Smarty Pants News
Episode 1: Watersheds, Runoff & Pollution
Standards:
NGSS Alignment
DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS
ESS2.C: Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes
2-ESS2.C: Water is found in the ocean, rivers, lakes, and ponds. Water exists as solid ice and in liquid form.
5-ESS2.C: Nearly all of Earth's available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere.
MS-ESS2.C: Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
3-LS4.D Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there.
CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS
Cause and Effect
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Systems and System Models
Stability and Change
California's Environmental Principles & Concepts
Principle II Concept B: Methods used to extract, harvest, transport, and consume natural resources influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.
Principle III Concept A: Natural systems proceed through cycles and processes that are required for their functioning.
Principle III Concept B: Human practices depend upon and benefit from the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.
Principle III Concept C: Human practices can alter the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.
Principle IV Concept B: The byproducts of human activity are not readily prevented from entering natural systems and may be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental in their effect.
EEI Alignment
5.3.a Earth's Water: Students learn about the water cycle, availability of fresh water, salinity and density of water, and the interaction of humans with freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems.
5.3.d Our Water: Sources and Uses: Students identify sources of fresh water and describe the reservoirs of Earth’s water and the variations in the ten hydrological regions of California.
Vocabulary:
Precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground
Runoff: rain that does not evaporate or soak into the ground
Reservoir: a place where water is collected and stored
Wastewater: used water (often called sewage)
Storm water: water from a rain storm that washes off roads and roof tops
Watershed: an area of land where all of the water that falls on it or drains off of it goes into a particular body of water
