Water-+Literacy-Science-Social+Studies-Math

"Despite its importance, over 1 billion people around the globe still lack access to clean water and thousands perish daily for lack of it. In the natural world, many of our most important aquifers are being over-pumped and half of the world's wetlands have been lost to development. There is a political dimension to water as well: Almost every major river system on the planet is shared by two or more nations, making water a source of international conflict and a matter of national security." Source: Pacific Insitute - http://pacinst.org/topics/water_and_sustainability/index.php

Ms. Napolitano's Lesson on Water: Ms. Napolitano showed these two videos: http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/hands-on_math/water_supply/ http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7373324 //Where the River Begins// by Thomas Locker - Two boys and their grandfather go looking for the source of a river. Looking at the map on the left, which areas of the United States use the most amount of water? What do these areas produce that requires so much water? (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wateruse2000.html

Essential Questions (source: American Museum of Natural History, Educator's Guide to Water: h20=Life - Water: H20=Life www.amnh.org/education/water 1. Why is water essential to all life? 2. How does water shape the planet and regulate its climate? 3. How is water distributed across the planet? 4. How can we be better stewards of our water planet? - 1. Distribute a word to each student. 2. Have pairs of students discuss how their words are related. 3. Have pairs link up to form quartets which discuss the words. 4. Have groups report United States Geological Survey - http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/