Activity 1: Introduction to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Introduce the concept of a bay and its watershed by showing students the Xpeditions interactive
Satellite Spy Glass, which allows you to zoom in to the Chesapeake Bay area. (Note: The telescope will ultimately zoom in to an image of Washington, DC.) Begin by explaining to students that they are looking at the Earth through a special telescope mounted on the space station. Ask students to identify all physical features that they recognize (answers should include such responses as continents, countries, islands, bodies of water, etc.). Explain that as you zoom in with the telescope, they will be able to see more detail and recognize more features. Begin to zoom, and continue having students identify the physical features found in the image.
As you zoom, draw attention to the Chesapeake Bay. Explain to students that the image shows a bay, and have them identify some characteristics of the bay. Then, collectively define the term bay based on their observations (an inlet of a larger body of water that is partially surrounded by land). Continue to zoom in. Ask the students if there are any other bodies of water near the bay (rivers, tributaries, etc.). Explain to the students that these rivers and streams "feed" the bay and that the water found in them will eventually reach the bay. Ask the students where they think the water in the rivers comes from (rain, run-off, smaller streams). Explain that much of the rain that falls will eventually find its way to a stream, then a river, and ultimately to the bay. When the telescope focuses on Washington, DC, ask students if they are familiar with the place the telescope is zooming in on.
Next, help students examine a United States map to find the Chesapeake Bay (located on the northeastern shore). Then, give students a printed copy of the Chesapeake Bay watershed map. To orient them, have students mark the location of Washington, DC. Ask students to color in the land (brown and green colors) and the water (blue). Have them point out or label on their picture the types of bodies of water (oceans, rivers, streams, etc.) that they see on the map. They could also include the names of those water bodies.
Tell students that a watershed is all of the land that sends water into a body of water. Ask students if they can trace any of the smaller bodies of water from the source (beginning) to the bay.
Activity 2: How a Watershed Works
Explain to students that to really understand how water raining on land can end up in a bay, they will create a watershed model. Create the model by shaping foil or other molding material, which represents land, within a large, shallow pan (metal or plastic). It should be molded so that some parts are flat while other parts have bumps and uneven parts. The foil/clay should slope downward so that there is an area at the end of the pan where water can collect. Have students take turns creating rain by gently pouring a small amount of water near the upper slope of the land. Have students watch the water make its way through the land and collect at the bottom to show how groundwater seeps down to the lowest level. If necessary, the slope of the pan can be increased by placing a book under the upper end of the pan. Demonstrate and explain to students that this is what happens in a watershed—the land is shedding the water. (Note: Keep this model intact for use later in the lesson.)
Activity 3: Watersheds Support People, Plants, and Animals
Use the Bay at a Glance picture on the Chesapeake Bay Program Web site to point out the connections between the bay and its watershed and the people, plants, and animals that live on them. Explain to the students that many people, animals, and plants call the bay their home. Remind them that each of their actions may affect life for the others who share the bay.
Explain to students that in order to help protect the wildlife of the bay, it is important to understand who calls it home. Ask students to name any creatures they think they might see in the Chesapeake Bay. Accept all ideas and record them on the board or on chart paper. Then show students pictures of some common bay animals using a book or the Critters photo slide show on the Chesapeake Bay Program site. Show several slides and discuss the animals seen.
Individual coloring book pages featuring bay wildlife can be printed from the National Geographic Society’s Chesapeake site under Learning Resources, or students can choose an animal seen on the slide show and create their own pictures. More coloring pages are available on the Chesapeake Bay Program's Coloring Book page. Have students share their pictures with the class.
Activity 4: People Affect Watersheds
Using the watershed model previously created, have students consider what happens when something bad gets into the water. If your students are not yet familiar with the word pollution, explain that it is chemicals or other usually man-made materials which spoil the environment. Ask students what would happen if some kind of pollutant got onto the land. Discuss how this might happen (keep it simple: oil leaking from a car, for instance). Tell them the food-coloring represents pollution. Place a few drops of food coloring on one spot on the "land" and ask students to guess what will happen if it rains again. Have a student pour water again so that students can watch the flow. Explain that this is called runoff (or the water that flows off of land into a body of water and may carry pollutants with it), and point out that the liquid may flow all the way to the body of water at the bottom. Ask them what they think this means happens to the pollution from all the places along the watershed, such as from the city of Washington, DC.
