Project Grade 3 Health & Consumer Science
Mallowdene's Dry Summer: The Kittering Family Drought Health Plan
A four-session grade 3 health project: groups measure handwashing water in liters and plan how a fictional family can save water in a drought and still stop germs.
Objectives
- Students will sort household water uses into habits that protect health and uses that can be cut during a drought, giving a health reason for each habit they keep.
- Students will measure in liters the water used by two ways of handwashing and find the difference.
- Students will design a four-change drought plan that saves water without dropping or weakening any habit that stops germs.
- Students will write an opinion letter to the family that supports their most important change with two reasons.
Vocabulary
- Drought
- A long stretch of drier-than-normal weather that leaves too little water for people, farms, and nature. Droughts build slowly and can last for years.
Also: germs, hygiene, liter, must-keep habit, reuse
Teacher overview
The fictional town of Mallowdene has had a dry summer, its lake is dropping, and the town water office has asked every household to use less water until the rain returns. Over four sessions, small groups act as healthy-home helpers for the Kittering family and design a drought plan that cuts the family's water use without cutting any habit that keeps germs away. The final deliverable is a one-sheet poster for the family's kitchen and a short opinion letter to the family, presented in a two-minute talk to a mock Mallowdene Water Office played by the teacher and a guest such as the school nurse or custodian.
The misconception to address directly is the belief that saving water in a drought means cutting every use by the same amount, so that drinking less or skipping a handwash counts as doing one's part. Public health guidance points the other way. Drinking water and handwashing with soap stay in place in a drought, and the savings come from water that does not protect health, such as a tap left running during scrubbing, a long shower, a lawn, or a car. Session 2 makes this concrete: students measure the water used when the tap runs through the whole handwash and when it is turned off during scrubbing, with the same soap and the same scrub in both, so they can see that the second way saves water without leaving hands any less clean.
For Session 2, a classroom sink with a tub set in the basin works best. If the room has no sink, a large drink jug with a spout set over a tub gives smaller totals, but the comparison between the two ways still holds as long as every handwash uses the same tap or spout. Results will differ from room to room because taps flow at different speeds, so there is no single correct number of liters; what matters is that each group records its own amounts accurately and subtracts them correctly.
Project Brief
The problem. Mallowdene is a made-up town. It has had very little rain all summer. The lake that gives the town its water is getting low. The Mallowdene Water Office has asked every family to use less water until the rain comes back.
The Kittering family lives in Mallowdene. Four people live in their home. They are Mom, Dad, Ines, who is eight, and baby Oren. Ines asked her dad a question. "If we use less water, how can we stay clean and healthy?" Your group will help the Kitterings answer it.
Driving question. How can the Kittering family use less water in a drought and still keep every habit that stops germs?
What you need to know.
- Germs are tiny living things. They are too small to see. Some germs can make people sick.
- Soap and water wash germs off your hands. Wet your hands, rub on soap, scrub, and rinse under running water.
- Wash your hands before you eat and after you use the toilet. Wash them after you cough or blow your nose, too.
- Your body needs water every day. On hot days it needs even more.
- Some water uses stop germs, and some do not. Watering the lawn does not stop germs. Washing the car does not stop germs either.
- Clean water caught while the shower warms up can go on plants. Never drink water from a tub or a bucket. Never wash food with soapy water or dishwater.
The must-keep habits. These seven habits keep the family safe from germs. They all stay in your plan.
- Drinking water
- Washing hands with soap
- Brushing teeth
- Washing fruits and vegetables
- Washing dishes
- Taking a bath or a shower
- Flushing the toilet
A change can make a must-keep habit use less water. It cannot skip the habit. It cannot make the habit less clean.
The rules for your plan.
- Your plan has exactly four changes that save water.
- No change may skip a must-keep habit or make it less clean.
- Each change needs a germ check. A germ check is one sentence that tells why the change is still safe.
- At least one change must use a number your group measured in liters.
- The poster must fit on one big sheet. The words must be big enough to read from across a kitchen table.
Ideas to get you started. Some families turn off the tap while they scrub their hands. They turn it back on to rinse. Some families catch the cold water that runs while the shower warms up. Then they pour it on their plants. You may use these ideas, or you may find your own.
What you turn in.
- A poster for the Kittering kitchen. It lists the seven must-keep habits and shows your four changes. Each change has a picture and a germ check.
- A letter to the Kittering family. Tell them which change matters most. Give two reasons.
- A short talk for the Mallowdene Water Office. Your teacher and a guest will play the office.
