What a crazy, fun and successful first complete week of lessons we had!

Monday, Cat, Kendyll, Lisa, and I, started the day somewhat early at about 9am, meeting at Lisa’s house. It was our first lesson with Highlands Recreation Summer Camp.We were doing the “Long Haul” lesson. I was a bit nervous when I saw the kids because I hadn’t taught little kids since last semester during alternate ed. Week. However, I the Highlands Recreation group is pretty smart. They knew what water conservation was. One girl was even talking about global warming and how polar bears are becoming endangered. After we gave them some information on water hauling we did our activity! We split them into 2 groups of 10. They went down to the water and had to do a relay race. It was a race to see which team could fill the garbage can with buckets of water the quickest, while being conscience of not spilling the water! My team lost, not only did the other team fill theirs the quickest, but I was a bit wet. I was holding up the garbage can so it wouldn’t fall over as they were tossing the water in the can. All in all it was a fun day. They learned quite a bit and had a lot of excitement. I think they are ready for us next week!

Tuesday I trained a few volunteers on some lessons for the following week. One volunteer, Shannon, was a substitute teacher and the other volunteer, Brett, takes an environmental studies class so they understood the lessons very well. They are ready to volunteer!

On Wednesday, I had the We Care Adult Care lesson scheduled for 11am. Today we started watching “Flow: for the love of water,” a documentary on the world water crisis. It went over well, they can’t wait for next week to finish it. I also brought a book by Rachel Carson “The Sense of Wonder” for them to peek at. I thought they’d like it. It’s got really neat pictures in it. A lot of them who did get a chance to look at it really did appreciate them.

After I left We Care, I went home to set up for the Middletown Girl scouts. I was preparing the “Enviroscape” lesson and the “Edible Aquifer” lesson for them. When I got to Suzanne’s house (the troop leader), she welcomed me with open arms.The girls, about 8 of them, showed me around the yard. Then Suzanne showed me and Brett, the other volunteer who graciously came to help me out today, the requirements the girls need to attain their eco-friendly badge.

We started off with the “Enviroscape” lesson. They did like the part where Brett and I put food dye which symbolizes pollution and then use a mister as rain and they see how all the pollution washes down it the streams. Using visuals seems to help the kids comprehend the overall message of the lessons better. After that we did the “Edible Aquifer” lesson that Kendyll discussed in the previous blog. After Brett and I cleaned up and said our goodbyes to the girls and Suzanne, the girls got in their suits and hopped in the pool. It was a lovely day of water education.

Thursday was more training for our great Water Watch volunteers! I trained 2 brothers named Matt and Mark and Kendyll’s sister Emily. We went over 3 lessons; “Long Haul”, “Enviroscape”, and the “Edible aquifer” lessons. It was a fairly easy day. They are coming to teach with me on Monday and Tuesday of next week. All of your help, volunteers, makes a huge difference!

On Friday, I met with some volunteers at Brookdale. So happy that there are a lot of college kids getting involved this summer! We went over 3 lessons: “Long Haul”, “Enviroscape”, and the “Edible aquifer” lessons.  Both Volunteers Katie and Luke seemed to understand it all completely. They are coming to teach on Monday at the Highlands Rec. group and seem really excited. I think now that they’ve seen the lessons and I explained it to them they aren’t as nervous. After Luke and Katie left, Cat met me and we discussed some plans for her clean up on August 6^th.  It’s at Brookdale, come out and give us a hand!

This week would not have been nearly as easy without the help of all our volunteers. It is nice to see that people are taking Obama’s “Call to Serve” to heart and that people our age are doing everything they can to lend a hand to their community and the environment. If all continues as is, it looks like this summer we are going to reach a lot of people about keeping their water clean! That’s what we’re here for after all, right? So if you have some extra time on your hands and want to get involved with volunteering, get in touch with us at any time!