Walking for water

This week we continue our Unit on Sharing the Plant.

Grade 3 and 4 are exploring the Central Idea that Humanity's future is dependent on resources.

Our first line of inquiry is into challenges due to limited resources.

Our new UNICEF Global Goals focus for this week is Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

After Wake-up/Shake-up on Friday morning, Grade 3 & 4 learners got together to reflect on the following four statements:

1. Around 40% of the the world's population does not have access to clean water.

2. Many women and children in Africa have to walk an average of 6km to find and collect water.

3. The average weight of water that people carry back is 20kg.

4. Many children walk to collect water at night so they can attend school during the day.

For many, water does not come from a tap.

To further stimulate learner's understanding, much planning went into a provocation activity.

Learners were asked not to drink from their water bottles or the school drinking fountains for the day. Instead, we walked almost 500m to a drinking fountain on the island where we collected (clean) water which we brought back to school. Each learner had their own cup they needed to fill from the communal drinking water supply. We needed to do the trip twice so we had enough to last the day.

Have a discussion at home: How far would YOU walk for water?