Topic: Along the river's course

Target group

4th‑grade students of elementary school

Core Curriculum

General aim of education

Students recognize selected species of plants and animals living in the river and describe their adaptation to the living environment.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• characterize the conditions prevailing in individual sections of the river;

• describe the adaptation of plants and animals to life in particular sections of the river;

• recognize some plants and animals living in rivers.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• mock‑ups made on the lesson titled „On the river bank”;

• specimens of a hornwort.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher gives the topic, the goals of the lesson in a language understandable for the student, and the criteria of success.

Realization

• The teacher asks the chosen student to describe the course of the river, indicating all the sections on the mock‑up, and explained what the particular colors of the mock‑up mean.

• The teacher asks pupils to read the passage entitled „Living conditions in the river”, then they prepared a table showing the conditions in different sections of the river, considering the following categories:

  • current rate

  • transparency

  • oxygenation

  • water temperature

  • type of bottom

  Selected students present their tables, the teacher corrects possible mistakes..

• The teacher asks pupils to read the passage entitled „Plants and animals in rivers” and included in the table the names of plants and animals living in particular sections of the river.

• The teacher displays photographs of selected upper, middle and lower river organisms, and volunteers discuss their adaptation to living conditions.

• The teacher gives the students specimens of a hornwort. The students' task is to indicate its features, allowing for life in the middle and lower sections of the river.

• The teacher displays an interactive illustration and indicates the adaptation of the water arrow to the living environment.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Along the river's course

Rivers create very diverse living conditions for organisms. These conditions depend on the climate, the river's size, the speed of the water in the river, the type of riverbed and other factors. In Polish environmental conditions, the following parts of each river can be differentiated: the source, three sections of the river's course, and the mouth. Each section creates different conditions for the plants and animals living in the river.

The river's upper course begins at the source and usually ends where the river leaves the mountains of highlands. The water is cold here, mostly very clear and well‑oxygenated. The stream's bed is stony, sometimes gravelly or sandy. The water's strong current creates difficult living conditions for plants and animals. Sand, gravel and stones are displaced, which makes it difficult for plants to keep hold. Almost no plants occur on the bed of this section, and fish have a streamlined shape to combat the strong current.

The river's middle course begins where the steepness of the terrain significantly decreases, which is why the speed at which the water flows decreases. Slowly transported sand carried from the upper course covers the riverbed in this section. The river's valley widens in this section of its course. The water in the river is warmer, less clear and contains less oxygen. The river's banks, and sometimes its bed, are dense with plants.

In the lower course water flows even more slowly. A thick layer of fine sand and silt covers the bed. The water is warm and muddy, as it is carrying large amounts of rocky matter, the remains of organisms, etc. There are almost no occurences of damage to the bed and banks.

Not many plants live in the upper course of most Polish rivers. Those that do occur are most commonly algae attached to stones, mosses clinging equally hard to the riverbed and a few others, predominantly microscopic plants. The animals which live in these sections of the rivers, do not, therefore, have access to rich sources of plant‑based food. Many animals which feed on dead parts of plants along the rivers live here, along with predatory animals, making use of the clean, oxygen‑rich water. Among invertebrates, freshwater shrimps and caddisfly larvae can be found there – caddisfly are land insects, but they reproduce in water. The typical vertebrates found in fast flowing rivers are fish which are efficient swimmers: trout and salmon.

In the middle and lowers courses, plants and animals don't have to battle against a strong water current, but the water here is no longer so clear. It allows less light through and contains less oxygen. Hornwort is an example of the plants typically found growing on the riverbed in the middle and lower courses. Yellow water‑lilies and common duckweed appear in the bends. Reeds and bulrushes can easily take root by the banks. There are numerous invertebrate animals. Among them, are insect larvae, leeches, snails and crayfish. Among the vertebrates living in the middle and lower courses, the following should be distinguished: frogs and many species of fish, for example perch, carp, roach, pike and bream, as well as the semi‑aquatic mammals which live in smaller rivers, for example beavers and otters.

• In the river's upper course, the water flows quickly, is cold, clean and oxygenated. Only animals which have adapted to the strong current live here; plants are small, and attached to rocks on the riverbed.

• In the river's middle course, the water flows slowly, is warmer, less well‑oxygenated and less clear than that of the upper course.

• In the river's lower course, the water flows very slowly, and covers the bottom with sediments; it is muddy and poorly oxygenated.

• A variety of plants live in the middle and lower courses. There are often slow swimming fish.