Saint Marys College of California

P.O. Box 4350, Moraga, CA 94575-4350

tel. 925.631.4700 fax 925.376.8379
www.stmarys-ca.edu/soe

LESSON PLAN #__2__

Learning Segment Focus or Big Idea: How much freshwater is in the world?
Grade: 4

Content Area: Science

Time Allotted: 45 minutes

Classroom organization: pairs, whole class

Resources and materials: The picture book- All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson, 2
liter bottle, water bottle, smaller water bottle, chart paper, markers, science notebooks, pencils.
Content Standard(s): NGSS - ESS3.A: Natural Resources: Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural
sources, and their use affects the environment in multiple ways. Some resources are renewable over time, and others are
not.
Specific Academic Learning Objectives:
What do you want students to learn in this lesson? Students will learn: I want students to understand that the
majority of Earths surface is water. In fact, upwards of 70% of Earths surface is water. However, only 2.5% of
that water is freshwater. Of that 2.5%, only 1% is available, while the other 99% is trapped in glaciers. But if you
are a current student in an affluent community you have access to water. We live near the coast and a bay and
seemingly have a plethora of water in our backyard. I want students to understand that all the water in the world is
all the water in world and that it is a limited resource.
What should students be able to do after the lesson? Students will be able to: After the lesson, students will know
that water is necessary for life. Everything needs water. Even though we are surrounded by water, the freshwater
that is available to us is only a very small percent.
Prerequisites:
What skills, knowledge and prior experience do students need for this lesson? In 4th grade, students have studied
how plants get they energy and what is necessary for humans and plants to survive. They understand that water is
synonymous with life. They have also studied place value and have an understanding of large numbers. In order to
understand the world population students need a background in what a million looks like.
How will you determine whether students have these? At the start of the lesson I will check in with students. We
will review what a plant needs to survive and I will also ask students what a human needs to survive.
How will you connect to students' interests, backgrounds, strengths and needs, including their
cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic differences? I will connect to students prior knowledge about plants and
animals. Instead of telling students that only 1% of the worlds water is accessible freshwater I will provide a
visual where students can see that our freshwater is limited.
Key ELD Standard(s):
Academic language demands:
What academic language is used in the lesson? (Vocabulary, language structure and conventions,
genres, symbols, etc.) The academic language includes knowing the difference between salt water and
freshwater.
What are the language demands of the task? Please address receptive (listening, reading) and productive
(speaking, writing) skills. Students need to express what they already know about plants and animals.
Students need to listen and follow along to a story that I read aloud. Students need to listen as I show
them how much freshwater we have access to. They will also need to retell and summarize what I
showed them. They need to be able to write down what they learned and form a question they still have
in their science notebooks.

Accommodations (to ensure all students have access to the curriculum):

How will you make the academic language accessible to all students? I will make the academic language
accessible to all students by providing visual aids along with my explanations.
How will address the specific needs of your English learners? I will address the needs of my English language
learners by providing charts, visual aids, repeating information and making use of peer-to-peer language.
How will you address the specific needs of your students with special needs? I will use charts, visuals, repeat
information, and have students explain their ideas to each other and the whole class.
Assessment:
What evidence of student learning will you collect? I will collect their science notebooks at the end of the lesson
to see how students recorded what they learned and questions they still have about the worlds freshwater. I will
also use our class discussion to make note of what students seem to understand during the lesson.
How will you use this evidence? I will use this evidence to find out how much information students were able to
understand. I will make note if students are ready to move on to the next lesson or if they need more time to
understand how much freshwater we have access to.
What criteria will you use to interpret the evidence? I will use the next generation 4th grade science standards and
I will also refer back to the unit plan outline I created.
How will the evidence affect your next steps in teaching? The evidence will help me determine if students are
ready to move on to the next lesson in the sequence or if they need more time to understand how much freshwater
we have access to.
Instructional Sequence:

Time
8 min

Set or introduction:
How will you begin the lesson? How will you engage and motivate learners, connect to prior experience,
activate prior knowledge and/or share learning outcomes?
1. I will have students come join me on the carpet for a discussion.
2. As students answer my questions, I will write their answers on chart paper.
3. I will begin the lesson by first connecting 4th grade students prior knowledge. I will ask students to review,
What does a plant need to survive? then I will listen to students are they answer, sunlight, water, and
nutrients in the soil.
4. After students offer what a plant needs to survive, I will ask them what an animal needs to survive. I will
know to move on once students say that water is necessary for survival.
5. After we have discussed what is necessary for our survival, I will move on to read All the Water in the
World.

12
min

Developing Content/Body of Lesson: What instructional strategies and learning tasks will you use in the main
part of the lesson?
1. While reading the story, students will listen on the carpet.
2. Before I begin reading, I will show students the front cover of the story and ask them to turn and talk to their
neighbor to make a prediction. I will ask students to, Turn and talk to a neighbor and predict what you think
this story is going to be about.
3. After students have a minute to make predictions I will call them back. Boys and Girls, what do you think
this story is about?. I will let 3 students share their predictions.
4. Then, I will start reading. This story is a poem with the message that all the water in the world is all the
water in the world. What we have is what we have got. Once the story is over, I will ask students to, please
turn and talk to a neighbor and say one thing you learned from this story.
5. Then I will call students back and say, boys and girls, who can raise their hand and share one thing they
learned from this story?.
6. I will let 3 students share what they learned.
7. After we have read the story and discussed what we learned from it and what it makes us think, I will ask
students to make a circle on the carpet.
8. At one part of the circle I will have a 2 liter bottle filled with water. Next to my 2 liter bottle will be an
individual water bottle filled half way. Next to that water bottle will be a smaller 4 oz container filled with
water. I will explain to students that is in front of me is all the water in the world.
9. In the 2 liter water bottle, is all of the water in the world. 70% of Earths surface is water. Then I will ask
students, but can we drink all of that water? Or what is most of the Earths surface? I will wait and prompt
students to answer that the majority of Earths surface is oceans or salt water.
10. Then I will move on to the water bottle. I will explain that, If all the water in the world was in my 2 liter
bottle, then this water bottle represents all of the freshwater in the world. I will do a quick check in and ask
students, What does this 2 liter bottle represent? I will wait to move on until students can reiterate that all
the worlds water was in the 2 liter bottle and the worlds freshwater is in the water bottle.
11. Next, I will tell students that even though 2.5% of the worlds water is freshwater, we can only drink 1%.
Of the freshwater in the world, we only have access to 1% of it because the rest of it is stuck in frozen
glaciers.
12. After I show students how much water we can drink, I will ask students questions.

15
min

Checks for Understanding / On-going informal assessment:

How will you know what students are understanding? (questioning and observing throughout the lesson) I will be
checking for understanding throughout the whole lesson. In order to move on to different parts of the lesson, I
will wait until students can successfully repeat what I have just taught them and answer clarification questions.
After I go through how much freshwater we can access, I will ask students what that makes them think. I will
ask, Boys and girls, what does this make you think about?. Then once we have discussed what students have
learned. I will excuse them back to their table groups. At their table groups they will be asked to write down,
1. What did you learn today?
2. What does this make you wonder? What questions to do you have about the worlds water?

10

Closure:
How will learners summarize or reflect on what they learned (for example, share work, share a strategy, share a
process, discuss what they learned, raise a new question)? After students have the time to write down what they
learned and questions they have, I will ask students to share what they have just written down and what new
questions are raised.
Extending the Lesson/Homework (optional):

Reflection, Next Steps: