PBLOverview

Title:
Teacher:
Content
Focus:
Project
Idea:

Victoria Coburn
Earths Systems

Est. Start
Duration: 4 weeks
Date: 9-172015
Grade Level: 5th
Other subject areas to be included: Writing

Students will investigate the concept of water conservation.

Summary
of the
issue,
challenge,
investigatio
n, scenario,
or problem

Students will:
Consider ways in which they and their families use water.
Examine sources of water and its use around the world.
Learn practical ways to conserve water.
Convert large numbers to scientific notation and multiply them.
Conversion of small numbers to scientific notation.
Write numbers in standard and scientific notation and in words.

Essentia
l
Questio
n:

How can we conserve

water in California?

Driving
Question:

What would happen if our town ran out of

water tomorrow?

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

Content
and Skills
Standards
to be
addressed:
(CCCSS,
NGSS, Calif.)

Earths major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and
sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and
the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in
multiple ways to affect Earths surface materials and processes. The
ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms,
and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with
the landforms to determine patterns of weather.
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earths Surface Processes
Nearly all of Earths available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in
glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes,
wetlands, and the atmosphere.
CCCS Mathematics 5.NBT 2
Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a
number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the
decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10.
Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.
Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.
CCCS Mathematics 5.G.1.2
Real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first
quadrant of the coordinate place, and interpret coordinate values of points
in the context of the situation.
CCCS Mathematics 5.MD.1
Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given
measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these
conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

st

21
Century
Skills
and MPS
to be
explicitly
taught and
assessed
(T+A) or
that will be
encouraged
(E) by
Project
work but
not taught
or
assessed:

Think Creatively
Use a wide range
of idea creation
techniques (such
as brainstorming)
Create new and
worthwhile ideas
Elaborate, refine,
analyze and
evaluate their
OWN ideas in
order to improve
and maximize
creative efforts
Global Awareness
Understand
global issues.
Learning from
working
collaboratively.
Make sense of
problems and
persevere in solving
them.

T
+
A
T
A

T
+
A
T
A

Reason abstractly and

quantitatively.

T
A
T
A

Construct viable arguments

and critique the reasoning of
others.
Model with mathematics.

T
A
T
A

Use appropriate tools

strategically.

Attend to precision.

Look for and make use of

structure.

Presentation Audience
Group:

Culmina
ting
Product
s and
Perform
ances

Individ
ual:

Individual Assessments.
Poster Projects on Water
Conservation. Public Service
Announcements.
Written Assessment.
Students will demonstrate
their knowledge of the
hydrosphere and water
conservation.

Class

School
Community

Experts

Mrs. Coon

Web

Other:

Project Overview
Entry
event

Pre-Assessment: [WILLL BE ADDED TO UNIT]

1. Students will be asked to :

to launch
inquiry,
engage
students:

2. Entry Event: Mystery bag with the worlds most incredible resource, turns out to be

Outline
or
Conceptu
al Flow
Include

assessment
points:

a simple, humble jug of water.

Writing Pre-Assessment: What are some different places in your house that water gets
used?
VIDEO: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/not-one-drop-how-long-will-californiasurvive-life-without-n195976n
SAWS the Stockton Area Water Suppliers
Kristen Cook One and a half hour presentations focus of standards:
ESS2.A and ESS2.C
Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence
about the distribution of water on Earth. [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to oceans, lakes,
rivers, glaciers, ground water, and polar ice caps, and does not include the atmosphere.]

The assessment for the oral presentation includes a writing project in which students have traveled as a water molecule
through the hydrosphere. They are wearing a bracelet that depicts their journey through various water stations. They then write
a paragraph describing their journey [the journey really would last years and years, not in real time]

Water use Around the World ditto focuses on standards CCS 5.NBT.2 for each
calculation, change the factors to scientific notation, round decimals to the thousandth
place, the multiply.
CCCS Mathematics 5.G.1.2 Students will find the approximate annual water use for each
country in the table. For each calculation, the will change the factors to scientific notation, round
decimals to the thousandths place then multiply.
CCCS Mathematics 5.MD.1 Calculating gallons/minutes converting this to HOURS.
Comparing gallons of water to how many pounds this would equal if they had to carry it
long distnaces. Converting seconds to minutes in the 5-minute shower play list.
CCCS Mathematics NBT.2 Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when
multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the
decimal point when a decimal is multiplied by a power of 10. Use whole number
exponents to denote powers of 10.
ESS2.C. The Roles of Water in Earths Surface Processes Students learn how the
properties and movements of water shape Earths surface and affect its systems.
http://fcs.tamu.edu/housing/4th/shower.pdf
http://www.thewatrproject.org
www.epa.gov/watersense/kids

Assessm
ents

Formative
Assessmen
ts
(During
Project)

Summative
Assessmen
ts
(End of
Project)

Quizzes/Tests

Journaling/Learning
Log

Preliminary
Plans/Outlines

Rough Drafts

Online Tests/Exams

Written Product(s),
with rubric

Other Products

Oral Presentation,
with rubric

Peer Evaluation

Multiple
Choice/Short
Answer Test

Essay Test

Resourc
es
Needed

On-site people,
facilities

Other

Librarian, fellow teachers to loan out technology

Poster paper, graph paper, pencils, markers

SAWS Kristen Coon

Community
resources

(Individual,
Group,
and/or Whole
Class)

Chrome carts, ipads (borrowed from other teachers), Elmo, my lap top

Equipment
Materials

Reflecti
on
Methods

Self-Evaluation

Journal/Learning
Log

Focus Group

Whole-class
Discussion

Fishbowl
Discussion

Survey

Other

Project Teaching and Learning Guide

Knowledge and Skills Needed by Students
(to successfully complete culminating projects and to do well on summative assessments)
Student needs to be able to:
Know how the scientific notation is used

Student needs to be able to:

Know how to convert measurements within a given measurement system. Oz.
gallons, for example.

Student needs to be able to:

Know the basic concepts of graphing. Graph
point on the coordinate plane to solve realworld mathematical problems.

Student needs to be able to:

Read, write and compare decimals to the thousandths.

Questions to be Provided by the Project Teacher

(to successfully complete culminating products and to do well on summative assessments)
Teacher asks questions to recall facts, make
observations, or demonstrate understanding:

During this four week unit, the teacher

will ask many probing questions as
documented in the FOUR WEEK lesson
plan provided. Such questions ask:

Students to recall information

already taught

Students make new

observations

Students make new

understandings

What are ways the students

Teacher asks questions to summarize, analyze, organize, or evaluate:

During the four week course, the students will be reading from, and
listening to a lot of non-fiction read-a-louds.

Students recall information they just heard by retelling what

they learned.

Organizing facts form a non-fiction reading using graphic

organizers

and their families use water

Teacher asks questions to apply or relate:

What are ways the students and their

families use water
What are practical ways to conserve
water

Teacher asks questions to predict, design, or create:

Create Public Service Announcements and posters to help others conserve

Californias precious resource, especially during this on-going drought.

Teacher Reflection:
How did the unit flow? What worked well? What needs to be changed for next time? What did the students learn? What evidence do
you have to support students learning?
I have not really taught this unit in fifth grade. One of the reasons, is that Lincoln Unified School District still wants 5 th grade teachers to teach
from the OLD California State Standards. This is the ONE BIG reason why, I am leaving fifth grade and moving to 4 th grade next year to be able
to finally move on to the Next Generation Science Standards. I will pass this unit I created on to next years fifth grade teachers.