Teacher Resources

KC Water can provide age appropriate water quality education for your students based on your needs. Below are descriptions of lessons available and the approximate age appropriateness for each. All lessons can be modified and used at various ages and all target grade-level standards. (Standard alignments are available upon request.) Lessons generally take 45-60 minutes and all lessons are provided free of charge.

Summer Activity (All Ages)

KC Water Bingo Board is comprised of a series of at-home learning activities in partnership with Remake Learning Days. The object of the bingo board is for everyone to complete a series of activities to learn about stormwater runoff. Students can complete the activities in any order and direction to achieve “BINGO”. Completed bingo boards can be sent to our team for a certificate of completion. Bingo boards should include the name of the student and can be emailed to water.education@kcmo.org.
Total activity time: Varies
Key components: Art projects, video lessons, home experiments with everyday household objects, litter pickups and an outdoor scavenger hunt to learn about stormwater runoff.
Key vocabulary: Pollution, pollutants, recycling, water temperature, water source, rain garden, native plants, permeable pavers, erosion, saturation, watershed, stormwater runoff.
KC Water Bingo Board
What is Water (Pre-K)

Students will learn about water and the importance of keeping it clean. They will start by learning about the ways we use water and why it is so important. They will then look at what happens when it rains and how all that water runs to our river carrying trash along with it. Finally, students will learn how KC Water cleans our drinking water every day. The lesson closes with a hands-on activity where students will create and compare a “sad” polluted landscape with a “happy” clean planet landscape.
Total class time: 30-45 minutes
Key components: Introduction includes an overview of where we find water and why it is important. Main story discusses impact on water sources when we have trash on our streets and how KC Water cleans water from the river. Conclusion engages students in a hands-on activity where they decorate landscapes to create a happy and sad street, river, ocean, Earth and discuss what they can do to help the planet.
Key vocabulary: Water, water source, litter, rain, Missouri river, recycling.
Freddy the Fish (Grades: K-1)

Students participate in the story of Freddy the Fish and his journey from Kansas City to the ocean. As Freddy encounters human activities along the way that are polluting his stream, students add various substances to the water to represent different kinds of pollution. At the end of the story, students discuss how water must be cleaned before humans can drink it, and what they can do to keep pollution out of creeks, streams, and rivers.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes rain, groundwater, and stormwater runoff with pollution. Main story includes Freddy the Fish, human influence on environment, and pollution in water. Conclusion includes summary of overall lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts and Social Studies.
Key Vocabulary: Groundwater, stormwater, runoff, pollution, storm drains, roots, concrete, pesticide, fertilizer, littering.
Clean Water Messages (Grade: 2)

Students learn about common types of pollutants and their impact on waterways. They start with their definition of pollution and describe pollutants that might be found in local waterways. The lesson includes human impact with pollution and how water carries pollutants to waterways. Finally, a discussion of the importance of clean water through good habits and actions known as “Best Management Practices.” The lesson closes with students creating their oven version of clean water towns with posters to display in the classroom or at home.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes rain, groundwater, and stormwater runoff with pollution. Main story defines and discusses “Best Management Practices” and individual actions to promote clean water. Conclusion engages students in creating a clean water town through posters with clean water images and messages. In addition to NGSS/MLS, this lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts, Social Studies, and Fine Arts.
Key Vocabulary: Groundwater, stormwater, runoff, storm drains, roots, concrete/cement/pavement, gravity, pollutants, fertilizer, rain barrel, Styrofoam, best management practices.
Trash Tally (Grades: 3)

Students revisit the water cycle topic with the focus of stormwater runoff. They become familiar with the most common types of trash found on the ground in Kansas City and how stormwater can carry that trash to the nearest waterway. A quick tour of the school grounds to point out storm drains and slope followed by students using data sheets to tally the types of trash they observe on the ground. Back in the classroom, students add up the tallies, find an average, and create a bar graph to show the comparisons of the types of trash found around their school property. The lesson concludes with a discussion of why it is so important to keep trash off the ground and what they can do to caution others against littering.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes the water cycle and revisits the topics of groundwater and stormwater runoff with pollution. Main story covers pollution and tallying trash, calculating pollutants found in the area, and averaging totals. Conclusion engages students in discussion regarding observations on pollution and water runoff. In addition to NGSS/MLS, this lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies.
Key Vocabulary: Groundwater, stormwater, runoff, saturated, storm drains, roots, concrete/cement/pavement, pervious, impervious, gravity, pollutants, tallying
Hitchhiking with H2O (Grade: 4)

