WATER!

This week, from our Morphic Thinking all the way to our farewell our focus was on water.  Students read A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry and saw the effects of disrespecting water as a resource. They also saw that there is hope for restoration of polluted waterways and how they can play a part in the solution.  Research was done on watersheds and students got to participate in a simulation of pollution's downstream journey.

We also looked at different tests that can be conducted to evaluate water quality.  Some of these tests will help us identify our Gray Area culprit.  We learned about turbidity tests to check for clarity and sediments, (helpful in the investigation of the erosion caused by the clear-cutting logging company) phosphate and nitrate tests to see if fertilizers may be causing an abundance of algae growth, (helpful in the investigation of the cattle ranch and farm)  bio-assessment tests for macro-invertebrates, and pH tests.  We also started our novel study of Listening to Crickets, a story of conservationist Rachel Carson.

Third graders calculating orange slice data.

Compiling theories about our suspects.

Watershed demonstration