Day One:

1. What is a system? A system is parts that interconnect to create one or more results?
2. A watershed is a system? A watershed is a part of an ecosystem? What are the parts of a water system? How do those parts interact? What is the result of those interactions?
3. Ask students, "What is a watershed?" Discuss their ideas for about five minutes.
4. Show students this video about a watershed and this one too
5. Discuss briefly the Sudbury River watershed which is part of the greater SUASCO watershed.

STE Standard

5-ESS2-1: Use a model to describe the cycling of water through a watershed through evaporation, precipitation, absorption, surface runoff, condensation.

Vocabulary review:

• Watershed: It’s a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually to outflow points such as reservoirs, bays, and the ocean. Example: The SUASCO watershed is the land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers and their related tributaries, streams, and wetlands.
• Ecosystem: biological (living things) community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. How does the SUASCO ecosystem influence the health of the SUASCO watershed?
• Evaporation: Build a watershed model: the process of turning from liquid into vapor.
• Precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.
• Condensation: water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it; the conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid.
• absorption: the process or action by which one thing absorbs or is absorbed by another.
• surface runoff: Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water that occurs when excess stormwater, meltwater, or other sources flows over the Earth's surface.
• Ground water: Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.
• Aquifer: a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.
• Percolation: Rainfall seeps underground through a process called percolation, where water travels downwards through the tiny spaces between rocks and soil particles. The water eventually saturates the underlying rock much like water fills the tiny holes of a sponge. This helps to replenish aquifers under the ground.
• Transpiration: Transpiration is the process where plants absorb water through the roots and then give off water vapor through pores in their leaves. An example of transpiration is when a plant absorbs water in its roots. YourDictionary definition and usage example.

Prepare for the project:

Watershed lab sheet

The day or morning before:

1. Copy the Watershed lab sheet and Prepare the classroom:

• Cover tables with table cloths
• Prepare supply table with the following:
  • large white inflatable trays - one per table
  • cut up sponges - one baggie filled for each table
  • plastic containers - one container full for each table
  • large piece of clear plastic - one per table
  • spray bottle of water with blue food coloring - clean water - one per table
  • spray bottle with water with black/silver glitter - polluted water - one per table.
  • one bucket or plastic tub per table.

2. Make Science Teams.

3. Introduce the project. See notes above. While introducing the project have students paste copies of their Watershed lab sheet in their science notebooks.

3. Introduce teams and team roles.

2. Students who are "resource managers" collect supplies.

3. "Lead engineer" leads table set up. Communications director leads by reading the lab to-do list. Project manager makes sure the steps are followed in order.

• Cover tables with plastic or vinyl table cloths or prepare to do the project outside.
• Use inflatable trays for base.
• Make hills and other uplands with plastic containers.
• Cover all with a plastic sheet (could be a clear bag, light green, brown or gray plastic sheet to replicate land)
• With blue expo markers, show where you think the water will run on your model when you make it rain.

4. "Team leader" rains by spraying the blue water several times. All team members watch where the water flows. The "Communications Director" asks the questions below and everyone records the information in their science notebook.

• Did the rain move in the direction expected--why or why not?

5. "Lead engineer" asks team to add plant materials which are represented by small pieces of sponges. Team adds sponges, and "Communications Director" asks another question and everyone records the information in their science notebook.

• What do you notice? Did the waterways change? What happened?
• What would happen if the water that fell were polluted?

6. "Team leader" sprays "polluted water" (water with glitter). Team watches what happens. Communication Director asks question and everyone records the information in their science notebook.

• Did the polluted water surprise you? What happened?

7. All team members clean up.

• 6. Clean up. Squeeze sponges into bucket. Pick up plastic gently and empty water into the bucket. Then empty rest of water into bucket. Arrange supplies neatly , and return to supply table in the same way you found them.

8. Team members draw a picture of what happened with their watershed model in their science notebooks as they continue to discuss what happened.

Day two:

Introduce the SUASCO Watershed with this slideshow