Milestones
- Session 1: Sort the water uses. Your group gets twelve habit cards. They say: drink a glass of water, wash hands before lunch, brush teeth, rinse an apple, wash the dinner dishes, take a shower, flush the toilet, water the lawn, wash the car, fill a wading pool, hose off the sidewalk, and let the tap run to get cold water. Sort the cards into two piles. One pile is must-keep habits. The other pile is uses the family can cut or shrink. Next to each must-keep card, write one reason it stops germs or keeps a body healthy. Output: a sort sheet with two columns and a reason beside every must-keep card.
- Session 2: Measure the handwashing water. Test two ways to wash hands at the same tap. In Way 1, the tap runs the whole time. In Way 2, you turn the tap off while you scrub, then turn it back on to rinse. For both ways, wet your hands, rub on soap, scrub while you count slowly to 20, and rinse off all the soap. Set a tub in the sink to catch the water. Do three handwashes one way and three the other way. After each set of three, pour the tub water into the liter jug and count the liters. If the last jug is only part full, write whether it is more or less than half full. Count it as one more liter if it is more than half full, and leave it out if it is less. Then subtract to find how many liters Way 2 saved. Output: a table with the liters for each way, the liters saved, and one sentence that tells whether both ways used the same soap and the same scrubbing.
- Session 3: Choose four changes and write germ checks. Pick the four changes your group likes best. Write a germ check for each one. Then trade plans with another group. That group checks every change against the must-keep list. They sign your plan, or they tell you what to fix. Output: a draft plan with four changes, a germ check for each, and the other group's signature.
- Session 4: Build the poster, write the letter, and present. Make the poster. Then write the
letter to the Kitterings. Start with your opinion about which change matters most. Give two
reasons, and join them with words like because and also. End with a closing sentence. Last,
show your poster to the Mallowdene Water Office in a two-minute talk and answer one question.
Output: the finished poster, the letter, and the talk.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | 1 Emerging | 2 Developing | 3 Proficient | 4 Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health reasoning | A change skips or weakens a must-keep habit, or the germ checks are missing. | All must-keep habits stay, but some germ checks are missing or do not say why the change is safe. | All seven must-keep habits stay, and each of the four changes has a germ check that explains why it is still safe. | Everything at Proficient, and the plan also shows one safe way to reuse water and names a kind of water the family must never drink or use on food. |
| Water-saving changes | Fewer than four changes are named, or the changes would not save water. | Four changes are named, but one or more is vague, such as "use less water," or does not fit the Kittering home. | Four specific changes are named, and each one would save water in the Kittering home. | Four specific changes include at least one from the cut pile and at least one that shrinks a must-keep habit safely, with a reason for which change the group thinks saves the most. |
| Measurement in liters | No measurement is recorded, or it is not in liters. | Liters are recorded for both ways, but the saving is missing or subtracted wrongly. | Liters are recorded for both ways, the saving is subtracted correctly, and the poster uses it to back one change. | Everything at Proficient, and the group explains that both ways used the same soap and scrubbing, so the saving did not make hands less clean. |
| Poster, letter, and talk | The poster is missing major parts, or the letter gives no opinion. | The poster shows the changes but leaves out pictures or the must-keep list, or the letter gives only one reason. | The poster shows the must-keep list and four changes with pictures and germ checks; the letter gives an opinion, two reasons with linking words, and a closing sentence; the talk fits in two minutes. | Everything at Proficient, and the presenter answers the office's question with a fact from the brief or a number from Session 2. |
Differentiation
Support
Sort two of the Session 1 cards together as a class, modeling one must-keep reason aloud, before groups sort the rest. Give these groups a prepared Session 2 table with rows for Way 1 and Way 2 and a box for the difference, and provide the germ-check frame "This change is still safe because ___." Pair a stronger reader with a student who needs support when the group reads the Project Brief.
Extension
Ask these groups to add a hot-day corner to their poster. A drought often comes with hot weather, when the family needs to drink more water rather than less, so the corner should show three ways to keep cold drinking water ready without running the tap, such as a covered jug in the refrigerator or a filled bottle for each person, along with a germ check for each one.
ELL supports
Pre-teach drought, germs, must-keep, liter, tap, and reuse with pictures on the habit cards and a real liter jug the class can hold and fill. Model Way 1 and Way 2 at the sink before groups measure. Provide the sentence frames "We keep ___ because it ___" and "I think the most important change is ___ because ___," and allow the letter to include labeled drawings alongside shorter sentences.
Extensions
Invite the school custodian to one of the talks and ask which water uses at school are cut first when a town asks everyone to use less water. Students can then compare the custodian's list with their own cut pile and discuss any use the school keeps for health reasons, such as the sinks by the lunchroom and the restrooms.