Students are introduced to characteristics of water and categories of water pollution. They learn how weathering, erosion, and deposition impact water quality and how various substances interact with our waterways. Finally, they learn how point and non-point source pollution affect water quality.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes the characteristics of water and water properties. Main story covers weathering, erosion and deposition, and various pollutants in water. Conclusion engages students in discussion and debate regarding point and non-point pollution. In addition to NGSS/MLS, this lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts.
Key Vocabulary: Contract, expand, weathering, solvent, solute, solution, dissolved, turbid, suspended particles, erosion, disperse, point source pollution, non-point pollution.
KC to the Sea (Grades: 5-6)

Students learn about watersheds and how precipitation moves through a watershed. The lesson focuses on stormwater runoff and contaminants carried to our waterways. This lesson also teaches students to think about their city when learning about the journey of stormwater. Finally, students calculate the amount of water found in a square yard and compare this to water falling around common impervious surfaces.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes watersheds and the movement of water, groundwater, and stormwater runoff. Main story includes contaminants found in runoff, sewer systems, and ways pollutants travel with runoff. Conclusion engages students in measurements of water and calculating the amount of water in stormwater runoff. In addition to NGSS/MLS, this lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies.
Key Vocabulary: Watershed, stormwater runoff, impervious and pervious surfaces.
Macro Monitoring (Grades: 7-8)

Students are introduced to benthic macroinvertebrates and how they are used to determine water quality. Students learn about the general characteristics of macros, their importance and role in the food chain, and descriptions of a healthy macro habitat. Connections are made as to how stormwater runoff negatively impacts these habitats. Students become familiar with the physical characteristics to identify macros and their level of pollution tolerance. Finally, students study and identify macros found in local waterways. r and how that impacts the quality and quantity of macros found at that site. KC Water provides all necessary equipment and supplies for this activity.
Total class time: Approximately 1 hour.
Key Components: Introduction includes the characteristics macroinvertebrates and healthy habitats. Main story includes physical characteristics of macros and their habitats. Conclusion engages students in identifying macros and assigning points to assess water quality. In addition to NGSS/MLS, this lesson also relates to standards for Language Arts and Mathematics.
Key Vocabulary: Benthic, macro, invertebrates, habitats, exoskeleton, larva, nymph, pupa, metamorphosis, pollution sensitive.
*This lesson is best conducted at a water site. It can also be completed in the classroom.
Journey of Stormwater/BMPs (Grades: 9-12)

High school groups can schedule an overview of the Journey of Stormwater with discussion on the main issues of pollution and solutions. Discussion covers some solution driven practices known as Best Management Practices along with topics over local Green Infrastructure sites and a group led Project Based Learning event.
Project Based Learning
Career Day Presentations

KC Water understands the importance of educating our future generations on the careers that are available after high school or college. Our staff includes people with diverse education backgrounds in the fields of engineering, science, architecture, finance, equipment operation, skilled labor, and customer service. We can send a single staff member to speak about his or her job, bring out some of our equipment for your students to view, or bring a panel of staff to answer student questions.
Outdoor Educational Activities

Storm Drain Marking Program (Grades 2-5)
In most of Kansas City, the storm drains on the side of the road lead directly to a creek, stream, or river. You can help educate your neighbors about the importance of keeping these drains free of pollution and debris by marking storm drains and distributing educational door hangers in your community. KC Water will provide all of the supplies and training for this fun and rewarding community service project. All ages can participate, but children must be supervised by an adult.Education Litter Pickup (All Grade Levels)
Kansas City is not immune to liter around city streets. In addition to being a sore sight, all liter is a huge problem for water quality. The more liter on the ground, the more liter in our waterways. Organize students to sponsor an educational liter pickup anywhere on school grounds or around the surrounding community. Groups can also plan a fieldtrip to heading to a site for an impactful liter pickup. Our educational team will provide the educational component about water pollution and supplies needed to combat the problem. Student groups such as Stucco or other groups can participate in an educational talk and a Project Based Learning activity where they organize and lead a school wide liter pickup event.
Other Educational Resources
Here are links to educational, hands-on, simple water quality lessons and activities that can be used by teachers and parents alike. Many of these lessons and activities meet Missouri State Science standards for all grade levels. KC Water encourages everyone interested in improving water quality to check out these links. And, we would love to hear from you! Let us know what works, what doesn’t work, and if you have other water quality resources you’d like to share. You can send a message to water.education@kcmo.org or use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Check back in the upcoming weeks for more lesson and activity ideas.

Websites with lessons and activities divided into age levels
Websites with lessons and activities divided into topics
- USGS: Water Quality by Topic
- Science Kids: Lesson Plans
Content for Middle and High School Students
Earth Day Activities
Drinking Water Week Activities

Education