Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Chorekdjian.

I'm so excited to be learning with you today.

I will be guiding you through every step of our geography lesson today.

We are going to have a great time learning together.

Let's start our learning journey.

Welcome to today's lesson from our unit called the Water Cycle: why is it important? This lesson is called water ownership.

Your learning outcome will be to explain some reasons why we have to pay for clean water and you will offer opinions as to whether this is fair or not.

Some of this learning is brand new, but I'm here to help you.

This links back to previous learning that you might have done about the water cycle and the processes involved in the water cycle.

You might have also done some learning about buildings and how they collect rain water and you might also have done some learning explaining how water enters and leaves buildings.

You could have also done some thinking as to why water is essential for human life and you might have identified some of the causes and consequences of people not having access to clean water.

You could have also thought about how we move water to different parts of the UK to meet demand.

Here are the key words that we will be using together in today's lesson.

Before we find out what they mean, let's practise saying them together doing my turn, your turn.

Recycle, recycle.

Population, population.

Industry, industry.

Good job, let's find out what these keywords mean.

Recycle, to convert waste materials into new materials and objects is recycling.

Population, the population is the total number of people living in a particular area.

Industry, industry is the business of turning raw materials into finished products, usually in factories.

Good job everyone, I want you to be using these keywords, throughout our lesson as well.

Let's have a look at the learning cycles that we will be working through together today.

First, we'll be thinking about why the demand for water is increasing and then we'll be thinking about why we pay for water.

I'm really excited to start today's lesson.

I hope you are too.

Let's get started.

Quickly turn to your partners and tell them what this image is showing.

Did you say that this is an image of the water cycle? That's correct.

The amount of water on earth is constant.

It never changes.

This is because it is constantly recycled by the water cycle.

That means that the water in the water cycle, constantly goes through each of these processes and it never ends.

The same water we used today was drunk by the dinosaurs, helped the ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids and was sailed on by the Vikings.

So, all of the water on earth is the same water that we've had previously.

It's just constantly recycled through the processes in the water cycle.

But today, there is a greater demand than ever before for water and some people worry there isn't enough of it.

Pause a video and see if you can work out why there is a greater demand than ever for water.

Did you talk about there being more people on the planet now than there ever has been? And that means that more people need more water to wash themselves, to keep clean, to use for cooking and to drink.

So, that's the reason why there's more demand for water.

Let's have a quick check here.

Water is recycled in the water cycle.

What does this mean? A, water has already been used and can be used again.

B, water goes through many processes, or C, water can be a liquid, a vapour or a solid.

Pause the video here and answer this check.

How did you get on? Did you say that the correct answer was A? That's right, well done.

Water is recycled in the water cycle and that means that water has already been used and can be used again.

Good job everyone.

You can give yourselves a big thumbs up for that check.

More than three quarters of Earth's surface is covered by water.

Most of this water is stored in the oceans and seas.

Humans can't use sea water because it is salty.

So, fresh water is a precious resource.

So, like we've talked about, most of the water on earth is stored in the seas and the oceans, and this water is really salty.

We can't use this water for much.

We can't use it for drinking.

We can't use it for cleaning things.

We can't use it to give to animals to drink and we can't use it for crops.

So, the amount of fresh water that we've got on Earth is precious, because that's the water that is used for all of those things.

The population of earth is constantly growing.

There are more and more people on this earth than there ever has been.

More people are living on the planet than ever before, all using water and the people that are on this planet are also living for longer.

So, that means that not only are there more people that need water, those people are living longer lives and all of those people need access to fresh, clean water to drink and to do their daily routines.

The population of earth today is almost 8 billion people.

So, 8 billion people all need a share or access to that clean, fresh water that we have on earth.

And remember, the amount of water on Earth hasn't changed.

It's the same amount of water.

It's just constantly being recycled so that we can keep using it.

About 200 years ago, great changes took place when many factories were built and industry started to grow.

Industry uses lots of water for heating and cooling and running machines.

Industry continue to grow and is still growing today.

