THE WATER GUARDIANS COLEGIO SANTA TERESA OF JESUS , VALLADOLID , SPAIN

Language Arts / English

CONTENT

Language Arts / English

Letter Writing

Character

Ethics, Being Responsible

Global Goal

Skill

Problem Solving

Age Group

10- 11 Years / Grade 5

Learning Standards

McREL Learning Standards - Grade 5 Writing

Prerequisite

None

LEARNING GOAL & PURPOSE

Colegio Santa Teresa of Jesus, Valladolid, Spain has brought to us an outstanding story of the bright minds, who show us the power of proactive thinking in contrast to its reactive counterpart. They convey the importance of identifying and working on issues that have the potential to pose a problem rather than wait for the problem to occur.

In anticipation of the global problem of water scarcity, these extraordinary children put their problem-solving skills to task and created solutions for water conservation. Through dedication and a strong determination to mitigate an unfavourable outcome of the future, these incredible minds showed us how to make our future a more sustainable one instead.

Lesson Plan

Hook:

Talk to the students about global scarcity. The following is one way you may:

The founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin once said, “When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water”.

How many of you have heard of worsening water problems in the world?

For those of you who haven’t, water scarcity has become a larger global crisis than it ever was. Today, 1 billion people live without clean drinking water. Water affects everything, education, health, and poverty.Many people have to walk for hours just to collect enough water for the day. Often, the water that they collect is contaminated with germs that can cause very serious illnesses or even death. Most people think, “what can I do, I alone cannot solve a global problem”. Is that really true, let us watch a video about it?

DFC Video Activity:

Play the video BTC2014Spain: The Water Guardians (http://bit.ly/2fdCL6A)

Activity: Share your ideas!

  1. Why should we worry about water scarcity unless it happens to us?
  2. What are the small changes you can make to conserve water?
  3. Why do you think, the advantages of proactively problem-solving are?
  4. What is one thing that you would have done differently than the students in the video?

Activity (Write a letter):

Ask the students to write a letter to inspire and challenge family members to conserve water. Students will read the letter to their family that may include creating awareness of water scarcity problem as a global one. Ask the students to get in groups and proactively find additional solutions to conserve water and include them in the letter.

Teacher Tip: Encourage the students to go home and read the letters to their family follow-up on implementation of the solutions.

Closing the Loop and Assessment:

Emphasize the idea that: Proactive thinking is better the reactive thinking and the difference between them are analogous to being mindful and being mindless respectively.

At the close of the session, ask the students to think, pair, share about 1-2 actions they would do differently after this lesson.

Ask the students to complete the following self-reflection using the following rating scale:

1 = Not Yet, 2 = Need Support, 3 = Making efforts, 4 = Almost a habit, 5 = I CAN

  1. I am able to anticipate potential issues ____
  2. I am able to proactively look for solutions ____
  3. I am able to have a clear understanding of what I am trying to accomplish ____
  4. I am able to understand challenges that exist or may arise in the future ____

Suggested activity: Identify an issue in your school or community that you anticipate posing a problem in the future. What are the 2-3 most important actions that you will carry to proactively problem solve it?