What Is a Natural Resource?

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WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Overview In this lesson students will learn about water as a natural resource. They will investigate how water is used in their local community.

Objectives On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to: • observe and describe local sources of water; and • draw and label or write about a picture of two ways water is used in their life.

Alaska Standards Alaska Science Standards [A] A student should understand and be able to apply the processes and applications of scientific inquiry. A student who meets the content standard should: [A.1] develop an understanding of the processes of science used to investigate problems, design and conduct repeatable scientific investigations, and defend scientific arguments. [C] A student should understand and be able to apply the concepts, models, theories, facts, evidence, systems, and processes of life science. A student who meets the content standard should: [C.3] develop an understanding that all organisms are linked to each other and their physical environments through the transfer and transformation of matter and energy.

Alaska English / Language Arts Standards RI.K-1.1 With prompting and support, elicit background/prior knowledge and experience in order to ask and answer questions about an informational text using key details from the text. W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/ explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. W.K-1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. SL.K-1.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 1 WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Alaska Cultural Standards [E] Culturally knowledgeable students demonstrate an awareness and appreciation of the relationships and processes of interaction of all elements in the world around them. Students who meet this cultural standard are able to: [E.2] understand the ecology and geography of the bioregion they inhabit.

Bering Strait School District Scope & Sequence 1st Grade Sequence #8 Natural Resources A. Understands what a natural resource is. D. Use scientific processes to directly support the concepts of the natural resources.

Materials • Chart paper • Marker • Clipboard and paper • Water, Water Everywhere (Reading Rainbow Book) by Cynthia Overbeck Bix • Student Worksheet: How Do I Use Water?

Multimedia REACH Multimedia K-3: “Needs and Wants” Available at: www.k12reach.org

Additional Resources Earth’s Resources (Investigate) by Sue Barraclough Natural Resources (Investigate Geography) by Louise Spillsbury Water by Frank Asch A Cool Drink of Water (Barbara Kerley Photo Inspirations) by Barbara Kerley Water Dance by Thomas Locker

Activity Preparations 1. Review Whole Picture section of the lesson for teacher background information. 2. Read Water, Water Everywhere to know the story before reading it aloud to students.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 2 WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Whole Picture A natural resource is a raw material that comes from the environment and is used to make the products people need for things like food, shelter, clothing, and entertainment. Natural resources include things like plants, soil, sunshine, water, fossil fuels, air, wildlife, metals, and minerals. For example, plants are used for food and medicine, animals are used for food, clothing, and art, and fossil fuels are used for energy, heating, and cooling.

Alaska has an abundance of natural resources: forests in the south, fossil fuels and minerals in the north and south central, and wildlife and fish in both the interior and in the seas. In most Alaska Native villages around the state, people depend primarily on locally available natural resources to sustain themselves. Aside from supplemental foods purchased at the store, people depend on subsistence —harvesting foods directly from the earth. Subsistence foods are natural resources; they include things like berries, greens, and other plants (collected for both food and medicinal purposes), animals like caribou, hare, and wolves (used for both food and fur), and marine mammals like seals, whales, and walrus (used for food, art, clothing, and traditional objects like skin boats and drums).

Natural resources are also used to make the processed materials people depend on for clothing, shelter, and energy. For example, consider the materials used to build a house: lumber, insulation, wiring, etc. Trees are milled to make the lumber; insulation is made from processed fossil fuels that have been turned into types of plastic; electrical wires are made from minerals mined from the earth; and fossil fuels are used for energy to heat and light the home.

In the past, Alaska Natives used only the natural resources locally available, and used limited technology to extract them, for food, shelter, and energy. Foods were harvested from the land in summer and stored for winter; people moved to the food source, building seasonal homes both from and as a part of the land around them; and they used animal power for energy (e.g., dog teams for transportation and seal oil for light and heat). Today, modern conveniences make life in remote Alaska more comfortable, and people use imported materials to build their homes, clothe their bodies, supplement their diet, and power their homes and vehicles. For example, non-local food items are now found in village stores. Also, the materials people use to build their homes — lumber, insulation, electrical wires, etc. — are all processed materials, imported from far away.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 3 WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH People could not survive without natural resources. Many Alaska Natives believe that all resources must be treated with respect; by showing respect, the resources will continue to be available for generations to come (Fienup-Riordan and Rearden, 2012; Kawagley et al., 2010). Take a walk around your village and identify the various natural resources people use regularly and directly (berries, other plants, wildlife, water, etc.). Notice, too, the resources people depend on that have been imported (materials for housing, clothing, transportation, communication, etc.). Consider ways to show gratitude and respect for the various resources that you use.

Vocabulary natural resource – anything from nature that people can use.

Activity Procedure Part 1 1. Read the book Water, Water Everywhere and discuss as a class. On chart paper list student responses about what they learned from the book or already knew about water. 2. Tell students they are going to walk outside in their community to observe where they see water and how it is being used. Go for a 15-20 minute walk. The teacher will take a clipboard to write down the student observations. 3. In the classroom transfer the observations to chart paper.

Part 2 1. Review the chart from the water observation walk. 2. Ask students how they use water in their home or at school. List responses on another piece of chart paper. 3. Have students complete the Student Worksheet: How Do I Use Water? 4. Share the completed worksheets as a class.

Extension Activities • Ask a culture bearer to visit the classroom and discuss how water is needed and used in subsistence activities. • Read the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker and write a class poem about water. • Have students make a book of how their family uses water. • Read aloud any of the listed resource books.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 4 WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Answers Answers will vary depending on which two ways of using water students choose. Some examples could be but are not limited to: drinking, brushing teeth, taking a bath or shower, toilet flushing, washing dishes, cleaning windows, mopping the floor, watering house plants or a garden, cooking with family, traveling by boat or kayak, fishing, or swimming.

References Fienup-Riordan, Ann, and Alice Rearden. (2012) “Ellavut: Our Yup’ik World and Weather. Continuity and change on the Bering Sea Coast.” Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. Kawagley, Angayuqaq Oscar, Norris-Tull, Delena, & Norris-Tull, Roger A. (2010). “The Indigenous Worldview of Yupiaq Culture.” R. Barnhardt & A. Kawagley (Eds.), Alaska Native Education: Views from Within (219–235). Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 5 WHAT IS A NATURAL RESOURCE? UNIT 8: Natural Resources Lesson 17 — Grades K-1 STUDENT WORK REACH Student Worksheet: How Do I Use Water? Name______Draw a picture of two ways you use water. Label or write sentences to tell about your picture.