Sample Lesson Plan

I. Opening

a. Spark students’ interests with surprising water facts.

    ex: In 2005, about 410,000 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water was
                withdrawn for use in the United States.

b. Prompt students to think about what their water usage might be. Show the

   students what a gallon of water looks like and ask students how many gallons

   of water they think they might use when they take a shower, flush the toilet, or

   run the faucets at their home. Do this in a group discussion format.

c. Have students write down their guesses.

d. Ask students why it might be important to find out how much water they use?

   Ask students why they think learning how to save water would be important.

II. Presentation
a. Teach a brief lesson about where water comes from and ask students to
                participate by asking why they thought water conservation would be important.  
                Tie concepts together.
III. Group Practice & Application
a. Take students to the computer lab and have them calculate their daily water  
                usage for showering, toilet use, and faucet use, at  
                http://www.dcwater.com/kids/activities/dailywaterusage.html. Make sure the
                students bring their papers that had their original water usage guesses on  
                them so they can record their answers.
b. Pass out handout with 5-10 ways for students to save water and have students
               work in small groups to add five ideas to the list. Link to draw ways to
               save water from:  
                http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php

IV. Independent Practice/ Assessment
a. Have students share their water saving ideas with the rest of the class in a
               whole class disscussion.
b. Have each student create one weekly water saving goal and write it on an
               index card. Display the cards somewhere in the classroom and take time each   
              day throughout the week to discuss the students’ progress and to encourage
              one another. Select a new goal each week or month.
V. Closure
a. Recap importance of saving water, tips, etc.