How am I connected to my watershed? Why is it important to me?
Overview
Students use visual art and social studies skills to develop maps that illustrate their personal values for local watershed resources and ways they use watershed resources in daily life. Students then share their watershed maps with one another through a gallery walk.
This activity was developed as part of the Penobscot River Watershed Education Program, a collaborative project led by Maine Sea Grant, the University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center, and the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, working in partnership with Old Town Elementary School and the City of Old Town, Maine.
This activity builds on the previous Get to Know Your Watershed activity, in which students define the term watershed, identify the watershed in which they live, and explore its unique geographic features. It sets the stage for the subsequent Oral Historyactivities, in which students gain experience developing interview questions and interviewing community members to get a broader picture of past and current community values for local watershed resources.
Standards (MLR)
Social Studies
D1. Geographic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
3-5 Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world.
6-8 Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world and the geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future.
D2. Individual, Cultural, International, and Global Connections in Geography
3-5 Students understand geographic aspects of unity and diversity in the community, Maine, and regions of the United States and the world, including Maine Native American communities.
6-8 Students understand the geographic aspects of unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and various world cultures, including Maine Native Americans.
Visual and Performing Arts
B. Creation, Performance, and Expression – Visual Arts
B3. Making Meaning
3-5 Students create art works that communicate ideas, feelings, and meanings and demonstrate skill in the use of media, tools, techniques, and processes.
6-8 Students create art works that communicate an individual point of view.
Learning Objectives
Students identify ways in which they depend on watershed resources in daily life
Students understand that they are connected to their local watershed and to their community through shared dependence on local resources
Materials
Large pieces of paper for each student
Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
Time Needed
One 40-50 minute class period
Activity Procedure
Introduce the activity by asking a student to read John Wesley Powell’s definition of watershed (this definition is referenced in the Get To Know Your Watershed activity and can be found at the EPA). wa-ter-shed: that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community. – John Wesley Powell, Famous Geologist and Explorer of the American West
Ask the students to think about what this definition means to them and reflect on the similarities and differences between this definition and the definition they came up with as a class during the previous activity. How are they linked to their watershed, and to the other living things within it? They should make a mental note of these links, or jot them down in a notebook.
Hand out large, blank pieces of paper and colored pencils, markers, or crayons.
Ask each student to draw a map of their experiences/activities and other connections to resources and places within the boundaries of the watershed they explored during the Get To Know Your Watershed activity. They should include any and all water bodies or other geographic features, plant and animal communities, and human-made structures or locations that they think are important to telling their story.
On their map, students should label places they have visited, draw representations of activities they enjoy, and include depictions of any other ways they feel they are connected to local watershed resources.
Ask the students to line their maps up with tacks along one wall, or put them all down in a row on the floor and gather the class around them. Make observations about the maps as a group with a gallery walk. Offer students the opportunity to explain their maps to the group, if they wish. Questions to guide discussion:
How are the maps similar?
How are they different?
What watershed resources seem to be important to this group?
If the students did not include many uses of watershed resources other than recreational uses (swimming, hiking, biking, etc.) in the first round of drawing, help students to think broadly of other ways they might use resources such as: drinking water, hydro-electric power, forest products (many older wooden homes in Maine were built with local timber), food from local farms, places they’ve picked apples or berries, etc.
Give students some additional time to go back to their maps and include some of these items, if they didn’t think of them in the beginning.
Reflection/Formative Assessment Ideas
Ask the students to reflect on the many ways they and their classmates are connected to their watersheds. Make a list. Are they surprised by anything on the list? Does this make them feel any differently about their local watershed? Ask the students to try to articulate the personal or collective values for watershed resources that their maps represent, and write them down as personal or collective statements. Why are these resources important now and/or in the future? They can write them in their notebooks, or you can post them on the classroom wall for future discussion.
Extension Ideas
Share the students’ watershed maps with your school or community! Create a gallery of student watershed maps in a public area of your school, or request permission from your town or city hall to display them for the rest of the community to enjoy. You could also scan the maps and create an online slide show for your school or town/city website with a short description of the project. If the students write value statements for why they think watershed resources are important, you can include these with the gallery or online slide show.
Resources
Have a great idea to share? Please leave a comment below.
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My Watershed Connections
Author(s):
Beth Bisson, Maine Sea Grant Program
Table of Contents
Question(s)
How am I connected to my watershed? Why is it important to me?
Overview
Students use visual art and social studies skills to develop maps that illustrate their personal values for local watershed resources and ways they use watershed resources in daily life. Students then share their watershed maps with one another through a gallery walk.
This activity was developed as part of the Penobscot River Watershed Education Program, a collaborative project led by Maine Sea Grant, the University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center, and the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, working in partnership with Old Town Elementary School and the City of Old Town, Maine.
This activity builds on the previous Get to Know Your Watershed activity, in which students define the term watershed, identify the watershed in which they live, and explore its unique geographic features. It sets the stage for the subsequent Oral History activities, in which students gain experience developing interview questions and interviewing community members to get a broader picture of past and current community values for local watershed resources.
Standards (MLR)
Social Studies
D1. Geographic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
3-5 Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world.
6-8 Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world and the geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future.
D2. Individual, Cultural, International, and Global Connections in Geography
3-5 Students understand geographic aspects of unity and diversity in the community, Maine, and regions of the United States and the world, including Maine Native American communities.
6-8 Students understand the geographic aspects of unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and various world cultures, including Maine Native Americans.
Visual and Performing Arts
B. Creation, Performance, and Expression – Visual Arts
B3. Making Meaning
3-5 Students create art works that communicate ideas, feelings, and meanings and demonstrate skill in the use of media, tools, techniques, and processes.
6-8 Students create art works that communicate an individual point of view.
Learning Objectives
Materials
Time Needed
One 40-50 minute class period
Activity Procedure
Reflection/Formative Assessment Ideas
Ask the students to reflect on the many ways they and their classmates are connected to their watersheds. Make a list. Are they surprised by anything on the list? Does this make them feel any differently about their local watershed? Ask the students to try to articulate the personal or collective values for watershed resources that their maps represent, and write them down as personal or collective statements. Why are these resources important now and/or in the future? They can write them in their notebooks, or you can post them on the classroom wall for future discussion.
Extension Ideas
Share the students’ watershed maps with your school or community! Create a gallery of student watershed maps in a public area of your school, or request permission from your town or city hall to display them for the rest of the community to enjoy. You could also scan the maps and create an online slide show for your school or town/city website with a short description of the project. If the students write value statements for why they think watershed resources are important, you can include these with the gallery or online slide show.
Resources
Have a great idea to share? Please leave a comment below.
References