A PROJECT ON WATER

Hello again, from Grafton, Illinois. We (Dot Schuler, second grader teacher, and Eileen Borgia, Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) have had the culmination of our project on water, and are eager to share the details with you!

How we began 

Our project on water grew out of our project on rocks, during which children noticed condensation in our rock garden / terrarium. Grafton School is on the banks of the Illinois River, and the river is in our view from our classroom windows. Furthermore, since the flood of 1993, many of the buildings and houses have been torn down, providing a panoramic view of the river from the school.

Phase 1

To begin, on April 15, 1996, Dot and the class created a web about water. We started with the word water in the middle, and then branched off with many places that water is found. A letter was sent to parents, announcing the study of water, and inviting them to send things that would pertain to the project, as well as asking them to share information with the class.

Many pictures and videos of the 1993 flood were sent in, and the children began bringing in water samples from various sources.

Dot told three personal stories about water. She then encouraged the children to think of events in their lives involving water. After discussing their stories in detail, they illustrated them, using either various colors of crepe paper, or paper towels, for the color and texture of the water. They each wrote a brief description of their story in their learning journals, followed by proofreading, publishing, and gluing them onto the fronts of their pictures. The children grouped their pictures by categories, so that when we displayed them in the hall, we could put labels by them, such as, "swimming stories", "fishing stories," etc.

Next, we asked open-ended questions about water:

• How is it measured?
• What colors?
• What is good and bad about it?
• What is it made of?
• Where does it come from and where can you find it?
• What can it do and what is it used for?

The children were given an opportunity to think, write, and share their thoughts with a partner. Then, each cooperative-learning team created a chart, in the form of a web, and focused on one of the questions. To complete the webs, they referred to the written responses of each child.

Using one of the questions from their webs, each child then wrote a paragraph about water. They went through the five stages of writing and prewriting, first draft, revision, proofreading, and publishing. The end of their paragraph was a question which was to become the topic of their investigation.

Phase 2

Phase 2 began with a carefully planned all-day trip! Before leaving, we composed a message, which was rolled up and sealed in a plastic bottle. We planned to launch it in the river with the hopes of someone finding it and returning us a message. We began early in the morning on Friday, May 3, 1996, carrying clipboards with pencils attached, as well as paper for notes and sketches. Each of the five teams was accompanied by an adult.

We walked a little more than one-half mile to the Grafton Water Dept., where a Water Works employee, and husband of the cook at school, joined us. We first observed the 85,000 gal. capacity water tank outside. We then went upstairs in the old building and saw the water filter. We saw where the pipes came into the filter, after being treated with chlorine in the water tank outside, and then went downstairs to see the crystal, clear water that had gone through the filter. Next, we went out to the back of the building to see the pipes 10 feet above the ground, that ended at the two wells, which go down into the bedrock under the river, to gather our drinking water. The children sketched and took notes. They also collected junk that they found near the water, and put it into the plastic bags that we had brought along.

For lunch, we went across the street to a local restaurant called the Fin Inn. Two mothers of boys in the class had arranged for us to have lunch there. The children ate while gazing at the 10,000 gal. aquariums full of river fish and turtles. Some of them estimated the lengths of the fish, sketched, and took notes.

After lunch, we walked 1/2 mile east of our school to the boat ramp, stopping along the way to measure mud puddles, footprints full of water, and the height of water hydrants. We also did some rubbings of water meters. Once we arrived at the boat ramp, one of the mothers met a fisherman whom she knew. He threw our bottle with the message into the middle of the river from his boat. We then measured the temperature of the river water in Celsius and Fahrenheit. We drew sketches of an island, a boat, a dead fish, shells, liveboxes, geese, and tugboats. Upon our return to the classroom, we used our field notes to list the things that we had discovered. Our list had an impressive 106 things on it!

An environmental educator visited our classroom. After the children predicted the amount of drinking water available from different sources on the earth, she took them outside to imagine what they saw in the clouds, and then let them create their own by tearing white paper and mounting it on blue. She also discussed the wetlands, using props to demonstrate their importance, such as a sponge, to show that they soak up the water, and a coffee filter, to show that they are a natural filter for our rivers.

Our third expert was a Park Ranger at the wetlands near the Alton, IL. lock-and-dam. (This lock-and-dam system is on the Mississippi River, at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers east of Grafton.) He taught us a game to show the importance of the wetlands as habitats for ducks and other wildlife. The children sketched many things and took field notes. Although the wetlands area that we visited is only about 20 miles from the school, down the scenic Great River Road, we compiled a list of 50 things that we noted along the way, as well as 50 additional things that we noted while at the wetlands.

