Watery Words

Source:

Adapted from Second Nature - Environmental Studies Pack (5-14) (produced by SNH & RSPB) available from the RSPB

Time

20 minutes

You will need

• empty tissue box
• string
• labels & marker pen
• Tape recorder

Did you know?

There are some very good Scottish proverbs about water, (see the downloads section)

Before the activity

Make the 'Word Box'. Attach large labels onto a length of string, about 15cm apart. Write a word connected with water onto each label, for example, 'rain', 'gush', 'flow', 'ice', 'blue, 'drink' etc. Coil the string into the box leaving the end dangling. Read poems about water and rivers to the class and extracts from stories. For example, there is a description of six highlanders wading a river in the book 'Burt's letters and The Wind in the Willows is available on-line and an extract from chapter 1, where mole meets the River for the first time, could be read (see downloads).  

The activity

First do the activity in the classroom. Pass the box around the class and a label is pulled from the box by each pupil in turn. The pupil reads the word aloud and then creates an interesting sentence with it, it can be purely descriptive or factual. Each sentence is tape recorded. The full tape is then played and the sentences typed up. A list of the sentences is given to the pupils, working in pairs they chose some of the sentences to put together to make a short story, adding one or two of their own.

Repeat the activity outdoors by a river, loch or waterfall etc. Discuss how the inspiration of the outdoors changes the sentences or adds more 'feelings'. For example noises may play a much stronger part, and there may be more descriptions of smells, sunshine and sparkles and wetness and cold.

Suggested Follow up

Talk about how proverbs pass from one generation to another. Explain how they often teach a lesson or a moral. Divide the pupils into groups and give each group a few proverbs (see downloads) or sayings and ask them to explain what they mean. Share the results with the rest of the class and then ask each pupil to chose and illustrate their favourite one.

Discuss the qualities of water which make it special and ask the class to write a poem about a river or the water cycle.

Find out about water in the news. Make a 'Water in the News' display. The children become journalists, reporting on world weather, entertainment, conservation, sport and features of interest,  about water.

Downloads

• Water proverbs
• Scottish water proverbs and sayings from the book 'Haud Yer Wheest!' by Alan Morrison
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Chapter1 The Riverbank
• River crossings - Highlanders wade the river & The Boleside Ferry disaster

Further Information

Burt's letters from the North of Scotland by Edward Burt and Andrew Simmons, Birlinn 1998 - letters written in the 18th century which describe with detail and sympathy the hardships, poverty, clothing, tools and habits of the Highland way of life at this time.

Curriculum Links

Languages

Age Range

2