Water is Everywhere!
![Picture](/uploads/1/7/0/9/17099422/7158924.jpg?437)
This unit is all about water. Water is needed in order to survive. It also keeps people hydrated, controls climate weathers, and helps people stay clean. This thematic unit encourages students to understand where water comes from and where over 70% of Earth's water is located. Students need to learn basic geography skills and physical systems that affect every-day life. This unit will also encourage students to recycle and understand the importance in keeping the Earth clean.
The unit includes four lessons for second grade about the water cycle and the location or the Earth's oceans on a map. The first two lessons include information about the Earth's water cycle. One lesson is a science lesson that incorporates the art of movement. Students learn a song that explains the water cycle where students are supposed to move according to the lyrics of the song. The other lesson is a literacy one that includes an element of theatre and drama. As the teacher reads a book about the water cycle, students are supposed to act as if they are part of the water cycle.
The last two lessons include information about the location of the five major oceans. In a social studies lesson, students create and label their own globes. This becomes very beneficial for all students because it is a tactile, visual way to learn geography. The math lesson includes the students estimating and calculating the distance of each ocean as they are listening to different water sounds. In this lesson, students are using both social studies and math skills to calculate the larges and smallest oceans.
In recent years, art in the classroom is slowly diminishing. Budget cuts and the new No Child Left Behind Act are forcing teachers to forget about the arts and focus more on the core subjects: math, literacy, social studies, and science. Technically, it is agains the law to cut out the arts but there are not that many states that ensure that all students get the benefits of rightful education that incorporates art.
"According to the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2002, all children are entitled to a comprehensible and equitable education that includes the four art areas of visual arts, music, drama, and dance." - Merryl Goldberg* (2012)
The arts do not have to be a separate entity. Art can be integrated in any of the core curriculum lessons: learning about the arts, learning with the arts, and learning through the arts* (Goldberg 2012). The arts reveal aspects of human nature and is a way for students to express their thoughts in multiple ways. Each of the four lessons in this unit incorporate one of the four areas of art. The art integrations in each of the lessons can really help students understand the content in a different way without the boring pencil and paper routine. These are also a great way to differentiate the lessons in order to accommodate students that are below grade level, ELLs, or students with disabilities.
"Water is Life" Lessons:
* Goldberg, M. R. (2012). Arts Integration: Teaching Subject Matter through the Arts in
Multicultural Settings. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Level One
© 2013 Dana Daniel