Green Living Project (GLP) is accepting submissions for its fall 2012 Student Film Project contest. GLP is looking for student-created short films focused on sustainability or the environment. The deadline is November 28th, and winning films will be screened at the “4th Annual Los Angeles Film Premiere” on December 6th. Winners also receive up to $1,000 worth of prizes from national sponsors. Watch the video below and check out previous winning films at www.greenlivingproject.com/studentfilmproject.
eet Sarah and Gage, educators at Vernon School in NE Portland. They realized that many local parents weren’t sending their kids to Vernon, so they decided to try something new to reconnect families to their neighborhood school.
uman health and well-being are inextricably linked to nature; our connection to the natural world is part of our biological inheritance. In this engaging book, a pioneer in the field of biophilia—the study of human beings’ inherent affinity for nature—sets forth the first full account of nature’s powerful influence on the quality of our lives. Stephen Kellert asserts that our capacities to think, feel, communicate, create, and find meaning in life all depend upon our relationship to nature. And yet our increasing disconnection and alienation from the natural world reflect how seriously we have undervalued its important role in our lives.
These lessons were developed by the Bainbridge island Woodward Middle School 6th grade team in cooperation with the Bainbridge Island Watershed Watch program.
Stormwater Wonders
Background
Storm water or runoff is defined as rainfall that falls on impervious surfaces (pavement, rooftops, street, and some lawns) and is routed to natural or artificial drainage systems. Water is not the only element that is entering storm drains. Along its way, water picks up pollutants such as grease, oil, metals, bacteria, garbage and sediment. These pollutants are harmful to animals and decrease the overall quality of water. Besides adding pollutants into our waters, storm water can be harmful just by the quantity and rate in which it enters a stream. Surges or pulses of storm water can occur after a heavy rainfall. Large volumes of stormwater running off many impervious surfaces can race through drainage systems and can overflow into sewer systems, thereby combining the two systems. When this happens, raw sewage can be directly routed to the larger body of water.
The rate at which the storm water enters a stream can have dramatic effects on the stream ecology. Some drainage systems have retention ponds that slow down the flow of stormwater and allow retention ponds that slow down the flow of stormwater and allow sediment to settle out. If retention ponds fail by releasing too much water too quckly, erosion of stream beds and banks can occur.
Stormwater Field Trip
Start this school site field trip by asking students where rain water would go if the school wasn’t there. Ask them where the water is going, now that the school is located on the ground where the rain would have soaked in or would have run off into a stream, wetland or lake. As you lead students outside, have them focus on the path of a rain drop that has landed on the school’s roof. Have students look for the storm drains on the school property and in the parking lot. If possible, follow the path of the stormwater after it enteres the parking lot storm drain. Depending on the site the storm water might connect with a sewer, a retention pond or the water might enter a stream or lake directly.
Math Extension: Calculation of surface water runoff on school site.
This activity is designed to use a unique method of measurement to determine the area of all the impervious surfaces on the school property. Students will be able to calculate the amount of water that becomes stormwater in gallons and in pounds.
This exercise an be modified to calculate only the parking lot or the school roof. Student groups of four or five is suggested.
Materials
School site maps, poster board, scales.
1. Obtain large school site maps from principal or city planners.
2. Outline all the impervious surfaces and trace them onto heavy poster board.
3. cut out all impervious surfaces.
4. From a separate piece of poster cut out a 2.5’ x 2.5’ square. This square represents 100’x100’. (The size of this square should correlate to the scale of your map).
5. What is the weight of your 2.5’x2.5’ square?
6. What is the weight of your total runoff area?
7. Since the square represents 10,000 square feet and its weight is known and you know the weight of all the impervious surfaces, you can set up two equivalent fractions.
These fractions are ratios. Example: If your square weighs .55g and your impervious surface piece weighs 20.32g, then:
55g—20.32g
10,000 sq.ft— X sq. ft
Cross multiply to solve for X.
8. What is the total square footage of all the school’s impervious surface?
9. One cubic foot = 7.5 gallons. Since a cubic foot is 12” high, how many gallons of water fill a square foot area after 1” of rain? (Hint: 1/12 of 7.5 gallons).
