Saint Marys College of California

P.O. Box 4350, Moraga, CA 94575-4350

tel. 925.631.4700 fax 925.376.8379
www.stmarys-ca.edu/soe

LESSON PLAN #_5___

Learning Segment Focus or Big Idea: What is groundwater?
*This lesson idea was inspired from The Groundwater Foundation. The lesson involves a hands-on activity with their
Awesome Aquifer Kit. The lesson is my own but is inspired from their kit and demonstrations.
Grade: 4

Content Area: Science

Time Allotted: 45 minutes

Classroom organization: whole class, small group, independent
(20 minute prep time I will have the
water pre-died and all parts of the
activity set up)
Resources and materials: a large container, gravel, water that has been died blue, syringes, plastic hollow tubing, science
journals, pencils, whiteboard, markers.
Content Standard(s):
Specific Academic Learning Objectives:
What do you want students to learn in this lesson? Students will learn: Students will have an understanding of
what groundwater is. By making this model they can see how water becomes groundwater and what happens to
the water source if we pump it out.
What should students be able to do after the lesson? Students will be able to: After the lesson, students will be
able to explain what groundwater is and what happens when we empty the source of water. The only way to get
more groundwater is more rainfall, we have to put the water into our model.
Prerequisites:
What skills, knowledge and prior experience do students need for this lesson? Before todays lesson, students
have defined the term groundwater when learning about the water cycle. They need to know how to work
cooperatively in a group and record what they observe, what they notice, and what they still wonder about
groundwater.
How will you determine whether students have these? In order to determine whether students have these - I will
go over and redefine the term groundwater at the start of the lesson. We will also go over how to work together as
a small group. In my classroom there is a chart that reminds students what you need to work together. The skills
include: active participation, cooperation, flexibility, listening, sharing ideas, and respect for others.
How will you connect to students' interests, backgrounds, strengths and needs, including their
cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic differences? I will connect to students backgrounds by reminding them of
the definition we already came up for groundwater and review where groundwater is in our water cycle. I feel that
since this is a hands on lesson, students will be interested and engaged to experiment with their own groundwater
model.
Key ELD Standard(s):
Academic language demands:
What academic language is used in the lesson? (Vocabulary, language structure and conventions, genres,
symbols, etc.) The academic language used in this lesson includes well, groundwater, and water cycle.
What are the language demands of the task? Please address receptive (listening, reading) and productive
(speaking, writing) skills. Students will need to be able to express what they already know about groundwater
and the water cycle. They need to listen to directions and show that they understand the directions while doing
the hands-on activity. Students need to work together by listening to their peers and sharing their own ideas. At
the end of the lesson they need to express what they learned by writing in their notebook, 1. I noticed 2. I
observed.. 3. I wonder. Some students will share their thoughts.
Accommodations (to ensure all students have access to the curriculum):

How will you make the academic language accessible to all students? I will make the academic language
accessible to all students by using student definitions to record on the board. We will review the terms groundwater
and water cycle together, since we have already established definitions together. To introduce the term well, I will first

ask what the students know about a well. Then we will use the syringe and plastic tube model to represent a well.
How will address the specific needs of your English learners and special needs? I will address the needs of my
students by writing down the student language for the definitions groundwater and water cycle on the whiteboard.
Students will be working in small groups and engage in a hands-on activity today before using what they learned
today in a follow-up lesson on the importance of groundwater. Today, I want students to experiment with groundwater
to understand what it is.
Assessment:
What evidence of student learning will you collect? I will collect students science journals.
How will you use this evidence? I will use this evidence to see what observations and questions students still have
about groundwater.
What criteria will you use to interpret the evidence? I will refer back to the standards and my unit plan.
How will the evidence affect your next steps in teaching? Based on their observations, I will know if students are
ready to move forward on to the following lesson or if we need to spend more time as a class understanding what
groundwater is and looks like.
Instructional Sequence:
Time

5 min

30 min

Set or introduction:
How will you begin the lesson? How will you engage and motivate learners, connect to prior experience,
activate prior knowledge and/or share learning outcomes?
I will connect to students backgrounds by connecting back to the previous lesson in the unit. In that lesson, we
were introduced to groundwater. I will start todays lesson, asking students:
1. What is groundwater?
2. We have defined the term groundwater and I will be curious to hear how students redefine the term
before getting started
3. I will write the definition on the board
4. Next, I will ask students where groundwater is in our water cycle.
Developing Content/Body of Lesson: What instructional strategies and learning tasks will you use in the
main part of the lesson?
Todays lesson is very hands on. Based on brain research, students have a higher chance of retaining the
material and developing a connection to what they are learning if they are able to do a hands-on activity in
science and then have a follow up lesson that explains what they were working on. To start the lesson, I will
have a finished groundwater model at the front of the room. I will give a list of directions that I will have
posted under my SMART board for students to always refer back to. The directions include:
Step 1: Put your gravel into your large container and make sure it has been spread out evenly.
Step 2: Create a well, by placing your clear plastic tube on your syringe.
Step 3: Pour your blue died water into your large container
Step 4: Observe what happens as you pour water on the gravel, where does the water go?
Step 5: Use your syringe as a well to pump water out, what happens?
1. This lesson will start by giving each table group (5 students), a large container, gravel, water that has been
died blue, syringes, plastic hollow tubing.
2. The next step is to have students put their gravel into their container.

3. After students have evenly dispersed the gravel in their container, have students poor a cup of blue died
water in their groundwater model.

4. Using the syringe and clear plastic tubes, create 3 wells for your groundwater model. Put the well at
different places in the gravel and start pumping water out of the model. Use the syringe to pump the
water out and notice what happens if 3 wells are taking water out of your groundwater model at the
same time.

5. Observe as the water is pumped out. If students pump out all of the water, add more blue died water

into their groundwater model.

6. Once students have practiced using a syringe as a well and pumping water out of the
I will
be
walking
around
the
class
during
the
handson
activity
(30
min)
10 min

Checks for Understanding / On-going informal assessment:

How will you know what students are understanding? (questioning and observing throughout the lesson)
Throughout the lesson, I will be asking students what they notice. Some questions I will ask include:
1. Where does the water go when you pour it into your groundwater model?
2. Does it it on top of the gravel? Where does it go?
3. Where is groundwater in the water cycle?
4. What is groundwater?
5. What happens when you pump the water out?
6. What is a well?
7. Who uses wells?
8. Do you think there should be rules for people using a well?
9. How do we get more groundwater? Where does the water come from?
Closure:
How will learners summarize or reflect on what they learned (for example, share work, share a strategy, share
a process, discuss what they learned, raise a new question)?
The final part of the lesson will be to have students record in their science journal what they noticed, what they
observed and what they still wonder about groundwater. Once students have had a chance to record their
thoughts, 5 students will share out what they still wonder about groundwater.
Extending the Lesson/Homework (optional):
Reflection, Next Steps: