C.L.E.A.N. Water

C.L.E.A.N. Water
Creating Lake Ecology Awareness through Newspapers

Target Grade:
This unit, and the entire CLEAN water program, is targeted at the middle school level, primary 5th through 7th grades.

Purpose:
To increase student awareness of:
Water quality issues.
Local resources working to maintain the health of our water resources.
The connections between current events and the future health of our water bodies.
Increase public awareness of:
Water quality issues.
Local resources working to maintain the health of our water resources.
The connections between current events and the future health of our water bodies.

Advisory Committee Participants:
Traverse City Record-Eagle
Northwestern Michigan College
Great Lakes Maritime Academy
Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay

Unit Overview:
In cooperation with the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, the Traverse-City Record-Eagle is developing an eight-month program to help middle school educators teach water quality in the classroom.  

The program will begin in October with the publication of a 16-page tabloid that will be inserted into the Record-Eagle.  It will cover the following topics:
What is a watershed?
The impact of land use on water quality
Maintaining the health of our wetlands
Invasive species: Who is invading our watershed?
What is sediment and is it bad?
Is something affecting the nutrients in our water?
Stormwater:  Where does it go and what does that mean for the quality of our water?
Toxics and their impact on the quality of our water

In this initial tabloid, several area residents will be interviewed/profiled to help illustrate and personalize some of the topics.  For example, one man noticed the invasion of a European seaweed and it is affecting the fish habitat.  

Each topic area will include a sidebar with information on “ways you can help’ along with sources of other information.  There will also be “background’ boxes that will highlight certain parts of the personal account.  For example, if an interviewee talks about a zebra mussel experience, there will be a little box nearby that talks about the introduction of zebra mussels to the Great Lakes.  The purpose of this is to bring the reader up to speed on the origins of an issue and increase awareness of how certain problems are created.

By inserting this tabloid into the Record-Eagle, we will be providing nearly 39,000 members of our community with an introduction to the current state of our watershed.  

In addition to this 39,000, we will be printing an additional 5,000 for in-classroom use.  

In early October, the Record-Eagle will run a full-page article on one of the issues discussed in the initial tab.  It will run on a Tuesday in the Education section.  To tie in with the article, I will supply all interested teachers with one week of activities relating to the topic.

The following activities will be available for teachers in October to introduce students to a watershed:

What is a Watershed?
Adapted from “What is a Watershed’ in Watersheds: Where We Live produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Geological Survey

Objectives:
Identify a watershed
Observe how water flows from higher elevations to lower elevations in a waterhsed
Observe the interconnection between watersheds

Materials:
Each group will need:
One container at least 22cm wide, 33cm long, and 6cm deep.  One possible container is a metal baking pan.
Two sheets of newspaper
One sheet of thin (.5 mils) plastic at least 30 cm larger in all dimensions than the container
One waterproof marker
One spray bottle
Colored water to fill a spray bottle
One book

Teacher Preparation
1. This activity is designed for students to work in groups of three
2. Display a copy of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed poster available in the CLEAN water tab for a week prior to this activity.
3. Fill the spray bottles full of water and add several drops of blue food coloring so that the water can be easily identified.
4. Assemble one of the models as an example for the students.

Procedure:
1. Divide the class into groups of three.  Provide each group with a container, two sheets of newspaper, one sheet of plastic, one waterproof marker, one book, and one spray bottle filled with blue water.
2. Have one student in each group crumple both sheets of newspaper separately and place them next to each other at one end of the container.  Drape the sheet of plastic over the crumpled newspaper, causing it to form hills over the high places, and valleys in the low places.  Put a book under one end of the container to allow water to flow down the valleys and pool at the front of the container.  Place the sides of the plastic sheet down into the container to prevent water from overflowing the container.
3. Explain that the plastic sheet represents the ground surface covering the hills and valleys.  Using the markers, have students draw where they believe the main rivers will flow in their models.  Have each student spray several pumps of water, using the spray bottle, on the model.  Point out to students how water runs down one side or the other of the ridges and forms rivers in the valleys.  The ridges divide into individual watersheds.  All the area from which water flows into a river is that river´s watershed.  Have the students count the number of small watershed that drain into the main river they drew with the marker.  All the watersheds should drain into a lake at the lower end of the container.

Assessment:
Have students look at other groups´ models.  How are they alike and how are they different?
Using the map of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed, ask students to find similarities between their models and the map of their watershed.

Your Watershed
Adapted from “More Than Just a Lake!’ in Lake Effects, The Lake Superior Curriculum Guide, from Great Lakes Aquarium at Lake Superior Center.

Topic:
The Grand Traverse Watershed

Subject:
Earth science, geography

Goal:
To understand the concept of a drainage basin or watershed, and how that relates to the Grand Traverse Bay watershed.

Objectives:
Students will understand the defining role that rivers have in watershed identity.
Students will be able to state whether they live inside or outside of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed

Materials:
Large floor map of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed
10-15 short lengths of blue yarn
Detailed map of the five-county area surrounding the Watershed (supplied in the CLEAN water tab)

Procedure:
Have students gather around the floor map.  Explain that the blue yarn represents rivers.  You may want to demonstrate how one river might look on the map as it flows into the Bay.

