the lesson. This video describes the parts of the watershed and uses systems thinking to think deeper about the watershed. 

Other Resources:

Investigative Question: How does human impact on the land affect water and heat within a watershed? How do the parts of an urban watershed interact with the water cycle? 

Activate: Students explore the topics of permeable and impermeable surfaces, the urban heat island effect and pollutants from runoff to better understand how humans can impact the flow of water and the temperature within an urban watershed. Students investigate their school grounds during a scavenger hunt identifying different surfaces, possible pollutants and recording temperature of surfaces with a heat gun. Students participate in a whole-body simulation of urban runoff in a storm drain system and discuss what happens to the quality of water in an urban environment. 

Check: Students make conclusive claims about impermeable and permeable surfaces and the heat and pollutants they create based on the evidence they collected during the scavenger hunt and activities. 

Materials Needed: 

Each water festival group will need:

  • Runoff & Heat Scavenger Hunt Worksheet for each student (handout below) 
  • Clipboards (one for each group if possible) 
  • Temperature gun (provided by APW if attended workshop) 
  • Chalk (for outside) or 10-15 chairs (for inside option) 
  • Sticky notes or other materials to represent pollutants found in urban runoff 
  • Can or bottle labeled “chemicals” or “oil” (optional)

Download:

Digital Resources:

  • If you would like access to the whole A-maze-ing Water  lesson from 2.0 Guide click TBD.
  • Here is also the webpage where I got the heat maps and tree cover maps

Post-festival Lessons 

We also have the four activities that were covered at the water festival event on the Student Modules page, for you to review if you would like to do them with your class again. 

Post-festival lessons must be taught as close to, but after the festival, as possible. They may be taught in consecutive sessions or spread out over up to four weeks. Please conduct the student post-assessment within a week following Lesson 6.

Investigative Question: How do contaminants/pollutants travel downstream? What are the ways that pollution in a watershed is reduced or prevented? 

Activate: Students illustrate through a full-body activity that we all live downstream of some pollution sources. Students differentiate between point and nonpoint source pollution and identify Best Management Practices to reduce pollution and explore ways communities can reduce urban heat. 

Check: Student groups discuss and recognize that everyone contributes to and is responsible for good water quality and share at least one Best Management Practice to reduce pollution. 

Materials Needed: 

  • Piece of flip chart paper or poster board prepared as instructed for each group 
  • Colored markers, pencils, or crayons 
  • Items representing pollution (see suggested pollution items table below)
  • Copy Page- Best Management Practices (below)

Download:

Digital Resources:

Other Resources:

Investigative Question: How does groundwater fit within the Arizona Water Cycle? What is the relationship between groundwater and surface water? 

Activate: Students review and identify the parts of the groundwater system that they explored during the water festival. Through videos and slides students dive deeper into how wells work and how groundwater plays a pivotal role as a water source to Arizona. Students explore how human behavior can alter the land, the groundwater system and impact the water we have available. 

Check: Students work in groups to label a diagram and connect the relationships between groundwater and surface water to changes that could occur in the system. Each group will also share if the relationship that we have with groundwater is built to last. Discuss ways to conserve and protect groundwater. 

Materials Needed:

Download:

Digital Resources:

Investigative Question: How do I use water both directly and indirectly? What are the water sources and who are the water users in my community? 

Activate: Students discuss and identify the difference between direct and indirect water use. In groups students examine local industries in Arizona to see how they use water. Participating in a full-body activity, students model a “water web” to simulate their dependence on water and the interdependence among water users, producers, and people in the community. 

Check: Students have a group discussion about what they witnessed during the activity demonstrating they can see the connection between multiple water users. Students brainstorm and share ways communities and different users can use less water. 

Materials Needed:

  • Direct and Indirect Water Use worksheet (below)
  • Arizona Water Resources and Users (below)
  • Copy of Water Users Cards (enough for each group)(below)
  • 2 – one-gallon empty milk jugs filled with water – label one “groundwater” and one “surface water” tied together with yarn.
  • 1 ball of yarn
  • Enough Dixie cups for one per student

Download:

Digital Resources:

Investigative Question: How much water do I use daily? Why is water use called a water footprint? How can I be a better water steward? 

Activate: Students define the term water footprint and begin to create and describe their personal water footprint. Participating in a full-body game students role-play out different water use scenarios. Students interpret a population growth and water usage over time graph, and brainstorm solutions (both behaviors and technologies) that can help to conserve and protect water. 

Check: Students complete the water worksheets that demonstrate that their daily actions and choices can make an impact on our water in Arizona as they become better water stewards. Students can also share their arguments based on evidence of what they discovered throughout the unit as the connections between people, water, and heat in the environment. 

Materials Needed:

  • 2 sheets of 81/2 x 11 paper per student
  • Pencils and optional art supplies (markers, colored pencils, crayons)
  • Scissors
  • Cut out Copy page – Water Use Roles (enough for one per student) (below)
  • Teacher Lesson Resources pages (below)
  • Student Water Sustainability Worksheets (below)
  • Teacher Water Sustainability WS Answers (below)

Download:

Additional Resources: