Photo: Bob Peterson
Angela Barreto experiments with removing oil from a feather in her 5th-grade classroom.
‘Who actually owns the water?" One of my students asked me as I introduced a mini-unit on water to my fifth graders.
"Well, who do you think does?" I responded.
"The government!"
"Nobody!"
"Bill Gates!"
"The fish!" were among the chorus of replies.
I wrote the question and responses on a wall chart that listed what the kids already knew about water.
The students already knew many basics: About 70 percent of the earth is covered with water; most of it is salt water; it exists in three different forms; most of our bodies are composed of water; and more.
Their questions included: Who contaminates water? What country has the most water? How much does water cost? Does the chlorine put in the water in the state's largest water park hurt animals?