Lesson plan Grade 3 Art & Music

Windmere Windmill Pump: A Grade 3 Water Cutaway Drawing Lesson

Third graders draw and label a cutaway of a farm windmill pump that lifts groundwater, then write short captions explaining each part.

Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Art & Music
Material: Lesson plan
Time: 45 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: Drawing paper, Pencils and erasers, Colored pencils or crayons, Printed windmill pump reference photo (teacher-provided), Rulers

Standards

W.3.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

How this material aligns: Students write short informative captions for each labeled part of the windmill pump cutaway, examining how the pump lifts groundwater and conveying that information clearly.

All materials for W.3.2 →

D2.Geo.4.3-5 C3 Framework

Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.

How this material aligns: The lesson shows how a dry-country farming community adapts to its environment by using wind to lift well water, matching this standard's focus on culture, environment, and adaptation.

All materials for D2.Geo.4.3-5 →

Download Word file

This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will draw a labeled cutaway of a windmill pump showing how it lifts water from a well.
Students will write a short caption for each part explaining what it does.

Vocabulary

Groundwater: Groundwater is water that has soaked into the ground and fills the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rock underground. It is a large underground source of fresh water that wells and springs draw from.
Pump: A pump is a machine that adds energy to water to move it or push it uphill, doing the job gravity cannot do on its own. Water systems use many different kinds of pumps to move water from wells, through treatment, and out to customers.

Also: cutaway, well, label

Teacher overview

Windmere is a made-up farm town in a dry valley where rain is scarce and the nearest river is far away. Families there pump their water from deep wells, and many use a tall metal windmill to do the work. When the wind spins the blades, a rod moves up and down inside the well pipe and lifts water to the surface. This lesson turns that machine into an art subject. Students draw a cutaway, which is a picture that shows the inside of something as if it were sliced open, so a viewer can see the hidden well pipe below the ground. The drawing gives young artists a reason to look closely at how a real water machine is built, and the captions give them practice writing to inform.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Show the reference photo of a farm windmill and ask students where they think the water is. If students point to the tower, guide them to notice that the water is underground, in a well the photo cannot show. Explain that a cutaway drawing can reveal the hidden part.

Direct instruction (10 min): On the board, sketch a simple cutaway in three zones: the wind blades and tail at the top, the tower and pump rod in the middle, and the well pipe reaching down into the groundwater at the bottom. Name each part in plain words as you draw it. Explain that the ground line is drawn across the middle, with the well shown below it.

Guided drawing (15 min): Students draw their own cutaway on paper, using a ruler for the straight tower and the ground line. Circulate and prompt them to include all three zones and to draw the water clearly below the ground line. Remind them that a cutaway lets the viewer see under the ground.

Independent captioning (10 min): Students write a short caption beside at least three parts: the blades, the pump rod, and the well. Each caption tells what the part does, such as how the blades catch the wind or how the rod lifts the water.

Closure and formative check (5 min): Students trade drawings with a partner and point to the part that lifts the water. As an exit check, ask each student to name, in one sentence, where the windmill gets its water. Listen for the idea that the water comes from underground, not from the sky or a nearby river; reteach quickly to any student who says rain or river.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a lightly printed cutaway outline with the three zones already placed, so students can focus on adding the well water and the labels rather than on the whole layout. Offer a short word bank (blades, tower, rod, well, groundwater) for the captions.

Extension

Ask students to add a second small drawing that shows what happens on a still day with no wind, and to write one sentence explaining how the farm might get water when the blades are not turning.

ELL supports

Pair each vocabulary word with a simple icon on the word bank card, and let students label parts with a word plus a small arrow before writing full caption sentences. Allow students to explain their drawing to the teacher out loud before writing.

Extensions

If a local farm, ranch, or historical park has a working or restored windmill, share photos with the class and compare the real machine to the students' cutaways. Students can note one part the photo shows that they had not drawn.