Again, using the Satellite Spy Glass interactive, focus students' attention on the image of Washington, DC. Point out the Potomac River on the southwest side of the city. Have students look at the image of the city, and ask them what might happen if it rained in the city and the water "cleaned the streets" and then ran into the river (pollutants would run into the river). Then, start to zoom out from the city while having the students track the progression of the pollutants from the city to the bay. Ask them to describe what effects there would be if pollution from the city ran into the bay.
Use the Bay at a Glance picture on the Chesapeake Bay Program Web site to remind students of all the living things that rely on the bay. Ask students what they think will happen to all those living things when pollution enters the water. Help students realize that because all animals, plants, and people living in and around the bay share its resources, pollution entering the bay will likely affect all of them.
Explain to students that because plants and animals (including humans) living together in an area depend on each other to survive, human activities in the habitat (animals' and plants' natural home) can hurt (or help) their environment. Ask the students what they think the biggest threat to the bay is. Explain that, more than any other animal or plant, people's activities have affected the health of the bay.
Activity 5: Sources of Pollution
Ask students to describe some of the activities people in the Chesapeake Bay watershed might participate that can hurt the bay (creating pollutants, overbuilding, recreational activities, etc.). As a prompt, you could use the Bay at a Glance picture, this time pointing out the factory and farm in the background. Describe how each of the activities they list would negatively affect the bay.
Show students the Chesapeake Bay Detective Game (click "Find 10 Things that Don’t Belong in the Bay" for a larger image) from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Ask students to identify things that don't belong in the water. Allow students to locate all of the items that don't belong in the bay.
Then, tell students that even though people have done things in the past to hurt the bay, they can do different things now to help the bay. Ask students what people can do to help the animals stay healthy in the bay. If needed, prompt students to think about the water quality and the need to keep pollutants out of the water. Ask students how the bay wildlife helps people and why people should take care of the animals in and around the bay.
Making Personal and Local Connections to the Bay
Explain to students that they also live in a watershed. (Note: you can use this
search tool from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to locate and learn about your watershed.) Show them a local or regional map and help them identify where the runoff in their watershed will ultimately end up. You might print these out and have students color the land and water as they did with the Chesapeake Bay map.
Ask students to name some of the plants and animals that call their watershed home. As they did with the Chesapeake Bay, have students look at pictures and draw some of these. Tell students they should be on the lookout for any of these living things during a short walk around the school grounds.
Before taking students outside, ask them if they have ever seen someone throw trash on the ground, or to name places where they have seen trash. Explain that sometimes trash gets into the local water, sometimes by mistake and sometimes due to people being careless. Just as they saw in their model, once into the water, pollution can travel downstream and spread the problem. Tell them they will be going on a short walk around their school building to look for (and point out) the following:
- Sources of pollution that can be seen
- Places where pollution could get into the water stream, such as storm drains
- Local plants and wildlife
Have students collect samples of trash or pollutants they find around the school. (Note: you should supervise this activity very closely to ensure that no students collect dangerous articles.) Bring the samples back to the classroom. Ask the students how introducing these items to the local watershed might negatively affect the body of water where they will end up. Then, have them describe how it might affect wildlife or people there.
Use mural paper or a bulletin board to create a local watershed mural. Use paper and art materials to create this "indoor watershed." Use this space to display student pictures of the watershed plants and wildlife and the pollution threatening them. Display the local maps students colored, or work as a class to create one large map.
Finally, have students draw a picture showing an idea they have which they believe would improve the health of their local watershed. Pictures should include both images and text. Then, have the students describe their watershed protection ideas with the class. Have the other students contribute to each student's presentation during an idea brainstorming discussion.
Have students add the culminating activity to the mural and then invite the rest of the school and students' parents to learn from the students about the watershed and what they can do to make it healthier.
Observe the students during the activities and ask them questions about their pictures. Students should be evaluated on their ability to use proper vocabulary by labeling the different watershed elements in their drawings (watershed or pollution, for example) and their understanding of the bay as a body of water that should be cared for and protected. Additionally, teachers can evaluate students on their participation in the culminating brainstorming activity.
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