Our Ever-changing World

In Hawaiian Studies we have been learning about our ever-changing world.

On Friday, 10/13, Mrs. Collier came in to speak with the 3/4 classes about "non-point source pollution," a project funded by the Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The childen really enjoyed the presentation and stories. (See some students' reflections below and photos in the gallery.)

Last week we had another mom, Mrs. Wong, come to our classroom on Thursday and Friday to teach us about erosion! Mrs. Wong did several (messy and fun) experiments to get the class thinking about how we can stop erosion and keep our waters clean. Our favorite experiment was seeing which held more water -- sand, or grass and dirt. We measured the amount of water before we poured it into both trays, and again after! Not only did we find out that the sand held no water compared with the grass and dirt, we learned how to measure liquids using mililiters. Please visit the gallery for pictures of our experiments.

REFLECTIONS on Non-Source Point Water Pollution
By 3/4H

"I learned that the storm drain goes directly to the ocean. Anything that gets in the storm drain, like rubber that comes off the wheel of a car, goes to the ocean and pollutes it."

"Farmers fertilize the plants and sometimes the fertilizer comes off, then it goes into the streams that go into the ocean. Sometimes animals go poop near a stream, and that goes in to the stream and into the ocean, too."

"The dirt and leaves that are dug up from a pig can get into the stream and go to the ocean.
All these things pollute the ocean and kill the fish and things that live in the ocean."

"I learned that everyone can help the environment if they try to not throw rubbish in the storm drains cause it goes right to the ocean."

"I learned we have to keep the ocean clean because people like to swim in the ocean and if it's polluted no one will want to visit here or eat the seafood."

"Cement can come off a truck from a construction site and when it rains it comes off the tire and runs into the storm drain."

Posted on October 23, 2006 7:31 AM | Permalink