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of Natural Resources
“U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, has
provided partial funding for this project under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, DNR Subgrant G06-NPS-22.”
Clean Water Education
Teacher Resource Packet
Grades 4–8
Table of Contents
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 5
II. Overview of Lesson Plans/ State Standards Addressed ...................................................................... 7
III. Background Information .......................................................................................................................... 9
Water Cycle
Activity 1: Create Your Own Water Cycle...............................................................................................13
Students will make a small terrarium to see first hand how the water cycle works by modeling
its major components and processes.
Student Worksheet: Create Your Own Water Cycle..................................................................15
Watersheds
Activity 2: What is a Watershed?............................................................................................................. 17
Students will be introduced to the concept of a watershed by constructing simple watershed
models in the classroom and by studying various relief maps of local watersheds that are
connected to larger watersheds.
Watershed Maps #1–5.................................................................................................................. 20
Student Worksheet: Watersheds – Shapes and Sizes..................................................................25
Answer Key: Watersheds – Shapes and Sizes..............................................................................26
Activity 3: Schoolyard Watershed Walk ................................................................................................... 27
Students will anchor their newly acquired knowledge about watersheds and how water is
drained by changes in elevation. They will do this by exploring their school grounds with the
help of a schoolyard map on which they draw.
Sample Base Map......................................................................................................................... 30
Student Worksheet: Schoolyard Watershed Walk ......................................................................31
Student Homework: Where in the Watershed?....................................................................32, 33
Stormwater Runoff
Activity 4a: Runoff Roundup (outside activity—suitable for younger students).............................35
Students will use the scientific method to observe and compare the amount of surface water
runoff in two different schoolyard sites. In doing so, students will learn how vegetated areas
can reduce stormwater runoff and erosion.
Student Worksheet: Runoff Roundup ..................................................................................38, 39
Activity 4b: Runoff & Erosion Experiment (inside activity—suitable for older students)...............41
Students will investigate the processes of surface runoff, infiltration, and erosion by using a
model to simulate rainfall on three different types of surfaces: bare soil, vegetation, and an
impervious surface (such as a parking lot or basketball court).
Data Table..................................................................................................................................... 45
Student Worksheet: Runoff and Erosion Experiment................................................................46
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Stormwater Runoff (continued)
Activity 5: Impervious Business..............................................................................................................47
Students will measure an area of impervious surface on their school grounds and calculate
how much water will run off that surface in a given year in order to understand the cumulative
effects impervious surfaces have on waterways.
Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution & Best Management Practices (BMPs)
Activity 6: EnviroScape® Watershed/Nonpoint Source Model................................................................51
An EnviroScape® Watershed/Nonpoint Source model will be used to demonstrate that activi-
ties we do to the land can result in pollution of our waterways. Students will learn about dif-
ferent types of pollution, their sources, and things they can do to help prevent or minimize
stormwater pollution.
Activity 7: Schoolyard Stormwater Assessment......................................................................................57
Students will apply their knowledge of watersheds, nonpoint source pollution, and stormwater
management to a place of significance in their lives by conducting a stormwater assessment of
their school grounds.
Diagram: Absence of Best Management Practices......................................................................60
Table 1: Common Stormwater Pollutants and Sources...............................................................61
Schoolyard Stormwater Survey.......................................................................................... 62–64
Chart: Action Checklist ............................................................................................................... 65
Activity 8: Home Management Plan.......................................................................................................67
Students and parents will evaluate their activities at home and develop a Clean Water Home
Management Plan to help keep our water clean.
IV. Forms........................................................................................................................................................ 69
V. Internet Resources.................................................................................................................................. 81
VI. Glossary ................................................................................................................................................... 85
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Introduction: Clean Water Education & Resources Project
In March 2005 the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) conducted a survey by phone to a
randomly selected sample of 426 resident in the MSD service area. Seven percent ( 7% ) of residents
surveyed indicated that they lived in a watershed. The balance of the residents, 93% of respondents,
answered that they lived outside of a watershed, near a watershed, or did not know. This survey was
conducted after 430,000 billing inserts were sent to all sewer district customers in St. Louis City and
St. Louis County, which provided basic information about watersheds, and whose cover was titled
“Everyone Lives in a Watershed!”
