Curriculum Highlights

Key Learning Objectives:  Student engagement with their local water ecosystem.

Geoliteracy Integration:  Students will feel that they are part of their own community, that they have the power to influence adults and decisions around them, and that they bear responsibility (proportionate to their age) for the environment. Monitoring the quality of their local creek makes them stewards and helps build a foundation for their adult years.

Participating School: McNear Elementary SchoolLead Teachers: Amy Turko, Eric Norstad
Participating Classes: 4th

Overview: The two fourth grade classes at McNear Elementary School will conduct weekly water quality tests (salinity, oxygen levels, temperature, etc.) on the water from Thompson Creek, a tributary of the Petaluma River, and post the results on line throughout the school year.

Fieldwork Activities:  Weekly monitoring of the quality of the creek using tools and methods already learned from Lee Boyes' Integrated Science class at Petaluma High School.

CA Curriculum Standards Addressed: 

Next Generation Science Standards on project-based learning, collaboration, and project implementation. 

Information on the nature and history of the Petaluma watershed.

Presentation and explanation of the evidence gathered on a website.