10. Calculate the number of gallons of water that will run off all the school impervious surfaces after one inch of rain.
11. One cubic foot of water (7.5 gallons) weighs 62.5 pounds. How much would ____ (answer #10) weigh?
Language Arts Extension
Imagine you are the architect r planner that designed the school’s storm water drainage system. Students and teachers at the school need a guide that explains how the system works. Your job is to create a pamphlet that details where the water goes.
Students may work in groups. Each group must produce a pamphlet that is one complete page double sided.
Each pamphlet should contain the following:
1. A title.
2. A map of the school and the storm water drainage system.
3. An explanation, including location of storm drains, at least two erosion controls, two manholes, the retention pond, the pond’s overflow, and the outfall into the stream. (Teachers will need to modify this for their school site).4. A glossary section where the following terms are defined: non-point pollution, storm drain, runoff, storm water, sedimentation, silt, retention pond.
Grade Level: 3-5 Subject:Science Teacher:Nancy Fisher, Sauvie Island Academy
Another powerful science lesson students do in my class is to ask ourselves, “Who might live in our habitat and how could we find out?”
We brainstorm a list and then partners build an animal tracker: Take an old board (about 1 footlong and 6 inches wide). Decorate and laminate a large piece of construction paper (12 x 15) or a little smaller. In the center of the board, hot glue a plastic cap on so that it can be filled with peanut butter. Next, hot glue 2 pieces of felt on each end of the board. Roll ink onto the pieces of felt. Now hammer the laminated piece of paper onto the board so the paper creates a tunnel for an animal to crawl through. Finally, cut a notecard in half. Place each half inside the tunnel just before the cup of peanut butter. Now your tracker is ready. Ask the class where they predict the tracker might get the most traffic. Would the edge of the forest be best, ordeep in the forest, Or in the open field? Predict what animals might visit the tracker, then set them outside. Bring in lots of field guides and posters of animal tracks, and check them the next day. Discuss the findings, and use this data to create scientific investigations throughout the year. Students love to go collect the white paper full of tiny tracks– sometimes these are the beginnings of the most creative poems or imaginative stories about forest parties : )
Grade Level: 3-5 Subject: Teacher: Laurelei Primeau, Coquitlam School, BC
It was a damp, sunny day, and my grade three class was called to the front lawn of the school for a school-wide portrait. Classes from kindergarten to grade five trooped out and jostled for places on the lawn. My third graders, however, were distracted. They were peering into the long grass at the gigantic earthworms that were wriggling at their feet. Seeing other students shy away and shriek at the worms, my class sprang into action, the bravest of them picking up the worms and moving them to the edge of the grass, away from the stampede of feet. Eventually, we were chastised for holding up the photo, and my worm wranglers were themselves wrangled into place.
With the photo shoot completed, the students looked around frantically for the worms. The questions came fast and furious – why would the worms come out when they’re going to get stepped on? One child suggested that worms come out when they feel the ground shake. We decided to test it and find out. We spread out on the lawn and stomped up and down, and up popped a worm. Jubilant, the students danced more vigorously, laughing. The office staff was laughing pretty hard, too. Every student danced a worm up out of the ground that morning. We observed them, and let them go, and finally headed back inside
—Laurelei Primeau
Coquitlam, BC
eet Sarah and Gage, educators at Vernon School in NE Portland. They realized that many local parents weren’t sending their kids to Vernon, so they decided to try something new to reconnect families to their neighborhood school.
uman health and well-being are inextricably linked to nature; our connection to the natural world is part of our biological inheritance. In this engaging book, a pioneer in the field of biophilia—the study of human beings’ inherent affinity for nature—sets forth the first full account of nature’s powerful influence on the quality of our lives. Stephen Kellert asserts that our capacities to think, feel, communicate, create, and find meaning in life all depend upon our relationship to nature. And yet our increasing disconnection and alienation from the natural world reflect how seriously we have undervalued its important role in our lives.
