PreK-3rd Grade
Branching Out-The focus of this activity is on how smaller streams merge into larger ones. Students construct their own river branching system and imagine
how a water drop would flow through the system.
Heap it On! – (3rd Grade Only) A play by Lexington Children’s Theater in partnership with Bluegrass PRIDE. Heap it On! is a play about a ten year-old boy
named Heap. Due to Heap’s wastefulness, he is visited by two rogue characters, Waste and Sammie. These evil doers are here to take over the world due to the
humans’ misuse of the earth’s natural resources. After naming Heap their king, Waste causes the water in his house to go bad and instigates a brown out. Heap
must learn to change his attitude and behaviors about recycling and reducing trash before he can be rid of Waste and Sammie. After seeing the play, students will
participate in a workshop and discussion. Students will learn the various ways to identify and reduce their waste output.
“Henry’s Adventures Underground”/Groundwater Model- This activity leads students through Henry’s journey through the water cycle as a water drop.
Henry takes readers through evaporation, condensation, ground water, an aquifer well, a water treatment facility and into a home. Following the story students
examine a groundwater model and how water pollution changes the quality of the water pumped through a well.
Reading with Rosie Water Unit- teachers may check out our Reading with Rosie Water unit for two weeks. Inside the book crate are many children’s books
relating to water. Please contact your environmental educator or call the Bluegrass PRIDE office to schedule a checkout.
Reading with Rosie Wetlands Unit- teachers may check out our Reading with Rosie Wetlands unit for two weeks. Inside the book crate are many children’s
books relating to Wetlands. Please contact your environmental educator or call the Bluegrass PRIDE office to schedule a checkout.
Stormwater Sleuths- This activity easily identifies how non-point source pollution can happen around where we live and how we affect stormwater in our
watershed. Young students place happy or sad rain drop stickers on the activity sheet if their neighbor is contributing to help keep the stormwater clean or
damaging the stormwater system.
The Giving Tree/Tree Cookies-The Giving Tree story describes how much trees give to all of us throughout their life. Students will discover the importance of
trees. Students will explore Tree Cookies to identify the life and age of the tree samples. Discussion will follow of how trees help to improve water quality.
Water Address- Students identify plants and animals and their habitats by analyzing clues that describe water related adaptation of aquatic and terrestrial
organism. Students then discuss ways that water pollution and litter can impact the lives of animals and plants and their habitats.
Wetland Mystery Bag-In this daring activity, a bag is handed around filled with items. Each child takes an item out and discovers what it is. The bag contains
various items that might be found in a wetland landscape (mammal furs, feather, talons, water samples, clay samples, litter etc.). Each item is then discussed by
the facilitator about why each is important to the ecology of the wetland and how litter can impact these delicate environments.
“Where is the Wetland?”- This story introduces students to what a wetland is and what types of animals and plants live in wetland ecosystems. Students
identify pollutants to wetlands, discuss the benefits of wetlands and discuss where wetlands are located today.
“Why Should I Save Water?”- Through this activity, students learn about the importance of water as a shared natural resource. By participating in an
interactive demonstration, students learn how their daily demands on water affect water availability and brainstorm ways they can conserve water every day.
4th and 5th Grade
Adventures in Density (Properties of water): Students conduct investigations to discover how the density of water is affected by heat and salinity, and relate
their “discoveries” to literary adventures. Project WET pg 25
Amazing Water (Human Interactions, Citizenship, Bodies of Water): Students guide a drop of water through a maze of “drainage pipes” to learn how actions in
the home and yard affect water quality. Project WET Pg 219
Blue Traveler: Students learn the various states of water as it moves through the natural water cycle but they also learn how industrialization and urbanization
have impacted the water cycle. Student will then move from location to location as they travel as a water molecule on the Earth.
Enviroscape (Watershed): The enviroscape is a table-top model that introduces students to watersheds and point/nonpoint source pollution. Students see how
litter, oil, pesticides, chemicals, animal wastes and other items move through the watershed when it rains. Students then brainstorm best management practices to
improve the quality of the watershed.
