Lesson plan: I turn on the tap/I walk to the stream

Song Bank link

I turn on the tap/I walk to the stream (words and music by Richard Stilgoe)

Subject links

• Geography QCA Unit 11: Water

Duration

45 mins - 1 hour 

Learning objectives

• Geography: Children will be able to make maps and plans, use secondary sources, and to investigate the water supply chain at a local and global scale. 

• Singing: Children will learn about breathing and sing songs with increasing control of breath and posture.

Resources

• I turn on the tap/I walk to the stream – all audio tracks

• Birds-eye view/aerial map of the school

• Activity sheet containing water images (sourced from the internet)

• Interactive whiteboard

Prior learning

• Children should understand how to obtain information from maps and atlases, world weather patterns and physical and human features of water flow.

Introduction

• Share the Learning objectives with the children at the start of the session.

• Give children a birds-eye view/aerial map of the school. In differentiated groups, children walk around the school grounds, noting signs of water (most importantly where water enters and leaves the school), eg. taps, drain pipes, puddles, stopcocks, water fountains etc. and marking these on the map.

• Children return to the classroom and as a class, discuss areas where they find water in the school. Make notes on the interactive whiteboard listing where the water was found and the different types of water-related features (taps, puddles etc.).

Main activity

• Explain to the children that they are going to learn a new song, I turn on the tap/I walk to the stream.

• Display the words to the song on the interactive whiteboard and play the song to the children. As they listen, encourage them to think about the meaning of the song. What is it about? What is its message? Now use the echo track to teach the song. If you have a class of less confident singers, you may want to use the slower version of the echo track. (You may find it useful to start with this anyway to ensure the children pick up the song correctly, and then move on to the full speed version.) Invite children to come forward and highlight words and phrases from the song which show water use in our school and homes. Discuss as a class.

Independent activity

• Give children an activity sheet containing the following images: a tap, a well, someone washing clothes in a river, a washing machine, a hosepipe, someone with a water carrier on their head, guttering with running water, a reservoir etc.

• Children stick the pictures in their books and describe what activities are taking place, how water is being used, and where in the world it might be used like that. Children could be split into two groups; Group A: developed world, Group B: developing world.

Differentiation

Support

• Group the children in mixed-ability pairs/groups

• Offer more prompts of support to the less able

Extension

• Get children to look closer to home. eg. the school.

• Think of ways in which we use water in the school and how this differs from the places already looked at in the lesson.

Plenary 

• Children share their independent work with the class defining uses of water in each image on the activity sheet.

• Sing the song through once more splitting the class into groups to sing different sections.

• Discuss how the words to the song fit in with what they have learned about the water cycle.

Assessment for learning

Can the children:

• Locate water flow around school? 

• Understand the correlation between the lyrics, singing and the ideas being discussed about water use?

• Discuss with peers where and why water is used?

• Ask questions to define their own conclusions about this topic?

Next steps

• Children investigate who uses water and what it is used for, and the similarities and differences between how water is used across the world. Is water usable and reusable? What makes water dirty and how can it be cleaned?

Differentiated success criteria

All children will:

• Be able to locate water in school building.

• Be able to share ideas with the class.

• Be able to define which water images are most likely to be associated with which regions of the world. 

Some children will:

• Be able to clearly define where and why water is used within a school.

• Be able to apply song lyrics to lesson objectives regarding water.

• Be able to use specific vocabulary in class discussions.

A few children will:

• Be able to look beyond the visual features relating to water in the school and discuss, eg. the use of drainpipes and underground pipes within the building.

• Be able to give clear and detailed explanations as to why water is used differently in different countries.