The boys in Year 1 have worked so hard this term on our Unit Of Inquiry into Water.  Our central idea ‘Water is a limited and natural resource and our use of it has impacts locally and globally’, opened up the door for us to understand how important water is for life, the sources of water and most importantly, our responsibilities regarding water.

Over the course of this unit, the boys enjoyed reflecting on how they personally use water and came to the conclusion that water is an essential element for life and we can use it to stay alive and to have fun in.  It was exciting to be able to investigate water usage around the school and take photos using our ipads. We enjoyed discussing our photos with a partner, justifying why we had taken them.

One of the most exciting elements of our unit of inquiry was investigating sources of water, in particular, learning all about the water cycle and the process of cleaning water before we use it.  The boys created flow charts explaining the process water goes through before we can use it and came to the realisation that we are lucky to have a system that allows us to have access to such great quality water.

This understanding and appreciation of access to clean water was especially evident when the boys began to inquire into the difficulties some countries encounter when trying to access water.  After watching a very moving clip about Nyema, the Water Girl for Tanzania, the boys realised just how sad it was that some children are required to walk 60 kilometres a day to find water for their family to use, even though it is dirty, unhealthy and full of disease.

It was with this eye-opening research into water shortages in countries such as Tanzania, that the boys decided to create news clips using iMovie, to teach others about what they had learnt in order to educate others.

It has been wonderful to hear that so many boys have decided to take some personal action in using water responsibly at home and at school.  Even more pleasing is that some of this action has taken the form of boys monitoring their parents’ use of water at home as well.

Mrs Carmen Gaspersic, Year 1 Teacher

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