From the Classroom

Watershed Classroom Student Showcase

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Watershed Classroom Student Showcase

This April we will have our annual Student Showcase, an essential component of the Watershed Classroom. The Watershed Classroom supports educators throughout the district, and we have the pleasure of watching hundreds of students as their projects develop over the course of the year. We are constantly impressed with the work being done, and so we developed the showcase as an opportunity to for students to share their incredible projects with other educators and community members.

Two or three students from each class participating in the Watershed Classroom will share a presentation explaining the scope of their projects, the work that they produced, and their impact and achievements. The presentations vary: some are slide shows of pictures taken throughout their project; others share PowerPoints; or present student made videos. It is always such a pleasure to hear what students take away from their projects, and how it has affected their attitudes of our local watershed. There is a clear sense of pride and accomplishment as students present to the audience.

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One Teachers Experience in the Watershed Classroom

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One Teachers Experience in the Watershed Classroom

This has been my second year taking part in the Friends of the Petaluma River Watershed Classroom, and I could not speak more highly of the program. While there are many meaningful components to the Watershed Classroom, what my students enjoy most are the walking field trips to local points along the watershed to perform water quality testing. At the beginning of the unit, students are trained in the classroom in how to conduct each test, along with being taught the significance of each test as it relates to the health of the river. Friends of the Petaluma River provides kits that enable the students to test for turbidity, salinity, ammonia, phosphorous, nitrates, dissolved oxygen, and pH. It is amazing to see the students out in the field, using the skills they have learned to test the water and make connections related to the health of the watershed. The Watershed Classroom has been an incredible component of my science classroom the past two years, and I look forward to many more years in the future!

Matt Jackson
7th Grade Teacher, PACS at McKinley School

Review Matt Jackson's Watershed Classroom Project Flush and the Curriculum

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Project WET Petaluma!

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Project WET Petaluma!

This year our vision was to connect teacher with resources that will help them deepen into their Petaluma based environmental education by guiding them through watershed focused curriculum and showing them first hand the many opportunities for outdoor education available in Petaluma.

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Spotlight on the Watershed Classroom as an example of Project Based Learning

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Spotlight on the Watershed Classroom as an example of Project Based Learning

Th Watershed Classroom appears on Buck Institute of Education's (BIE) Virtual Hangout.  The live, on-line presentation was titled, Inquiry and the Real World: The Watershed Classroom, and was an opportunity to update educators around the country on the progress of  Petaluma's Watershed Classroom Project.  

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