Water, Air and Weather
Primary 1 · Science and Elementary Technology
Water, Air and Weather
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
Early in the morning, Uwase takes the yellow jerrycan and walks with her sister to the spring. She fills it up, lifts it onto her head and carries it home. It is heavy!
At home, her mother pours some water into the cooking pot. She pours a little into a basin so everyone can wash their hands. Water has already done two jobs, and the sun is not even high yet.
Today you will learn where water comes from, what we use it for, and how to keep it clean.
Water does not just appear in the jerrycan. It comes from somewhere. The place water comes from is called a source.
Here are the sources you may know:
Careful here. A tap does not make water. The water came from a lake or a river first. People cleaned it and sent it through a long pipe to the tap. The tap is only the door it comes out of.
Follow Keza for one day and count.
That is a lot of water in one day! All those jobs fit into four small words:
Not all water is safe to drink.
Clean water is clear. You can see right through it. It has no bad smell. Nothing is floating in it.
Dirty water is brown or cloudy. It may smell bad. You can see bits of soil or grass in it, and flies land on top.
Dirty water can give you a stomach ache. It can make you very sick, so we never drink it.
And here is the tricky part. Some dirt in water is so tiny that your eyes cannot see it at all. Water can look clear and still be unsafe. So we always do this:
We also look after the water source itself. Do not wash clothes in the spring that people drink from. Do not throw rubbish in the river. Clean water starts at the source.
Watch Mugisha. He opens the tap, soaps his hands, sings a whole song, and only then rinses. All that time the water is pouring away into the ground. Nobody drank it. Nobody cooked with it. It is just gone.
Now watch him again. He wets his hands, closes the tap, soaps and sings, then opens the tap to rinse. His hands are just as clean, and he used much less water.
Ways you can save water every day:
Remember, somebody carried that water home on their head. Every drop cost work.
Tip
Water does four jobs. Say them like a song: drink, cook, clean, grow.
And before you drink, say the three steps out loud: boil it, cool it, cover it.
Answer in your head first, then tap Show answer to check.
Name two places that water can come from.
Answer: many answers are right. Rain, a spring, a well, a borehole, a river, a lake, a tap.
Keza looks in the bucket. The water is brown and there are bits of grass in it. Can she drink it?
Answer: no. That is dirty water and it can make her sick. Let the dirt sink, boil the water, let it cool, then keep it in a covered pot.
Mugisha lets the tap run while he soaps his hands. What should he do instead?
Answer: close the tap while he soaps, then open it again to rinse. The water he saves is water someone else can drink.
Give two things your family uses water for.
Answer: many answers are right. Drinking, cooking, washing hands, washing clothes, bathing, watering plants, giving water to the animals.
Uwase's family uses 2 jerrycans of water on Monday and 3 jerrycans on Tuesday. How many jerrycans in the two days?
Answer: 5. Count them: 2 and 3 more make 5.
Note
What you learned today:
Quick check
Water does four jobs. Match them.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
