Water Pollution and Sanitation

The Last Great American Canal Curriculum Project

Designers: Nina Adamczyk and Beth Chinderle

Intended Grade Level: 2^nd and 3^rd

Length: Two days (35 minutes each)

Applicable Standards:

IL.16 

GOAL: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.

IL.2.A.3c 

Identify characteristics and authors of various literary forms (e.g., short stories, novels, drama, fables, biographies, documentaries, poetry, science fiction).

Goal/ Instruction Objective: The students will be able to identify the importance of water sanitation in the Northeastern Illinois region of the past and present.

Materials:

Brown, Moses. Pollution of the Illinois Waterway. July 3, 1961.

Preliminary Report of the Drainage and Water Supply Commission of the City of Chicago. Chicago. Max Stern & Co. January, 1887.

The Board of Trustees. Concerning the Drainage and Sewerage Conditions in Chicago and the Diversion of 10,000 C.F.S. from Lake Michigan at Chicago. Chicago. December, 1923.

• Glass of fresh water
• Pitcher of water with cocoa and food coloring
• Overhead and markers
• Transparency of map
• Student copies of map
• Student copies of Vocabulary Quilt
• Map of Dilution Project
• Haiku paper for students
• Teacher example of haiku
• Timer for cooperative groups

Vocabulary:

• Treatment Plant
• Sanitation
• Pollution
• Dilution
• Canal
• Waterway
• Sludge

Procedure:

Anticipatory Set:

1. Teacher begins by holding a glass of water and asking the students who is thirsty in the classroom. The student volunteer will then come up and take a sip of the fresh water. The teacher then asks the student if the water tasted good. After the student responds, the teacher will then bring out a pitcher of water that is contaminated with cocoa and food coloring and ask the student if he or she wants more. Then, ask the students where their poo-poo and pee-pee goes. Ask the students if they would drink the water if it was poo-poo and pee-pee.

Objective:

2. Today we are going to talk about water pollution and how horrible, disgusting, and gross it was in our cities and the City of Chicago, and how the citizens of that time fixed it. We also are going to discover what we do today with our water.

Instruction:

3. View the water pollution power point using the projector screen.

4. Introduce vocabulary to the students by using the vocabulary quilt graphic organizer.

5. Stress the importance of the words and their meaning to ensure understanding.

Modeling:

6. Use the following discussion questions to discuss the concept of water pollution in the late 19^th century in the canals and waterways in Chicago.

• How would you compare water pollution of the past to the water pollution today?
• What do you observe about water pollution in the past?
• How could changing water flow improve water pollution?
• What is the reason why the water flow has changed?
• What would happen if the water wasn’t reversed?
• What is your opinion on water pollution?

Guided Practice:

7. Students will break up into pairs and receive a map. On the overhead, the teacher will display the same map and use it to guide the students to discuss the flow of the main drainage canal in the late 19^th century (1892), and the completion in 1900.

Independent Practice:

8. The teacher will give students directions and show the teacher example of a haiku. Then, the teacher will pass out the materials and the students will get started.

Assessment:

The teacher will use the following rubric to assess the students on their haiku.

Name:_____________________ Number:______

Water Pollution Haiku

Directions: Brainstorm a list of feelings and thoughts about what you learned about water pollution. Imagine yourself along the waterways and canals 125 years ago…

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Great Thinking! Now you are on your way to create your very own Haiku. Using the words and feelings your wrote above, put them in a haiku using this guideline:

5 syllables

7 syllables

5 syllables

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rubric Made Using:

RubiStar ( http://rubistar.4teachers.org )

Haiku

Teacher Names: Beth Chinderle and Nina Adamczyk

Student Name:     ________________________________________

CATEGORY

4

3

2

1

Spelling and Punctuation

4 There are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. Character and place names that the author invented are spelled consistently throughout.

3 There is one spelling or punctuation error in the final draft.

2 There are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft.

1 The final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors.

Creativity

4 The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination.

3 The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his imagination.

2 The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his imagination.

1 There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much imagination.

Focus on Assigned Topic

4 The entire story is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much more about the topic.

3 Most of the story is related to the assigned topic. The story wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about the topic.

2 Some of the story is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about the topic.

1 No attempt has been made to relate the story to the assigned topic.