After our field experiences, the children studied water in activity centers in the classroom.

The children:

• estimated and measured water in milliliters,
• measured the temperature of water in Celsius and Fahrenheit,
• observed whether objects would sink or float,
• counted drops from pipettes that would collect on the sides of coins,
• made Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting water samples,
• used water drops on clear paper as magnifiers.

They also read independently about water. Children created small posters of facts which they labeled "Did you know?" and displayed throughout the room and hallway. The children continued to bring in water samples from creeks, wells, rivers, springs, and tap water, melted hail, and rain. Our custodian provided a sample of the impurities removed from drinking water in a nearby town.

An ongoing activity during the whole project was continual writing in their daily journals. Dot typed many of the stories so that the children could illustrate them and collect them in our Water Book. Many of their daily journal writings ended with questions, which opened up detailed discussions, in which everyone was excited to respond. Dot kept records of these questions and answers, and they were posted in the room, along with the pictures of our wetlands trip, posters of water facts, class stories, and weekly water spelling words.

As the project progressed, children were constantly thinking of things that they wanted to investigate either on their own, or with a small group:

Scott and Matt made a salt-relief map of the states that border the Mississippi River.

Robert experimented to see if oil and water would mix.

With help from his dad, Nelson and Jonathan built a model of the water department building, with the water tank next to it, and the well in the back, complete with pipes to connect them!

A steel trough was brought in by a parent for our "river".

One group sketched and made models of boats.

Another group made a mountain with an active waterfall.

Two girls interviewed students throughout the school.

The responses and photographs of the interviewees were displayed on posters.

Sarah investigated substances that would dissolve in water.

Ross wanted to know what chemicals were in water.

With the help of a battery and wire, he was able to place the apparatus in various samples of water, to see if the light would shine, thus indicating metals in the water.

Another boy made dirty water, let it settle, and then observed the "clear" water at the top with a magnifying glass.

Two children made papier-mache models of fish and turtles.

Two more children observed what water does to sand. Jennifer and Dani planted seeds in two different containers, watering only one, to see if plants could grow without water.

Daniel made a water game.

Phase 3

With the end of the school year approaching, and the various explorations coming to a close, we decided to enter Phase 3 and have the culmination on May 23, 1996. We sent invitations to all parents, community members, experts, administrators, school board members, and the faculty and staff. Parents volunteered to bring refreshments. We began our presentation in the cafeteria. The children presented a "movie," in which they displayed a chronicle of the project on water using their own narrated drawings which had been mounted on a continuous roll of paper.

The class then produced percussion, using hand and foot movements to recreate a "thunderstorm," to the delight of the audience! Finally, we went upstairs, with each adult accompanied by a second grade tour guide. Other second graders were in the room to serve as "workers." The parents and children were fascinated with the Water Works model, complete with a model filter of layered sand and rock just inside the cardboard door!

Fifty-five people circulated around the room, admiring the experiments, models, interviews, posters, stories, books, and water samples. They watched the "waterfall," flowing from the "mountain." Just by listening to the tour guides explaining each display, it was obvious that a wealth of learning had occurred! The adults were delighted and we received many compliments!

Reflections

During the past semester, Dot and Eileen have learned many things about implementing project work, and about working collaboratively. We learned along with the children, we guided them to think of solutions and to document what they learned by using various forms of representation.

We had many positive comments from parents, faculty, staff members, and administrators about our rock and water projects. We also awakened interest in a new way of learning on the part of colleagues, families, and community members. Many teachers in the school became interested, and have enrolled in Eileen’s upcoming course on The Project Approach at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville to be held June 24-July 5.

A momentum has begun at Grafton Elementary School, and we look forward to watching more children develop into inquisitive and observant learners. We plan to take time this summer to reflect on what was learned, and how we will change what we do next time. The documentation from the projects is rich with children’s discovery. Parents’ participation and support was very high.

The children’s writing reflects their thinking, and their advancing skill at organizing and recording their thoughts. When asked, many children said that they were not eager to have the school year end. They preferred to stay in second grade, because they enjoyed learning. We wish you had been there to see the facial expressions of pride and enthusiasm, as they shared their work with their families, peers in other classes, and teachers. We are very proud of them!

Dot Schuler
Grafton Elementary School
PO Box 205, Grafton, IL 62037
dschule@siue.edu

and

Eileen T. Borgia
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Box 1122, Edwardsville, IL 62026
eborgia@siue.edu  

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Last revised: October 17, 1996