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Earth Systems Unit, Moncton – 2nd grade

Mar 1, 2018

In this 2nd grade unit, students construct their explanations about a puzzling and historical phenomenon: Why did a town next to a mountain (the town of “Moncton”) flood after a dam was built on the opposite side of the mountain? Throughout the unit, students engage in a number of activities (readings, investigations, and watching videos) to gather evidence and revise their models and explanations about how and why the town flooded. Students can learn about how dams affect water flow and landscapes, ice age and glacial moraines, how the structure and properties of different earth materials can affect water flow, and how water can change the shapes and kinds of land quickly or slowly. Written by Michelle Salgado, Jennifer Richards, Soo-Yean Shim, and Kitten Vaa in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Ambitious Science Teaching group and Highline Public Schools, with funding from the University of Washington, Highline Public Schools (Sub-award from the Department of Education, Race To The Top grant and the National Science Foundation (DRL 1417757).

See how Kitten Vaa’s second-grade class generated evidence-based arguments for what caused the town of Moncton to flood. This three-video series was created in partnership with the Teaching Channel and supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (DRL 1417757): 

Storyline

Lesson title and investigation number: 1. Mini-lessons Maps & Mapmaking -Classroom Maps -Schoolyard Maps 2. Where does water come from? -Washington State Map 3. Introduction to the phenomenon -Model Scaffold Worksheet -Agree/disagree T-charts 4. Dams -Can you build a dam that doesn't leak? -How does a dam change the water flow? -Building Concerns & Debates (Map of North Wall) Can you build a dam that leaks? 5. Ice Age -Puget Sound Ice Sheet -Glacial Deposits -Seattle under glacier -Read Aloud: "Glaciers by Mari Schuh" 6. Ice Age created the Cedar River Watershed -Mapping the Cedar River Watershed -Creating a Watershed -Read Alouds: "Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean" by Arthur Dorros & "All the way to the Ocean" by Joel Harper 7. Geology of the Cascade Foothills -Soil, Sand, & Silt (Porosity and Permeability) Experiment 8. History of the Land -First People (Duwamish, Yakama, Wenatchee, Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie) & Prairies -Town of Moncton (aka. Cedar Falls) -Great Seattle fire creates the need for a dam 9. Final Lesson: Putting it all together. Understanding the science story behind the flooding of Moncton

Four young students looking at agree and disagree t charts with the claim at the top of the t charts reading: ; We claim that the water went through the ground to the town.A chart about earth materials. The chart poses the question: How and why does water flow differently in Earth materials? The chart also has columns for earth material (with different materials for each row such as pebbles and sand), time, what was observed, and model - why does this happen?

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