Playdough watershed
- Lesson Plan
- Powerpoint
- Video
- Feedback Form
Description:
Students will create models to understand watersheds in their area and how they affect the ecosystem. This activity follows the Playdough Landforms activity.
Time:
30 minutes
Grade Level:
1, 2, 3
Next Generation Science Standards:
2-ESS2-2
Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
Utah Core Standards:
Materials you will need
- Playdough (from last activity- Playdough land forms)
- Recycled cardboard or plate for each student
- 1 clear cup
- 4 spray bottles
Intro to the Activity
- Turn on the faucet and fill up a clear cup with water. Ask the class what makes the water so important? Have students “think pair share” various reasons water is important to them.
- After a minute of discussion have the class share a few of their responses.
- Ask the students:
- Where did the water come from? Many students will quickly respond with something such as the faucet or the sink. Have them dig deeper.
- Where did the faucet water come from? Encourage students to think about where their water originates.
Activity Directions
- Explain to students that today we want to find where our water comes from.
- Begin by using the PowerPoint provided on the tab above to discuss the watershed of the Great Basin.
- After learning the new vocabulary and understanding what makes the Great Basin a unique watershed, students are ready to create their own watershed models.
- Students will now make a model of a Basin and Range watershed using their playdough. Pass out the playdough from the previous activity. Give each student a piece of cardboard/paperboard/paper plate.
- Tell students you want their model to represent the watershed they live in. It should have the following landforms represented-
- At least one hill
- One or several mountains also called a range (as in the Basin and Range)
- A plateau
- A valley
- A place that would make a river
- A low spot that could become a lake also called a basin
- Have students form a watershed that will be like ours- a Great Basin. This means that they need the lower places to be in the center of their model and higher places around the model.
- After the students create their models, student should discuss the following questions:
- When it rains, where will the water in the rivers flow to? Can they predict this on their model?
- Will rivers be connected to lakes? Can they predict where lakes will be?
- Have students gather around one model and demonstrate spraying “rain” on the model to view the watershed. Tell students how you want them to do this themselves, give instructions on how much to spray and where to aim the water.
- Place students into groups of 4 or 5. Give each group a spray bottle. Students can now take turns spraying their models with “rain” to see their watershed in action.
- Discuss the interactions of the landform vocabulary. Ask the students what they learned.
- What happened to the water? Where did it start and end?
- Why didn’t any of the water go to the ocean? -We created a watershed like the Great Basin. The Great Basin is unique in that the water does not flow to the ocean.
- How would snowmelt be different than rain in the watershed?
- Where does the water in the cup (from the beginning of the lesson) come from? It comes from the Great Basin watershed!
- Before cleaning up prepare the watershed models for the next lesson by having students choose a mountain on their model. Push the peak down slightly to make it flatter on the top.
- Let the watershed models dry to be used again in the next lesson plan- Playdough pollution.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 GBO Printable Version | 123.05 KB |
Slide notes:
1. Lesson
2. Review what a landform is. Students should discuss what they have learned in the previous lesson.
3. A watershed is another important landform to know. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water within an area drains or collects. Watersheds drain rainfall and snowmelt into streams and rivers. A watershed is a basin-like landform defined by highpoints and lower streams and valleys. Drop by drop, water is channeled in a certain direction. On the other side of the ridge, there would be a separate watershed, draining in a separate direction.
4. Watersheds drain rainfall and snowmelt into streams and rivers. Why do rivers and streams flow in this direction? Water flows downhill. What natural features would cause water to flow to a certain area? (Mountains, canyons, rivers, streams, etc).
5. We live in a basin. It is called the Great Basin. Has anyone heard of Great Basin National Park? It got its name because it is in the middle of the Great Basin area. Point out the general area that your class lives. The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous watersheds in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Oregon and Utah, and some parts of California, Idaho, and Wyoming. Our watershed is called the Great Basin watershed. That means that all water (from rain) stays in this immediate area. Usually, where does water from rivers go? (The ocean). Landforms surrounding our area (hills and mountain ranges) prevent water from traveling to the ocean.
6. Play this video to learn how watersheds work, what is apart of the watershed, and how watersheds connect us all. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=111&v=qZeib_s2AuY&feature=emb_logo)
7. The watershed is essential for all life, even our own life. The water “shed” from an area is carried from the land after rainfalls and snow melts. Drop by drop, the water is channeled into soils, groundwater, creeks, and streams, making its way to large rivers and eventually out to the sea.
8. The Great Basin is a special watershed. It is different than most watersheds because the water from the rivers does not flow into the ocean. All the water in the watershed stays within the 200,000 square miles of the Great Basin. There are different watersheds all over the world and they all look a little different, but they all have similar types of landforms in them. Today you're going to create your own watershed. What will it look like?