TOPIC: Science in Spanish (Part 2) – Concervación del agua - Water Conservation
GRADE LEVEL: 2nd Grade
CREATED BY: Cassidy Nevilas-Rogala, Erin Magrath, and Moriah Flagler
FOCUS QUESTION(S): How can we conserve water in our daily lives? ¿Cómo podemos conservar el agua en la vida cotidiana?
EDUCATION STANDARDS:
TEKs:
§112.13. Science, Grade 2
- (C) identify and demonstrate how to use, conserve, and dispose of natural resources and materials such as conserving water and reuse or recycling of paper, plastic, and metal.
§128.13. Spanish Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2
(b) Knowledge and skills
- (17) (A) plan a first draft by generating ideas for writing (e.g., drawing, sharing ideas, listing key ideas);
- (28) (A) listen attentively to speakers and ask relevant questions to clarify information; and
- (B) follow, restate, and give oral instructions that involve a short related sequence of actions.
§117.108. Art, Grade 2
(b) Knowledge and skills
- (2) (A) express ideas and feelings in personal artworks using a variety of lines, shapes, colors, textures, forms, and space
§117.110. Theatre, Grade 2, Adopted 2013.
- (1) Foundations: inquiry and understanding. The student develops concepts about self, human relationships, and the environment using elements of drama and conventions of theatre. The student is expected to: (D) role play, imitate, and recreate dialogue.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- images of drought
- prop (scarf or glasses) for role work
- markers
- blank papers or story starter papers
1. ENGAGE ACTIVITY - Artifact – Analyzing images of drought
Show images of drought (pertinent to your community) to the class and analyze the images using the DAR questioning sequence. Images can be shown on a large screen (projected) or printed out for small groups to work on different ones (a jigsaw approach).
Do this for each image as a group or have each small group do on their own and then share out with the whole group.
Describe:
- What do you see in the image? ¿Qué observa en el imagen?
- What do you notice? ¿Qué nota?
Analyze:
- Why do you think it might look that way? ¿Por qué se ve así, tal vez – que piensa?
Relate:
- Where do we see this in our lives/communities? ¿Dónde vemos la tierra así en nuestras vidas/comunidades?
Key Vocabulary: Dry/seco, drought/sequia
2. ACTIVITY 1 – Statues
Invite students to find their own space in the room with a set perimeter. Vamos a explorar ideas de como podemos conservar el agua en la vida cotidiana. Pero primero, ¿dónde usamos el agua? (We are going to explore ideas of ways we can conserve water in our own daily lives. But first, where do we use water?) In a moment, I will give you a location and your job is to create a frozen statue that represents your idea of how we use water in that location. Encourage students to use their whole bodies including their faces. Offer the prompt and then count backwards from five while they create their images. Once statues are made, choose a way to look at the images. Call out what you see, quickly (I see arms wide open, I see big smiles… etc). Then, let all students relax. You can have half the class create the statue and the other half can be an audience and then switch.
Locations:
- En el baño - In the bathroom (possible ideas: showering, brushing teeth, washing hands, flushing the toilet)
- En el jardín - In the garden (possible ideas: rain collection, watering plants)
- En la cocina - In the kitchen (possible ideas: washing dishes, boiling water)
- En la aula/escuela - In the classroom (at school…)
Reflection as you go through the statues:
- ¿Cuales ideas acabamos de hacer/ver? What are some of the statues we just made/saw?
- ¿Cual es una manera de que podemos conservar el agua en esa situación/locación? What is one way we could conserve water in that situation/location? (Write ideas on an anchor chart)
Transition: Que buenas ideas! You all know so much about how we can conserve water. I think you sound like experts. In a moment, I’m going to put on this scarf and when I do… I’m going to become a character and you’re going to pretend with me. Everybody, let’s turn on our imagination buttons. We have them somewhere on our heads. My imagination sounds like this when I turn it on… what does yours sound like? Great, we’re ready.
3. ACTIVITY 2– Person in a Mess
*Note - We did the role work in English and then the sign making in Spanish, based on the level of Spanish proficiency in our class. The role work could also be done in Spanish if appropriate. We intentionally didn't make the person in a mess a custodian who only spoke spanish or needed help in English because of the social implications of that choice.
Person in a mess - a custodian at a school
Problem: The children and the community are wasting too much water… all the ways they’re wasting water. (Include garden, bathrooms, sinks (not turning off water)
Oh, I’m so glad you invited me here today. My name is Sally. Ms. Rogala told me that you’ve all been learning so much about water and now you’re experts on how to conserve it. You see… I have a problem….. I’m a custodian at Weaver Elementary School (a made up name – not the real school) and everyone in the school is using so much water! The city is in a drought and nobody seems to understand. I go in the bathroom and the faucet is running. I go in the school garden and the water is leaking. Everywhere I look, there’s water being wasted!!!! I just don’t even know what to do. Ms. Rogala (name of the real teacher) told me you all could help me.
Have them tell me what to do in the various situations. I will come up with more problems based on what they generated in the previous activities. They can use their anchor chart to help them remember their ideas.
Some other ideas: turn off water while shampooing hair, while brushing teeth, tell adult when faucet is dripping, catch rainwater, water plants at cool times of day.
These are such wonderful solutions and ones that I can definitely bring back to my school. There’s one more thing, though. A lot of kids at my school speak Spanish and I need help making signs in Spanish about how we can conserve water.
De-role and help the students make the signs.
Write an example and the sentence structure on the board: ¿Cómo podemos conservar el agua en la escuela?
Por cerrar el tubo conservamos agua en la escuela.
Por ___________ conservamos agua en la escuela.
4. REFLECTING ON THE LESSON - Ask each pair these questions. The last question is based on their pictures and they can use those sentences they wrote to help them say it in Spanish.
Describe
- ¿Qué hicimos? What did we do?
Analyze
- ¿Cómo ayudamos a Sally? How did we help Sally?
Relate
- ¿Cómo podemos conservar el agua?