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A Watershed Experience

Through various art experiences, fourth grade students from Marina schools learned about what contributes to healthy watersheds and about the Salinas River Watershed in particular. Final projects ranged from creating to an Art Creek, painting two river murals and designing images for posters that depict animals of the Salinas River Watershed.

Some comments from students:

  • “ Aqua Art is a cool way to learn about water…”  “…it is a good way to learn about steelhead trout and about where they live.” “ I learned about water vocabulary.”
  • “We get to know how water moves.”
  • “It helps with your creativity. You can learn how to draw some cool things like different insects and watersheds.”

“I learned that ponds, rivers, and oceans connect to each other. The plants and animals help the pond survive.”

    A visit to the Salinas River State Beach, a first time for some of the students and their parents. Students drew views of the watershed on postcards to then share with a friend or family.

     

     


Discovering where the Salinas River Watershed is on a map.
A few of the many amazing posters 4th Grade students in Marina created of their watershed animal ally. Mayfly nymphs are an indicator of clean water. Male stickleback fish turn a dark green and orangey-red during the March-October spawning season. They also make and tend the nest of eggs laid by the female stickleback.
A few of the many amazing posters 4th Grade students in Marina created of their watershed animal ally. Mayfly nymphs are an indicator of clean water. Male stickleback fish turn a dark green and orangey-red during the March-October spawning season. They also make and tend the nest of eggs laid by the female stickleback.

A few of the many amazing posters 4th Grade students in Marina created of their watershed animal ally. Mayfly nymphs are an indicator of clean water. Male stickleback fish turn a dark green and orangey-red during the March-October spawning season. They also make and tend the nest of eggs laid by the female stickleback.


A few examples of the different ways students learn about watersheds: Making paper watersheds to see how water flows across the land; Aquifer-in-a-cup to see how water seeps into the ground; and creating bioregional maps of their home place.

Students filled cups with rocks, clay, sand, soil and water observing the movement of water, then
drew what they saw.
Bioregional maps: Students explore where they live by recording what direction the storms come from; what native plants and animals live near their home; what the closest body of water is to their home; what is one thing people do that is unhealthy for the watershed and what is one thing that people can do to make the watershed more healthy.

Drawing in journal of the Monterey Bay and Salinas River Watershed by 4th grade student.

4th grade painting created after seeing the video Into Being: The River by Diana Hobson and Susan Alexjander.

The final project for these Watershed Experience classes was to create a river mural featuring the students renditions of their Watershed Animal Ally.

The final project for these Watershed Experience classes was to create a river mural featuring the students renditions of their Watershed Animal Ally.

The final project for these Watershed Experience classes was to create a river mural featuring the students renditions of their Watershed Animal Ally.

The final project for these Watershed Experience classes was to create a river mural featuring the students renditions of their Watershed Animal Ally.

The final project for these Watershed Experience classes was to create a river mural featuring the students renditions of their Watershed Animal Ally.

Watershed Experience classes provide the opportunity for service learning students from CSUMB/Watershed Institute to participate in the painting as well as being excellent teacher's aids!

A collaborative effort to create a clay model of a watershed.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

Students painted their Watershed Animal Ally on tiles and placed them in the Art Creek. They then had the opportunity to restore the garden with native plants provided by Return of the Natives. For some students, this was their first time to plant.

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