#science #waterpollution #FredtheFish #ARiverRanWild

Fred teaches students about human impact on watershed and the importance of being aware of pollution to help keep the Earth and it’s water clean.

I learned about this activity a few years ago while I was participating in the University of Houston’s Science Teaching Equity Program. I wasn’t able to use the Fred lesson until this year but he finally fit in perfectly for my 7th graders for Human Impact on Water.

Introduction to the lesson (optional) A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry: An Environmental History. To purchase this book, click the image below to take you to Amazon.com. I let my students color their Fred while I read the book and use my document camera to project the illustrations. 

After I read the book, students wrote 1-9 on their appear and as I went through the steps, students wrote down the type of pollution contaminating Fred’s water.

What’s going through Fred’s mind? When I finish step 4, I pause and tell students to write what think Fred is thinking or saying in his thought bubble.

After going through the steps, I let my students talk about Fred and what happened. I guide the questions to relate to pollution and watershed.

At  he bottom of the worksheet, I tell students to write three things they can do to prevent this from happening to Freds in the future.

Digital Materials

Fred the Fish:

• Fred the Fish Lesson Plan Materials for the lesson can be found on the lesson plan.
• Fred Script Cards Feel free to adapt the order of the script to your classroom.
• Fred This PDF is an image of Fred and a thought bubble. I used this paper for several different activities throughout the activity.