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Classroom activity Grade 1 Science

The Runoff Road Stations at Hartsedge School: A Grade 1 Activity

Four tilted trays stand in for four school surfaces; groups pour the same rain down each one and watch the cup at the bottom show what the water carried off.

Objectives

  1. Students will pour the same amount of water down four surfaces and observe what each cup collects.
  2. Students will sort the four collected cups into three categories by how cloudy they look.
  3. Students will explain that rain carries whatever is on the ground into the creek.

Vocabulary

Key words: runoff, carry, creek, cloudy

Teacher overview

Every heavy rain turns the fictional Gorsewick Creek behind Hartsedge School brown for a day, and this station activity gives first graders a tabletop reason why. Four tilted trays stand in for four surfaces around the school, one swept bare, one with soil on it, one with paper scraps on it, and one dusted with chalk, and each group pours the same ten spoons of water down every tray while a cup at the bottom collects what comes off. The model maps onto the concept directly: the tray is the ground, the poured water is the rain, and the cup is the creek, so whatever was sitting on a tray ends up in that group's cup without anyone having to be told. The class works in four groups (a class too big for four groups can set up a second set of stations), and the activity closes by pouring the last round's four cups into one jar so students see the creek receiving every surface at once.

Activity Directions

  1. Set up (before class). Prop each of the four trays on a book so one end sits higher than the other, and slide a clear cup under the low end of each. Leave Station 1 bare. Spread a spoon of dry soil across the top half of Station 2, scatter torn paper scraps across Station 3, and rub colored chalk dust across Station 4. Label each station with a card naming the school surface it stands for: the swept walk, the bare garden bed, the picnic area, and the parking lot.
  2. Introduce the question (5 min). Hold up the empty creek jar and tell the class that it stands for Gorsewick Creek. Ask why the real creek turns brown after a storm and take two or three ideas without settling the question.
  3. Teach the pouring rule (5 min). Model one pour at Station 1. Count ten level spoons of water onto the high end of the tray, one at a time, and let the water run to the cup. Stress that every station gets exactly ten spoons so the stations can be compared fairly, and that nobody moves anything on a tray with their hands.
  4. Rotate the stations (20 min). Send each group to a station, give them five minutes to pour their ten spoons and look closely at the cup, then rotate. Groups record what their cup looked like on the Student Handout before they move. Between groups, swap in a fresh cup and re-dress the tray so every group starts with the same setup. Continue until every group has visited all four stations.
  5. Fill the creek (5 min). Bring the four cups from the last round to the front and pour them one after another into the labeled creek jar while the class watches. Ask students to call out which cup made the biggest change to the jar.
  6. Debrief (5 min). Ask two questions and take answers from several students each. First, which station's cup was hardest to see through, and what was sitting on that tray? Second, if the school wanted the creek jar to stay clear, what would have to change about the trays rather than about the water? The activity ends once both questions have been answered and every group has finished the handout.
The Runoff Road Stations at Hartsedge School: A Grade 1 Activity — Grade 1 Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Your group poured ten spoons of water down four trays. Each tray stands for a place at school. Look at the cup at the bottom of each tray. Then answer these questions.

Station What is on the tray The place it stands for
Station 1 nothing the swept walk
Station 2 soil the bare garden bed
Station 3 paper scraps the picnic area
Station 4 chalk dust the parking lot
  1. How many stations did your group visit?
  2. Which station's cup looked the cleanest?
  3. Which station's cup looked the dirtiest?
  4. Sort your four cups. Write each station under clear, a little cloudy, or very cloudy.
  5. All four cups went into the creek jar. Tell what the creek jar looked like at the end.
  6. Write one sentence. Tell one thing the school could keep off the ground so less of it reaches Gorsewick Creek.

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

Answer Key
  1. Answer: 4 stations.
    Every group rotates through all four trays before the debrief.
  2. Answer: Station 1.
    The bare tray had nothing on it to be carried down, so its cup should look close to plain water.
  3. Answer: Station 2 in most classes.
    Loose soil clouds water more than paper scraps or chalk dust do. Accept Station 4 if its chalk dust was heavy, as long as the student names what was on the tray.
  4. Answer: Accept any sorting that matches what the group collected.
    Each station belongs in exactly one category. A common result puts Station 1 under clear, Stations 3 and 4 under a little cloudy, and Station 2 under very cloudy.
  5. Answer: Accept any description of a mixed, cloudy jar.
    Sample response: the creek jar looked brown and cloudy, dirtier than any single cup except the soil cup.
  6. Answer: Accept any surface-side answer.
    Sample response: the school could sweep up the chalk dust and the paper scraps and put mulch on the bare garden bed so the rain has less to carry.

Differentiation

Support

Assign these students the pouring job with a pre-counted set of ten spoon-sized scoops lined up beside the tray so the counting is done by lining up rather than by memory. For item 4, give a cut-and-paste version with four station labels and three category boxes rather than asking for written words.

Extension

Let a group build a fifth station of their own choosing, name the school surface it stands for, and predict where its cup will fall in the sorting before pouring. Ask them to write one sentence saying what evidence would show their prediction was right.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "runoff," "carry," "creek," and "cloudy" while pouring a demonstration spoon down the bare tray, naming each word as the water does it. Post a three-picture reference showing a clear cup, a slightly cloudy cup, and a very cloudy cup so item 4 can be answered by matching pictures.

Extensions

Cover the soil at Station 2 with a layer of mulch or grass clippings, pour ten more spoons, and compare that cup with the bare soil cup from the first round. Students who watched the bare soil tray cloud the creek jar now have a second piece of evidence showing that a cover on the ground changes what the rain can take away.