So, you can see here that this is a great demand for water, because all of that water is used in industry to run those machines effectively.

Let's have a quick check here.

This is a true or a false check, so that means you've got to think really carefully, about whether or not this statement is true or false.

Demand for water today is greater than ever before.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now and answer this check.

How did you get on? Did you say true? That's correct.

Demand for water is greater than ever before.

Let's think about justifying this answer now and explaining why it's true.

A, earth's population is larger today and there is more industry using water today, or B, there is no more or less water on earth today than there was 2000 years ago.

Pause the video and justify your answer.

How did you get on? Did you say A? That's correct.

Earth's population is larger today and there is more industry using water, so that's why the demand for water is greater today than ever before.

Well done everyone if you worked through those answers carefully and you got them right, good job, you can give yourselves another thumbs up.

It is now time for task A.

What I would like you to do is to answer the questions using complete sentences.

The first question says, why doesn't the amount of water on earth change? The second question says, why are we using more water today than in the past? Pause the video now and complete task A.

How did you get on with task A? Shall we go through the answers to these questions together? Why doesn't the amount of water on earth change? Water moves around in the water cycle? The water cycle has lots of processes that transport, store and collect water.

As water moves through the cycle, it is recycled.

New water is not created and water is never destroyed.

Question two, why are we using more water today than in the past? The population of earth has increased.

More people live on the planet, so more water is being used every day by all the people.

There are also lots of factories and industry that need to use a lot of water to run.

And you could have said something there, about using the water to run the machines.

Good job everyone if you are able to write something similar to this.

If your answers need to be expanded upon, you can pause the video here and use these answers as a guide to add more explanations and extra thinking to the answers that you've already written.

So, you can pause the video here and complete that or you can move on to the next part of the lesson.

Now, we're going to think about why we need to pay for water.

The rain water that falls from the sky is free.

It can rain anywhere and almost everywhere.

Nobody owns the rain that falls from the sky.

So, that's really important to remember.

You can collect rainwater and use it freely.

We've previously talked about collecting rainwater that falls on the roofs of houses and then putting them into a water butt and then that water butt being used to water plants in the garden if it's hot.

So, that's one way of using rainwater for free.

Main's water that comes out of our taps at home is not free.

We've also got main's water that comes out of the taps at schools and other buildings as well.

That water, we've got to pay for.

The water supply to our homes and buildings is a utility.

Utilities are things that we need to run our home and include water, gas and electricity.

Utilities must be paid for.

They are not free.

So, all of the water that comes to your house or building through the taps through the main water is a utility and that means that we've got to pay for it in the same way that we would pay for electricity and for gas.

Let's have a quick check here.

Decide whether each of the following is free or paid for.

Then think of one more activity of your own for each category.

Dancing in the rain, is that free or is that for? Having a bath.

Is that free or paid for? Splashing in puddles.

Is that free or paid for? And finally, brushing your teeth.

Is that free or paid for? Put a tick in the column which you think it is.

Pause the video now and complete this check.

How did you get on with this check? Let's go through it together and see what you've written.

Dancing in the rain, that is free.

Remember, we've talked about rain falling from the sky, being free and not having to be paid for.

You can dance in the rain for free and enjoy that time.

Having a bath.

The water that fills up the bath comes from main's water and that means A, it's a utility, so we have to pay for having a bath.

Splashing in puddles.

Puddles are formed when rain falls from the sky, so splashing in puddles is free.

And finally, brushing your teeth.

The water that you use to brush your teeth, comes out of the main's water through the taps and that means that you have to pay for it.

So, well done if you've completed the check and you've got this all correct, good job everyone.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

The water in our homes has been treated to make it clean and safe.

That means that it might have been purified to remove all of the bad substances from it to make it safe for us to use again.

Clean water travels to our home in pipes.

Then the dirty water is taken away from our homes in pipes and sewers.

Do you remember the word that we used for dirty water? Pause the video and see if you can remember.

The dirty water that leaves our homes is called wastewater.

