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Classroom activity Grade 1 Science

Gravel Strip or Plant Strip at Marlberry Lane School

A grade 1 station activity where groups pour rain over a bare tray, a gravel strip, and a plant strip, then count spoonfuls of runoff to compare the two strips.

Objectives

  1. Students will count the spoonfuls of water that run off three different school strips.
  2. Students will compare the gravel strip and the plant strip and tell which one held back more water.
  3. Students will describe what the runoff carried along with it.

Vocabulary

Storm drain
A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.

Also: runoff, soak in, gravel, grit

Teacher overview

Rain runs off the roof of Marlberry Lane School, down a downspout, and across a paved walk into a storm drain at the curb. The school wants to put a narrow strip of something beside that downspout so less water reaches the drain, and two ideas are on the table: a strip of gravel or a strip of planted ground. This is a three-station rotation for groups of four or five, in which each group pours the same cup of water over a bare tray, a gravel strip, and a plant strip, catches whatever runs off, and counts it in spoonfuls. The misconception this activity addresses is that a storm drain leads to the same place as the classroom sink drain and that everything washed into it is cleaned along the way, so the sand sprinkled at the top of each tray, and the cloudy runoff it produces, are worth pointing out during the debrief.

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, set up three stations, each with a tray propped at one end on a book so it slopes. Station 1 is bare (the paved walk). Station 2 has a line of pebbles across the middle (the gravel strip). Station 3 has flat sponge pieces across the middle, dampened and squeezed out (the plant strip). Place a clear catch cup at the low end of each tray, a tablespoon beside it, and a small cup of water filled to the same line at each station.
  2. Gather the class and name the problem in one sentence: too much rain runs off the walk and into the storm drain, and the school wants a strip beside the downspout that holds some of it back.
  3. Sort students into three groups of four or five and send one group to each station. Give each group the recording page.
  4. At the station, one student sprinkles a small spoonful of craft sand across the top of the tray. Explain that this stands for the grit and dirt that rain picks up outdoors.
  5. A second student pours the whole cup of water slowly at the top of the tray. The rest of the group watches where the water goes.
  6. When the water stops moving, the group looks at how cloudy the runoff in the catch cup is, then scoops the caught runoff out of the catch cup with the tablespoon, counting each full spoonful aloud, and writes the number on the recording page.
  7. The group empties the catch cup, refills the pouring cup to the line, and rotates to the next station when you call time at eight minutes.
  8. The activity ends after every group has completed all three stations, so each group has three numbers written down.
  9. Copy the numbers onto a class chart with three columns labeled Pavement, Gravel Strip, and Plant Strip.
  10. Debrief with two questions: "Which strip let the least water run off, and how do the numbers on our chart show that?" and "Our runoff cups looked cloudy. Where did that cloudy stuff come from, and where would it go if this were a real rain?"
Gravel Strip or Plant Strip at Marlberry Lane School — Grade 1 Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Write your group's numbers and answers on this page.

Pavement station spoonfuls: _____

Gravel Strip station spoonfuls: _____

Plant Strip station spoonfuls: _____

  1. How many spoonfuls of runoff did you catch at the Pavement station?
  2. How many spoonfuls of runoff did you catch at the Gravel Strip station?
  3. How many spoonfuls of runoff did you catch at the Plant Strip station?
  4. Which station let the most water run off? Write its name.
  5. Which strip held back more water, the gravel strip or the plant strip? Write its name.
  6. Think about the catch cups at the three stations. Which one looked the dirtiest? Write its name and tell why you think so.

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: Answers will vary.
    Accept the group's own count from the bare tray. This number is usually the largest of the three because nothing on the tray slows the water down.
  2. Answer: Answers will vary.
    Accept the group's own count from the gravel station. Pebbles hold water in the gaps between them, so this count is usually smaller than the pavement count.
  3. Answer: Answers will vary.
    Accept the group's own count from the sponge station. The damp sponge soaks up part of the pour, so this count is usually the smallest of the three.
  4. Answer: The Pavement station.
    Accept any station name a group's own numbers support, and check the recording page against the class chart if a group reports something else.
  5. Answer: The plant strip.
    Accept either strip if the group's two numbers support the choice. Ask the group to point to the two numbers they compared.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary.
    Most groups pick the pavement cup, since the sand washes straight down the bare tray while the gravel and sponge trap some of it. Accept any answer that names a station and gives a reason tied to what the group saw.

Differentiation

Support

Pair a student who is still building counting fluency with a partner who counts the spoonfuls aloud together with them, and mark the recording page with a small picture beside each station name, such as a gray rectangle for pavement, dots for gravel, and a leaf for the plant strip.

Extension

Ask a group to run a fourth pour at the plant strip using twice as much water, then tell the class whether the strip still held back most of the water and what that might mean during a long storm.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "runoff," "soak in," "gravel," and "grit" while holding the actual materials, and demonstrate one full pour and count before groups begin. Allow question 6 to be answered by pointing to a station and saying one word rather than writing a sentence.

Extensions

Walk the class outside to the school's own downspout and ask students to look at the ground beside it. Have them decide, as a group, whether the ground there is more like the pavement tray, the gravel tray, or the plant tray, and hold a class vote on which strip the school should try.