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To tackle these projects, a month before the planting the
entire grade learned about runoff pollution problems
focusing on their local watersheds using online interactive
activities in Cacapon Institute’s eSchool, Potomac Highlands
Watershed School. Then, all the students explored ways that
they could prevent pollution coming from their school
grounds and greatly improve local Back Creek, nearly in the
school’s back yard. They learned that a rain garden is a
landscaped area that holds runoff water for a short time.
Potentially polluted water quickly soaks into amended soil
and is absorbed by native plants. With the help of a CI
model using lab tubing, funnels, sponges and rocks, the
students learned how storm water runoff from the roof could
be filtered, cleaned, and managed by being diverted into a
rain garden. |
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The dedicated teachers at Tomahawk then split the entire
third grade into ten unique committees. Each committee
focused on a different aspect of the rain garden
construction. |
For example, the Digger and Drainer Committee learned about
soil science through hands-on education activities and
drainage experiments. |
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Using soil flow charts, the students learned that the soil
in the area was a clay loam. Using methods modified from
NASA’s GLOBE soil program, the students poured water through
different types of soil to see which soil drained water more
quickly. |
“I am sand,” boomed the Fillers and Smoothers Committee with
their arms outstretched. By pretending to be different
sized particles and moving water, the Potomac Headwaters
Leaders of Watersheds (PHLOW) students learned how water
molecules flow at different speeds through different types
of soils. |
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“I am clay,” whispered the students standing shoulder to
shoulder as the students pretending to be water struggled to
find a path through the huddled mass. These committees
learned that the clay loam currently in the area of their
proposed garden would not allow water to soak through very
well. They decided that the soil would need to be amended
with sand and a bit of organic material. |
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The Planting Committees learned about all the services that
plants provide, why native plants are so important, and how
plants help stop the two main types of pollution effecting
the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: nutrients and sediment. While
some students acted as water droplets running down a hill
picking up pollution on their way to deliver pollution to
fish in a nearby stream, other students pretended to be
plants catching the water and the pollution. Thus they
learned how native plants help keep their water clean.
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Other committees engaged the community, their school, and
their parents. One committee designed large interpretive
signs at the rain garden. Another created posters to hang
around the school and flyers to take home to their parents.
They learned the essential pieces to include in any story:
who, what, where, why, and when. |
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Each of these committees was managed by the Planning and
Oversight Committee. The other committees reported what
they had learned to their entire classes. The Planning and
Oversight Committee recorded and compiled all the knowledge
these other committees learned so the third grade as a whole
could learn about every piece of the project as a whole.
The members of this committee were the true leaders of
watersheds. They were in charge of designing the rain
garden, engaging the community, securing materials, and
making sure the project was successful as a whole. They
inventoried all tools and materials and chose which designs
that other committees had made were going to be
implemented. They sharpened their community outreach
skills through mock interviews and PR brainstorms. They
even wowed the local reporter during her visit to the
worksite. “The 3rd grade in Tomahawk Middle
School designed this rain garden to stop sediment from
getting into Back Creek and to make the water clean for
macroinvertebrates,” boasted one leader to Samantha Cronk of
the Martinsburg Journal. |
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Over spring break, CI staff prepped the area with a back
hoe. A three foot trench was dug out and laid with gravel
and perforated pipe. This pipe allowed any infiltrating
water to quickly extend the length of the trench and
infiltrate faster into the ground. |
On the morning of April 15th, tools were laid out
and everything was made ready for the day’s activities. |
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The students discovered that sand allowed water to
infiltrate much faster than the clay loam currently there.
Therefore, CI's Frank Rogers mixed sand into the soil as he
filled back in the rain garden. |
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Another committee of students painted, installed, and
secured the edging board around the rain garden. |
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Another committee installed a second, higher under drain to
allow water to soak into the rain garden more readily while
keeping pooling water away from the wall. The committee also
helped redirect gutter downspouts from the roof to the
garden and installed overflow under drains. |
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The Smoother and Filler Committee shaped the soil so that
the water pooled in the middle of the garden as it slowly
infiltrated and was absorbed by the native plants. |
The Leadership Committee used their planting map to direct
where all the plants would be planted. |
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The Planting Committee set out everything where it was
supposed to be planted before finishing the planting. |
Students had a great time learning how to properly plant
native plants. They reviewed concepts they had learned in
class through real restoration projects. |
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Each group of students enjoyed being in charge of a
different aspect of the rain garden. |
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The Billboard Committee painted two interpretive 2 foot by 4
foot signs to hang up near the rain garden. |
Between the under drains installed below the surface of the
garden and the edging board designed and painted by
elementary school students, the project was a challenging
but successful endeavor. The rain garden will not only
manage a large area of roof runoff, but it will also support
native wildlife while beautifying the school. |
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The rain garden functioned wonderfully in the heavy rains of
Spring 2012. The gardens accepted hundreds of gallons of
roof runoff and allowed it to pool temporarily, then slowly
soak into the garden. The overflow drain prevents this
garden from ever flooding uncontrollably. |
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