Lesson 4: Journey to the Sea All Drains Lead to the Ocean

Grade

4-7 Lesson 4: Journey to the Sea All drains lead to the ocean. Using Canadian stories, classes can explore what this simple concept means for our local watersheds. Follow one of these stories to get students thinking about the journey water must take from the beginnings of a river to the ocean, and all of the potential hazards it could face along the way. Note: Some of these stories are old enough to have a significantly different historical look on issues of conservation, race, and others. Please view these stories critically.

tudents Will Be Able To: [1] Identify the journey of water in local context;[2] Understand narrative as having a beginning, middle and end; and [3] Use adaptations of narratives to explore the idea that S "all drains lead to the ocean."

L E A R N I N G Time Required

ENVIRONMENT 90 minutes, with options to extend learning Large group and individual work

MATERIALS Setup  Drawing materials Have a projector or smartboard ready to show the film if you are using  Video link or book (i.e. the link. Have the book ready if you are reading the story. Journey of the Blob;

Paddle to the Sea/ Any additional writing or art supplies should be off to one side (scrap Vogue-a-la-mer) paper, drawing paper or Bristol board, crayons, pastels, markers,  Yarn and tacks paints, pencil crayons etc.)  Paper and pencils  Large map of local Use a white board or chart paper to record the students’ brainstorm. waterway (e.g.: North Saskatchewan River)  A character (puppet, real Vocabulary person such as the principal, the character Great Lakes, Watershed from the chosen video or book) Curriculum Connections: Journey to the Sea

Specific Expectations Grade Subject English Language Arts: General 2.2 Respond to Texts: Appreciate the artistry of texts 4 Outcome 2 2.4 Create Original Text: Elaborate on the expression of ideas ; Structure English Language Arts: General texts Outcome 2 English Language Arts: General 4.1 Enhance and Improve :Appraise own and others' work Outcome 4 English Language Arts: General 5.2 Work within a Group: Cooperate with others Outcome 5 4-5 Recognize that human activity can lead to the production of wastes, Science: Understandings: Waste and identify alternatives for the responsible use and disposal of materials and our World

4.1.1 Value Alberta's physical geography and natural environment Social Studies: Sense of the Land 4.S.3 Develop skills of geographic thinking Social Studies: Skills and Processes Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 2: Students will illustrate or tell a story. Fine Arts: Expression Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 5: Students will create an original Fine Arts: Expression composition, object or space based on supplied motivation English Language Arts: General 2.2 Respond to Texts: Experience various texts 5 Outcome 2 English Language Arts: General 2.4 Create Original Text: Elaborate on the expression of ideas Outcome 2 English Language Arts:: General 4.1 Enhance and Improve :Appraise own and others' work Outcome 4 English Language Arts: General 5.2 Work within a Group: Cooperate with others Outcome 5 5-10 Describe the living and nonliving components of a wetland Science: Understandings: Wetland ecosystem and the interactions within and among them. Ecosystems Social Studies: Physical Geography 5.1.2 - examine, critically, the physical geography of Canada of Canada Social Studies: Physical Geography 5.1.3 - analyze how people in Canada interact with the environment of Canada Component 8 - UNITY: Students will create unity by integrating the parts of Fine Arts: Composition a composition into the whole

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 2: Students will illustrate or tell a story. Fine Arts: Expression Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 5: Students will create an original Fine Arts: Expression composition, object or space based on supplied motivation English Language Arts: General 2.2 Respond to Texts: Experience various texts 6 Outcome 2 English Language Arts: General 2.4 Create Original Text: Elaborate on the expression of ideas Outcome 2

Curriculum Connections: Journey to the Sea

Specific Expectations Grade Subject English Language Arts: General 4.1 Enhance and Improve :Appraise own and others' work 6 Outcome 4 English Language Arts: General 5.2 Work within a Group: Cooperate with others Outcome 5

6.S.3 - develop skills of geographic thinking Social Studies: Skills and Processes Component 8 - UNITY: Students will create unity by integrating the parts of Fine Arts: Composition a composition into the whole

Introduction

Remind your students of stories or books together you have read as a class and review the concept that a narrative has the overall structure of beginning, middle and end. If your class is newer to this subject, consider sorting and writing plot points from a book you have studied under the appropriate headings.

Let students know that they will be either watching a film or hearing a story about a journey along a water way. They will also be working together to write their own version of the story with a character representing the class.

Direct Instruction

Period 1 Introduce the idea that "all drains lead to the ocean." What sorts of things could end up in our water and in our oceans (through drains, runoff etc)? Brainstorm suggestions as a class and record them on a white board or chart paper.

With the students, read the story or watch the film (see Resources). Afterwards, add to the brainstorm now that more ideas may have been inspired by the story.

