Drought Affects California’s Water Availability

Data, Graphs, and Maps

Grades3, 4, 5Social Studies, Earth and Space Sciences

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by PBS

Open Resource

What it is

These downloadable and printable visualizations include a map depicting drought conditions in California, photos of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and pictures of the water level in the Folsom Lake marina to show the effects of drought in California during three different years.
Students will learn about changes in water availability through interpreting data and analyzing imagery, thus providing observational evidence.

Teaching tips

Positives

There are buttons along the side of the resource for teachers to easily integrate it into Google Classroom or share it to social media.
Teachers can find support materials on the page, such as teaching tips, a background essay, discussion questions, and handouts.

Additional Prerequisites

Students and teachers may need a PBS Learning Media account to sign in to view the resource. Educators must sign up as a teacher for PBS and verify their email before logging in.
Students may need the terms drought, snowpack, and marina defined before viewing the resource.
If completing the worksheet, students should know how to support claims with evidence from data and textual information.

Differentiation

Teachers may wish to begin the lesson by discussing drought and its effects in the students' home states.
The printable student handout explains the map's organization, so English teachers may wish to have students create a paragraph of explanation and then share it as a think-pair-share activity.
Since the three combined visualizations provide three different ways of looking at drought, teachers may wish to split students into three groups and then use the jigsaw method for small-group learning. After the groups finalize their summaries, there can be a whole-class discussion utilizing the combined information.
Students can research California's drought conditions over the last 50 years and discuss trends and patterns.
The map is available in Spanish, but the worksheet is only in English. However, the Microsoft Word page that opens the document can translate the text into many languages.

From the scientist review

This resource is from the CLEAN collection. “The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness.”

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At a glance

Grades: 3, 4, 5
Subjects: Social Studies, Earth and Space Sciences
Other types: Activity - Classroom, Worksheets
Format: Microsoft Word
Language: English, Spanish
Location: Earth, North America, North America > United States, North America > United States > California
Provider: PBS
Authors: PBS
Published: November 20, 2023
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · 5-ESS3-1. + 13 more

Core

Core Standards legacy

5-ESS3-1.5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
3-ESS2-2.3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
4-ESS2-2.4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.
D2.Geo.2.3-5D2.Geo.2.3-5 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Wisconsin Climate Education Hub

Wisconsin Climate Education Hub Standards legacy

3-ESS2-2.3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
4-ESS2-2.4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.
5-ESS3-1.5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
W.3.4W.3.4 With support from adults and peers, produce writing in which the development and organization are culturally sustaining and rhetorically authentic to task and purpose.
W.4.2W.4.2 Write text in a variety of modes: a) Opinion pieces in which the student introduces the topic or text they are writing about, states an opinion, and creates an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose. List reasons that support the opinion; b) Informative texts in which they clearly introduce a topic, group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aid comprehension. Use facts, definitions, and details to develop points; c) Convey events, real or imagined, through narrative/short stories which orient a reader by establishing a real or imagined situation and introducing a narrator and characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
W.5.9W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and inquiry.
SS.Geog1.a.4-5SS.Geog1.a.4-5 Summarize how location (absolute and relative) affects people, places, and the environment. Construct maps (paper or digital), charts, and graphs using appropriate elements (i.e., date, orientation, grid, scale, title, author, index, legend, situation).

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