Well done if you remember that correctly.

Treating water and constructing pipes costs money.

So, those are a couple of reasons why we need to pay for main's water.

Water utility companies are responsible for hundreds of miles of pipes, for large sewers and for massive treatment plants.

Remember, the treatment plants are where the water is clean and made safe to use again, they fix leaks and help people with water problems. Many people work for water utility companies and they need to be paid.

So, all of the money that we pay for our mains water, goes to these utility companies and they use that to pay their staff, to pay for equipment, like pipes and treatment plants and sewers and to make sure that everything is running smoothly, so that that fresh, clean water can come straight into our homes or other buildings.

It's time for another quick check here.

What do water utility companies spend money on? Make a list and then share your ideas.

You can do this as a think, pair and share activity to see if you've got the same ideas as your partners or if there's any ideas that you've missed off.

Pause the video now and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you make a list of all of the things that water utility companies spend money on? You could have said pipes to take clean water to buildings, pipes to take dirty water away from buildings.

Remember, we don't use the same pipes for clean water and for dirty, waste water, we use two different systems of pipes, so that that water is not mixed.

Building sewers, that's another thing that water utility companies, spend money on.

Cleaning and treating water to make it safe for people.

Paying workers and running vehicles and fixing leaks and other problems. So, these are all some of the things that water utility companies spend their money on.

And in order for them to get money to spend it on these things, they have to charge people like us for water to come into our homes and buildings.

It's now time for task B.

Rainwater is free, but Maine's water is paid for.

Do you think this is fair? Discuss the question in a small group or with a learning partner.

Share your thoughts, give your opinion and give reasons for your opinion.

So, you've got to justify and explain why you think it's either fair or unfair.

Remember to listen to other people and to respect their point of view.

Some people might have the same point of view as you and that's okay, but other people might have a different point of view and that's also okay.

You have to listen to each of their views and their justification for it.

So, you have to listen to their explanation and then they might even persuade you to think the same as them or you might persuade them to think the same as you.

Pause the video now and complete this task.

How did you get on with task B? Here's what some pupils had to say.

"I think it is fair.

"I don't want to drink rain water "and I can't clean it myself, so I'm happy to pay." Another pupil has said, "I think it is fair as well, "because they take away the wastewater and clean it for us.

"I think we should pay the water utility companies "for the work they do, not just for the water." So, that's talking about paying the actual people and paying for the utility of having water come to our homes.

So, here are some ideas that these people have shared to say that they think it is fair.

Let's see what some pupils had to say, expressing their opinion about it being unfair.

"I think it isn't fair.

"Water is essential for life, "so we shouldn't have to pay for it.

"Some people might not be able to afford "to pay for accessing main's water." "If I water the garden with rainwater from a water butt, "it is free, "but if I use a hose pipe, I have to pay.

"That's not fair." So, you can see that we've looked at ideas from two pupils who think it is fair to pay for water and two pupils who think it's unfair to pay for water.

Remember, we've said that everybody has their right to have their opinion and to share it with others.

So, hopefully you've had a chance to listen and share your opinion with others in your class.

Whether or not we think it's fair, we do all have to pay for mains water, but you might be creative with how you use rainwater that you collect.

Remember that rainwater is free.

You've worked really hard today thinking about main's water and explaining your opinions as to why you think it's fair or unfair that we have to pay for clean water.

Well done everyone.

We've now come to the end of our lesson.

Let's go through a quick summary of all the learning that we've completed together today.

Due to recycling of water in the water cycle, the amount of water on earth has been the same for billions of years.

Today, a rising population and growing industry, means that demand for water is greater than ever.

In countries that have managed water supplies like the UK, water is a utility and that means that people have to pay for water that comes from the taps in their homes and for waste water to be taken away from their homes.

But remember that rain water is free, so we can use that to water our gardens and not use the water that comes out of the hose pipe for that.

Well done everyone, you've been fantastic today.

Thank you for joining me and for sharing your learning with me.

I'll see you soon for more geography lessons.

Goodbye.