Watershed

Speech and social skills students worked together to research watersheds and learn about different sources of pollution and how they impact  waterways and our drinking supply. They worked together to make posters and an informative video about watersheds.  They added various materials representing pollutants to water and made some hypotheses about how fish would be affected by substances such as motor oil, salt from roads treated before a storm, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics. The final watershed activity was a presentation by Miss Paris from the Greater New Haven Water Authority. She discussed watersheds and how drinking water gets to our homes. The students worked in teams to create a model watershed landscape and decide where to place a city, a farm and a reservoir. They added pollutants to the farm and city and made it rain. As they watched how the rain moved pollutants throughout the watershed area they noticed how much of the pollutants were flowing into the reservoir. They evaluated their placement of the farm, city, and reservoir and decided upon any changes. The following day they collaborated on a thank you letter to Miss Paris.