1. Earth’s Water Cycle The Earth is made up of systems. The total amount of water on Earth remains constant. Amount of water leaving = Amount of water entering Water does not disappear but must be conserved. Scientists study the influence of the water cycle on Earth’s environment. Big Ideas Unit Plan – Mary Golden

2. Differentiating Instruction Use a problem-based learning scenario to reinforce the concept that fresh water is a limited resource and must be conserved. Goal: Your task is to convince people that water conservation is important. Role: You are an employee of the Department of Water Resources. Audience: The citizens of California Situation: Your manager has asked you and your co-worker to work on an advertising campaign to inform citizens of the facts and to persuade them to conserve water. Product: You will create a poster that grabs peoples’ attention, opens their eyes to the facts, and provides them with water conservation ideas. Criteria for success: Your work will be evaluated according to a rubric and you will make a presentation explaining your reasons for including each item on the poster. This strategy supports differentiation by: Encouraging cooperative learning Providing choice in terms of what to include on the poster Setting up a different perspective from which to view the topic Providing a novel approach to the topic

3. National Board Core Proposition #2: Teachers Know the Subjects They Teach and How to Teach Those Subjects to Students organize the unit to encourage students to think about the Earth as a web of interconnected systems. challenge students to consider systems as more than the sum of the parts by focusing on the water cycle. build a foundation of facts while posing thought provoking questions that teach students to think about the global context in which they live. strive to provide multiple paths to knowledge by using different instructional strategies and tasks that stimulate the interest of all students. With this unit I tried to…