We had a look and wanted to connect with other schools in this challenge, but were unable to find any active sites with information about their challenges. In lieu of this, we thought we would write about our next steps as Water Stewards in Grimsby.
Letter Writing Campaign
Students are in the process of choosing topics for their Letter Writing Campaign, based on #advicefromaconservationhero from Challenge #3. So far, some ideas for letters include:
- Writing to students in the school about volunteering to help protect our area watershed
- Writing to our school principal to convince him to allow students to plant a butterfly garden
- Writing to local businesses whose products contributed to some of the waste collected from our Shoreline Cleanup
- Writing to students in the school about how to recycle and compost items from their school lunch waste
I'm looking forward to reading these letters and having students send them on behalf of the school. It's so important for students to know that they have a voice and that they can use it to have a positive impact on water in their community.
Water Docs Film
Students are also in the process of finalizing our Water Docs documentary film which showcases all of our hard work with our Eco Initiatives in our school and community this year. We started off the year with a Shoreline Clean-up and Watershed Walk. We tracked all of the waste that was collected from our shoreline cleanup and documented areas of concern on our Watershed Walk. Students then tracked their own water consumption for a week and picked one activity to reduce their water consumption for the following week. All students were able to conserve water through this small feat. This will be something students can continue and promote within their own homes outside of school. Students also investigated water issues from other countries and simulated demographic factors from those countries to create water filters. It was amazing to see the results of the filtered water with limited resources. This was eye-opening for students! We plan on visiting the local water treatment plant to make real-world connections to how water is treated in our community. We'll be sure to post our video once it is complete.
Brainspace Team
We have a group of 5 girls who are part of a Brainspace team. They are working together to create a innovation that would solve the CO2 problem in the ocean. Our team has been hard at work researching ways to reduce CO2 in the ocean. We'll post their final project (en français) when it is completed.
#PowerEco
We are so excited to be a top 10 ecovator finalist from Ontario in the
Staples & Earth Day Canada SuperPower your School Contest. We can hardly wait until they announce the winners on Earth day - April 22nd! We're hoping to use the prize money to create a digital making lab where students can digitally document their EcoJournies allowing their student voices to reach a larger audience.
School-wide EcoAction
Our entire school will be participating in class-based choice EcoAction activities in the week leading up to Earth Day. We're excited to see the impact our students have on the environment in our community. Our grade 8 students will be buddying up with the grade 1 students again and participating in the Yellow Fish Road program. We're eager to get out into the community and raise awareness about protecting our area watershed. Some of our EcoTeam members will also attend a full day session at Walker Living Campus to participate in an Earth Week Challenges where students will calculate their environmental footprint and then spend the day outdoors learning about the environment and ways we can reduce our footprint. Through the use of Geocaches, students will explore and discover the environment at the Living Campus. We'll check out their Green Roof, Pollinator Gardens and Vermaculture composting will also be highlighted. Students are really looking forward to this!
We really had a great time participating in Waterlution's Great Water Challenge! We've learned a lot and think that we had a positive impact in our community!
