21st Century Watershed Superheroes

Editor's Note: OWC was so inspired and grateful to be the recipients of a donation from a class at Barons School. We visited the class on May 8, 2018 to thank them, learn more about their projects, and do some fun watershed activities with them. It was super!

In 1978, Barons School was part of the set for the film Superman. Today, it houses 21st-century watershed superheroes! [Photo credit: barons.ca]

Driving up to the Barons school, we marveled at the beautiful architecture of the nearly 90-year-old school - a building that was the set of the Smallville High School in the 1978 film Superman. We were here to visit Ms. Kozak’s grade 4/5 class and meet some twenty-first century watershed superheroes.

Super Enthusiastic About Water

These super students crushed three tasks as part of Waterlution’s Great Waters Challenge.

The first challenge, My Connection to Water, asked the students to connect their lives to our Oldman watershed. Using beautiful posters and homemade videos, the students recounted how some of their families traveled to southern Alberta after facing long periods of drought and food insecurity where they'd been living in Mexico.

The second challenge, Water in My Community, saw students creatively and enthusiastically raise awareness of complex watershed issues. Their projects included Plasticine zebra mussels,  responsible Lego boat care, food colouring oil spills, and more. We were super impressed!

Students will learn even more about where they live by playing Moopher's Amazing Journey to the Sea - a game developed by the Partners FOR the Saskatchewan River Basin.

The third and final challenge was a Water Celebration. After some brainstorming, the class decided to host a bake sale, followed by some super fun ‘Minute to Win it’ games, in which students try to complete a challenge or brainteaser in one minute, and the whole day was wrapped up with a tie-dye party. When there was money left over from the bake sale, these super students decided to donate it to the Oldman Watershed Council - amazing!

Not only are the students super watershed stewards, but when we got there the students informed us that they were having an ice cream party later that day because their class had collected the most batteries for recycling.

A super-sized THANK YOU to these young watershed stewards and donors! You're never too young to make a difference!

Super Engaged Students

The class was super engaged while we chatted about the Oldman watershed. They crowded eagerly around a map of the watershed, pointing out Barons and other places they had visited. They did a fantastic job of simulating the flow of water (represented by wood pellets), from a trickle in the headwaters being passed hand to hand downstream, becoming a roaring river that ended up in Hudson’s Bay (represented by a basin). Despite their young age, the students showed a mature grasp of the potential impacts of human activities upstream on downstream communities. And after all, we are all downstream.

Students were thrilled to learn that they were standing in a room with a published author. Outreach Assistant Dorothy Graham read the book she co-authored, entitled "Canada's Great Water Adventure," a copy of which OWC donated to the school.

Super Good News!

These super students prove that you’re never too young or too small to make a difference. You, too, can be a watershed superhero - all you have to do is Volunteer, Donate, or Make a Change.