Look at a map of a local waterway and introduce a character for the class. Based on the obstacles and flotsam that influences our waterways from their brainstorm, students write and draw their own "incident" in the story using the class character. Eventually all these “incidents” will be joined together to build the classes own version of the story.

Period 2: "Gallery walk" as a class to see what everyone has drawn and written, share each idea that a student has written about or drawn, all ideas should be read. As a class, select an order for where each “incident” goes on the journey along your waterway.

After allowing students to edit and make a final copy of their writing for the display, assemble all the incidents onto a board showing the class their own version of the story.

Closure

To conclude the lesson, assemble all the incidents onto a board or display like a story board to show their own version of the story. Display this in the classroom or hallway of the school, feel free to share this with other classes and students.

Assessment

Have students draw an incident in the character's journey along the waterway (a dam, an animal mistakenly eating it, ending up in a water treatment plant, caught in a tangle of garbage etc.) and write a paragraph describing the episode.

Have a map of the waterway in question up on the display board. Attach the class set of vignettes around the map and use yarn and pins to indicate where each episode takes place. The class has made a story with a beginning, middle, and end, (just like the waterway) and told the story in a format other than a book or a film. Attention can be focused on:  Obstacles are manmade or natural  What happens to the natural debris in the waterway?  What are the major Canadian watersheds and the obstacles in each?  How many different people and creatures are using the water in the story?

Resources

Films Mason, Bill. (1969). Paddle-to-the-Sea/Vogue-a-la-mer. National Film Board of Canada. http://www.nfb.ca/film/paddle_to_the_sea (Available in French and English) Maylone, Bill. (1989). Journey of the Blob. National Film Board of Canada. http://www.nfb.ca/film/journey_of_the_blob

Books Holling Clancey Holling. (1941). Paddle-to-the-Sea, Houghton Mifflin Co.

Recommended Books (Aboriginal Authors) Tanya Leary and Chad Solomon. Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws. Graphic Novels and Teachers Resource Guides. Little Spirit Bear Productions. rabbitandbearpaws.com Bruchac, Joseph. (1996). Four ancestors: stories, songs, and poems from Native North America (illustrations: S.S. Burrus). Mahwah, N.J.: BridgeWater Books. Monture, Joel. (1996). Cloudwalker: contemporary Native American stories (illustrations Carson Waterman). Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub. GoodMinds Books - Educational Resources for Native American Studies, First Nations Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Aboriginal Studies.

Eastern Canada Interactive Websites http://waterlife.nfb.ca Waterlife is a free NFB Web site available to teachers. Visit this Web site with your students to tour the Great Lakes and learn about the issues affecting the waters from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.

Canadian Geographic Online Atlas - Water Theme http://canadiangeographic.ca/atlas YouTube & Vimeo Videos Region YouTube Video Language Grade Level Watershed – Jerome Waag music only 3-7 USDA Watershed Learning Animation English 4-7 Bill Nye: Rivers and Streams English 4-7 International Watershed Management Youth Council English 4-7 (WMYC) Maker Profile - Watershed Sculptures on English 4-7 Make Conservation Halton Presents: Watersheds & Ontario and Québec English K-3 the Monster Problem of Water Pollution Great Lakes Region Watershed - Jesse Graves English 4-7 Western Canada Drop by Drop to Puget Sound music only 4-7

Archival NFB Films Available Online Region Documentary Films Language Grade Level International Crapshoot: Gamble with Our Wastes (2003) English 10-12 Comment fait-on pour recycler le papier? French and National (1999) 4-7 English How do they Recycle Paper? (1999) Comment fait-on pour recycler l’acier? (1999) French and 4-7 Ontario How do they Recycle Steel? (1999) English and Quebec The Great Clean-up (1976) English 4-12

Les Pièges de la mer (1981) French and 4-7 Stairway to the Sea (1982) English De la rivière à l’océan (1990) French and Maritime 4-7 Rivers to the Sea (1989) English La vie mystérieuse du saumon (1949) French and 4-7 Red Runs the Fraser (1949) English Richesse à sauver (1975) French and Western Canada 3-7 Plea for the Wanderer (1975) English La Zone Intertidale (1987) French and 4-7 The Intertidal Zone (1987) English De l’eau pour les Prairies (1951) French and Prairies 4-7 Water for the Prairies (1951) English

Region Narrative Films Language Le rêve du huard (2002) National music only 3-7 Loon Dreaming (2002) Ontario Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes (1968) music only 4-7 and Quebec French and Western Canada Journey of the Blob (1989) K-6 English

Other NFB Films Available for Order Waterlife (2009) Hope Builders (2010)