Inspire

This term in Year 4, we have been investigating the importance of water as our Inquiry topic. We have been looking at cloud types, locating water sources using maps and will learn how the water cycle works.

Did you know that the Earth’s surface is covered by 71% water? Water is found in countless places on Earth. There are oceans, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, but water is also found underground, in the clouds, and as ice at the North and South Poles. There is less than one per cent of fresh water available for living things to use. Humans can only survive one week without water and we rely on water for our washing, sanitation and leisure including swimming, water skiing and canoeing. It has been amazing to watch the Olympians push their sporting skills to the limit in the pool, rivers and oceans in Paris this year.

Genesis 1: 9-10

“And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.”

For Christians, water plays an important part in our life and is associated with creation and eternal life. In the Old Testament, we learn that water is often presented as a gift from God and in the New Testament, the water in Jesus’ baptism becomes a sign of rebirth.

Human impact on water sources includes pollution of rivers and oceans from our waste, deforestation causing flooding and soil erosion, and urbanisation resulting in overuse of water. 

Genesis 1: 26

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Further in our Inquiry topic in Year 4, we will look at how humans can be mindful of how to use water and look after God’s wonderful creation.

What can you do in your home to conserve water?

Submitted by Tania Burgan