To increase public awareness about watersheds and clean water issues, MSD in collaboration with the
Litzsinger Road Ecology Center (an outreach facility of the Missouri Botanical Garden), was awarded
a grant. The Environmental Protection Agency Region VII, through the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources, has provided partial funding for this project under Section 319 of the Clean Water
Act, DNR Subgrant G06-NPS-22. The project will evaluate and select the best materials on clean water
issues for use in upper elementary and middle school curricula. A series of workshops over two and
a half years, for a targeted total of 100 teachers, will provide training in clean water issues.
Each teacher will be provided with a packet of materials for their use in the classroom as well as
packets for their students. During the teacher training workshop, teachers will be shown how to best
incorporate the Clean Water Education materials into their classroom instruction. Student packets
will include a Student Activity Workbook, which will help to guide student learning by providing
students with a place to record information relating to study unit activities. Student packet will also
include a Home Watershed Management Plan—a home survey of nonpoint source pollution and best
management practices (BMPs) for good stormwater management, to be completed by each student
with their parents as a homework assignment. This home survey will challenge each family to
investigate their home’s stormwater flows and sources of nonpoint source pollution (NPS), and to
commit to three BMPs to limit or eliminate pollution from their property. Surveys are to be returned
to the teacher, who in turn will forward them back to the project, to be used as a measure of success.
Overview of Lesson Plans
The enclosed materials are intended to provide teachers with high quality clean water education
activities to incorporate into their classroom instruction as part of a school’s current curriculum. All
lessons target upper elementary and middle school students, but can be easily adapted by the teacher
to serve younger and older students. The sequence of lesson plans is structured so that later lessons
build upon concepts learned in previous activities.
Certain activities have been tailored for the St. Louis region, and all lessons highlight the importance
of students anchoring their learning to a place of significance in their lives. Lessons supporting basic
watershed, stormwater runoff, and pollution concepts have been designed to better prepare students
to transfer knowledge learned to their own homes in order to complete a “Home Watershed
Management Plan” with their parents.
Collectively, the lessons in this packet support student growth in the following Missouri state
curriculum standards for upper elementary and middle school grade levels:
Science
• The Earth’s crust is composed of various materials including soil, minerals, and rocks with
characteristic properties (Standard 5.1.A)
• The hydrosphere is composed of water (a material with unique properties) and other materials
(Standard 5.1.B)
• The Earth’s materials and surface features are changed through a variety of external processes
(Standard 5.2.A)
• Changes in the form of water as it moves through Earth’s systems are described as the water
cycle (Standard 5.2.E)
• Earth’s materials are limited natural resources that are affected by human activity (Standard
5.3.A)
• Scientific inquiry includes the ability of students to formulate a testable question and
explanation, and to select appropriate investigative methods in order to obtain evidence
relevant to the explanation (Standard 7.1.A)
• Scientific inquiry relies upon gathering evidence from qualitative and quantitative
observations (Standard 7.1.B)
• Evidence is used to formulate explanations (Standard 7.1.C)
• Scientific inquiry includes evaluation of explanations (hypotheses, laws, theories) in light of
scientific principles (understandings) (Standard 7.1.D)
• The nature of science relies upon communication of results and justification of explanations
(Standard 7.1.E)
Social Studies/Geography
• How to evaluate and use geographic research sources (e.g., maps) (Standard 5.A.1)
• Use of geography of Missouri and the United States: Place (Standard 5.C.3)
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" R e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h i n p l a c e s ( S t a n d a r d 5 . D . 4 )
" H u m a n - E n v i r o n m e n t I n t e r a c t i o n s ( 5 . F . 6 . )
" U s e s o f g e o g r a p h y t o i n t e r p r e t , e x p l a i n , a n d p r e d i c t ( S t a n d a r d 5 . I . 9 )
" U s i n g m a p s , g r a p h s , s t a t i s t i c s , t i m e t a b l e s , c h a r t s , a n d d i a g r a m s ( S t a n d a r d 7 . C . 3 )
M a t h
N u m b e r &