Give each pair of students a piece of blue yarn.  Assign each pair a river name.  Have each of the pairs look at the map to see the origin and mouth of the river in relationship to the rest of the map.  Then have them recreate the river on the floor map.  

Once all the rivers are in place, explain that the students will now create an imaginary line.  Standing near one of the “rivers,’ ask “If a raindrop falls here, where will it go/drain?’  Then, standing away from the river, ask the same question (it goes somewhere else, like Little Traverse Bay or Lake Huron).  So there is a line that separates the places where water will fall and drain into the Grand Traverse Bays, use a ball of yarn to mark this boundary.  Walk around the lake with the yarn asking students to hold the yarn at the top (the start or the “headwaters’) of their rivers.

Discuss:
For the younger students, explain that they have created a model of what a watershed looks like.  Show them a picture of the actual watershed, discuss how their model is similar to the actual.  Ask the students if their school falls inside or outside of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed.

With older students, explain that their map marks a close approximation of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed.  Is their school inside or outside of the drainage basin?  If outside, then what basin is it in?

Assessment:
Ask students if they live in the Grand Traverse Bay watershed
Ask students if they can identify other watersheds in northern Michigan based on a larger map.

News in the ‘Shed – Part 1
(three-day activity)

Objectives:
Reinforce student understanding of the geological boundaries of their watershed
Introduce students to current events relating to their watershed
Students will learn to identify the cause and effect relationships between people and events affecting the watershed and possible problems that could occur

Materials needed:
The map of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed supplied in the CLEAN water tab.
One newspaper for every two students in the class.
One flip-chart sheet of paper for each two-student team
Colored markers

Procedure:
In groups of two, ask your students to read through the newspaper and find any article or advertisement that relates to the Grand Traverse Bay watershed.  Have each pair list the articles or advertisements in the following format on a large flip-chart sheet of paper that can be attached to the wall:

Summary of the article Location in the watershed
Local developer is filling in wetlands for Traverse City
housing development

Ask students to post their findings on the wall.  Then ask each group to read their lists to the class.  Each time a new issue is named it should be put on a new flip chart sheet so by the end of class all of the students´ findings will be on one list.  This list needs to be saved for use during part two of this activity.

Discussion:
Ask students which articles or advertisements were found by other groups that they hadn´t thought of including.  Ask the group that did list it why they chose to do so.

Objectives:
Students will make connections between current events and the impact they may have on the watershed.
Students will be understand that one person can have an impact on the quality of water

Materials:
Flip chart sheet of compiled articles and advertisements relating to the watershed from part one of this activity.
Map of the Grand Traverse Bay watershed found in the CLEAN water tab
One box of push pins

Procedure:
In groups of 3-5, ask the students to review their findings from the day before and discuss how each of the articles relates to the watershed.  Provide some focusing questions for them to answer, such as:
What body of water will this affect?
How will that body of water be affected?
Is this good or bad?
What are some options that could prevent harming the body of water?

After small group discussions, bring the class back together and as one group, discuss each item on the list from the day before.  Ask for a volunteer to put a push pin into the watershed map to represent where the issue is taking place.  

Discussion:
As a class, discuss each issue using the same focusing questions the students already reviewed in small groups.  Ask a representative from each group to share their answers and encourage other students to comment on the findings.  How do they feel?  Do they think the action being taken is right or wrong?  If the issue will negatively impact the watershed, what other options did they think of to prevent any harm from being done?  Invite students to build upon the ideas of each other.  

This is also a good time to discuss cause and effect.  For example, if one developer fills in wetlands, what could happen?  Flooding?  If so, what would that mean to the people around the area?  What could this mean to the animals living in those wetlands?
 

Letter to the Editor
(part 3 of News of the ‘Shed)

Objectives:
Students will develop an opinion on an issue and experience how they can have their voice heard in the community.
Students will understand the difference between facts and opinions found in the newspaper.

Materials needed:
One paper for every student in the class.

Procedure:
After reviewing class discussions over the last two days, ask students to go through the paper and find the Opinion and Editorial section.  Have them review the Letters to the Editor.  Once everyone is finished, ask why they think this is in the paper.  Why would people write letters to the editor?  What is the difference between this section and the rest of the paper?  Are there any issues in the Letters to the Editor that the class has been discussing during the week?  If so, what opinions do they have on the issue?

Finally, invite students to choose one issue that had been discussed during the week that they feel strongly about.  Ask them to write their own letter to the editor.  Make sure they include the body of water that will be affected, how it will be affected, and what other options exist to accomplish the same outcome but with a better environmental impact.  

Once completed, send student letters to:
Record-Eagle Letters to the Editor
C/o Maia Conway
120 W. Front St.
Traverse City, MI 49684

From the letters submitted, several will be published in the second CLEAN water tabloid to be published at the end of January 2004.

This will be the first month´s activities in an eight-month program.  The second tabloid published will contain work submitted by students from the first four months of activities.  The second tabloid, and the third (published at the end of the year), will again be inserted into the Record-Eagle.  Through this distribution we will not only share the in-classroom experiences of our students, but we will also increase awareness of how local current events are affecting the future health of our waterways – as seen through the eyes of the children who will someday have to live with the consequences.