Water - Drop

Reflecting on this weeks 'lessons' I think one of the things Hermione (and I) have found most enjoyable was realising the physical reality of ten litres of water and translating this into how much water is actually used in everyday tasks such as flushing the toilet, taking a bath etc. We were shocked when we started to really envisage just how much water we actually use. There are details, guides and suggestions for this activity on the water link I gave earlier in the week.

We also enjoyed bringing the water cycle to life in the form of a story. I felt that all of the exercises and discussions we had around the diagrammatic images of the water cycle weren't quite hitting the mark. I googled for inspiration and found a computer game (which I hated) in which a drop of rain was personified. This gave us the idea for writing the story - and here it is.

Drop

High above the earth, fluffy white clouds floated along. In the clouds lived a little Drop of water, round and content with life. For as long as he could remember, he spent his days chilling out and soaking up the sun's warm rays. One day, he took his usual place in the sun but the light didn't seem to be as bright. In fact, as the day went on, it grew darker and darker, loud claps of thunder shook the cloud, and the Drop felt as if he were getting so heavy he could hardly move.

Suddenly, the Drop felt himself falling from the cloud. He was starting to condense and turn into rain. Down, down, down he fell, farther and father from home.

At last he landed on the earth, in the dark green rain forest. There were tall trees and huge leaves for as far as he could see. Multicolored insects of every shape and size crawled and flew around him. Strange creatures surrounded him, and the sounds and sights were like nothing he had ever seen or heard before. All he was sure of was that he wanted to go back home. But how?

So began the adventure of Drop, the water molecule, as he enters the great water cycle. He needs to get safely through the forest, into the river, and out to sea so that the sun can warm him once again and help him get back to the clouds. He needs to reach a place where he can evaporate back to his cloud home.

It’s not going to be easy. All living things need water. What if he soaks into the soil and is absorbed by a tree or plants roots? What if an animal or insect drinks him? What if he makes it to the river but is taken out at a water treatment centre and sent to someone’s home for them to use to flush the toilet, have a bath or cook their dinner?

Drop may not know it as his memory isn’t that good but he’s already been in all of these situations – and still always eventually made it back to his cloud home. There’s no more water on earth than there was when earth began. It’s the same water just going around and round and round in the huge water cycle.

I'm hoping Hermione may feel inclined to draw a few illustrations for Drop this coming week.