Working with the K’ómoks Nation towards Q’waq’wala7owkw on their unceded territory.

Working with the K’ómoks Nation towards Q’waq’wala7owkw on their unceded territory.

WATER CONSERVATION COIN BOX

Suggested Grades: 2, 5/6

Driving Questions

Grade 2

  • Why is water important?
  • How do we use water?
  • How do animals and people use water?

Grade 5/6

  • Where does our drinking water come from?
  • Who manages it?
  • What are considerations in local water management?

Materials

Learning Intentions

  • I can start to become aware how many times or how much water my family/class uses
  • I can count/add money the appropriate way for my grade level
  • I can share/teach this idea with others

Curricular Competencies

Science:

  • Questioning and predicting
  • Planning and conducting
  • Processing and analyzing data and information
  • Evaluating
  • Applying and innovating
  • Communicating

Math:

  • Communicating and representing
  • Reasoning and analyzing

Social Studies:

  • Demonstrating personal and social responsibility

Lesson

This activity is to be introduced to Grade 2s and/or Grade 6s who then take it to the other grades. If there are Grade 5/6s in your school they can run it with the Grade 2s.

  1. Show video. Discuss water use with students – the CVRD has handouts that could be used at http://www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/water.
  2. Have students make and decorate coin boxes and coins using the coin box outline and coin replica sheets.
  3. Have students predict how many times their household will use water.
  4. The students can go into other classrooms to talk about water conservation, show their coin boxes and encourage that class to make coin boxes.
  5. All students who have made coin boxes take them home. Every time someone uses water in their household they put a coin in the coin box. They can use real coins or the replicas that were made. Water use includes washing hands, dishes, showering, flushing the toilet.
  6. After a predetermined time (e.g. one week) the coin boxes are returned to school.
  7. The money collected can be counted, graphed and summed in a way that is appropriate for the students’ grade. Students can compare water use between individuals/classrooms.
  8. Students brainstorm ideas for conserving water.
  9. If real money was collected, it can be donated for conservation to help subsidize a planting or other stewardship activity that the students will be involved in.  It also can be used as the budget for the lesson, Restoration Planting Planning.

Click here to download a printable version of this lesson

Community Connection

Donate the funds to a non-profit such as Project Watershed and set up a stewardship activity such as restoration planting, garbage pick up or invasive species removal.

projectwatershed@gmail.com

Layne and Brenda of 40 KNOTS with Caitlin Pierzchalski ~ L.Stewart