EnviroScape (Wetlands): This activity is a table-top model that addresses the importance wetland areas have on the environment around us. Particular emphasis
on how ecosystems benefit from wetlands, how important they are to various organism habitats, flood management and how these areas are impacted through
land development. Student then suggest best management practices to protect these delicate water areas.
For the Common Good: Renewable resources, such as water, can be maintained if managed properly. But if not, they can become exhausted, especially as the
demand grows. In this activity students will pass chips around the room that represent a resource. They are to reach a certain number to succeed. They are not
told that to do that they each can only take one chip. This draws a parallel between themselves and how their actions affect the resource depletion.
H2Olympics (Properties of water): Students compete in a Water Olympics to investigate two properties of water, adhesion and cohesion. Project WET pg 32
Incredible Journey: This activity describes the movement of water within the natural water cycle. Students learn the various states of water as it moves through
the natural water cycle. At each location students will take note of where they are to describe their journey as a water molecule at the completion of the activity.
KY Green and Healthy Schools – Water Inventory: Students interview school personnel to determine school water use habits. Students observe water usage
and water movement on their school grounds.
Litter Art: In this art driven activity, students draw how litter impacts environment especially how litter enters into stormwater systems. They can use examples
of litter that they have experienced around their home or neighborhood and draw to speculate how litter entered into local streams and waterways. Then students
are lead to suggest Best Management Practices to prevent litter in their community.
Oh Deer!: Students will identify and describe food, water, and shelter as three essential components of habitat. Students will also discover how pollution
impacts the necessary components of the deer habitat. The results of each round of the game will be charted to monitor fluctuations of deer population over time.
Plastic Jellyfish (Pollution, Human Interactions): Students monitor the plastic waste production in their own households, research the effects of plastic waste on
fresh water and marine life and propose various ways to lessen the problem. Kentucky’s Commonwealth of Water pg 128
Poison Pump (Human Interactions, Bodies of Water, scarcity): Through a series of clues, students solve a mystery to discover that water can also produce
negative effects for people. Students will apply investigative methods used by epidemiologists to trace the source of contagious diseases. Students learn about
the importance of clean drinking water and the harmful and beneficial impacts that humans have on water.
Pollution Solution: Corn/Grain Biodegradable Packing Peanuts- Students will discuss what happens to the environment (land, stormwater, waterways, and
wildlife) when Styrofoam packing peanuts become litter from damaged packages during shipping or when transported to landfills compared to biodegradable
packaging peanuts. Students will explore the biodegradable quality of the eco-friendly packing peanut through a free art activity using water to partially dissolve
part of the peanut to stick to another packaging peanut to make a sculpture.
Silt, a Dirty Word (Erosion, Human Interactions): Students will create a model to simulate changes to a stream and its water flow when silt, sand or both are
added to the system. Project WILD Aquatic pg 176
Stream Litter Pick-up (PROJECT): This activity takes students to a local stream (on or off school property) to help the stream by collecting litter found by
walking the banks downstream. Once walked, the collected items are discussed to how these items might have entered the watershed. Emphasis is on impact of
items found and prevention.
Sum of the Parts (Human Interactions): Students demonstrate how everyone contributes to the pollution of a river as it flows through a watershed and
recognizes that everyone’s “contribution” can be reduced. Project WET pg 267
Tense Water Droplet (Properties of water): Students will learn about the physical characteristics of water as they explore water surface tension. Kentucky’s
Wonderful Commonwealth of Water pg 36
To Dam or Not to Dam (Dams, Reservoirs, Citizenship) Students will evaluate potential positive and negative effects from constructing a dam on a river.
WILD Aquatic pg 170
To See Is to Believe (Hydrologic Cycle): Students will make a mini-model of the water cycle using 2-liter soda bottles in order to observe evaporation,
transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and infiltration taking place. Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water pg 53
Water Patrol (Conservation, Scarcity): Students will mark the places where water is used on a school map, discuss the different uses of water in the building,
estimate the amount of water used daily to flush toilets in one student restroom, collect data for a predetermined amount of time and analyze that data.
Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water pg 63
What Makes Water Water? (Properties of water): Students will understand that materials have many observable properties such as size, mass, shape, color,
temperature, and the ability to react with other substances. Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water pg 34