Tools for Schools                                               

This year the Virginia Water Monitoring Council and associated sponsors of Virginia Water Monitoring Day invite you and your class to attend or sponsor a water monitoring event from March through December 2010. See the State-wide Events page for more information on planned events.  As teachers, you and your class can monitor streams on your own, as well as with the assistance of professional or volunteer monitors.  The links below provide assistance and guidance related to scheduling class field trips, obtaining monitoring kits, and SOL requirements.

Partners for School Field Trips

Organizations wishing to be partners for schools, please contact Gary Speiran (gspeiran@usgs.gov) to have information included below.

Blacksburg Area Schools:
Llyn Sharp
Educational Administrator for Outreach, Geological Sciences
Virginia Tech
Phone: 540-231-4080
Email: llyn@vt.edu
Web: www.outreach.geos.vt.edu

Chesterfield County Schools Department of Environmental Engineering:
Contact: Lorne Field
Outreach Coordinator
Chesterfield County, Office of Water Quality
Phone: 804-748-1920
Email: fieldl@chesterfield.gov

View the Virginia’s Water Resources- A Tool for Teachers

This document provides information and activities to support interdisciplinary, problem-based teaching about watersheds, water quality, stewardship, and management. This document is designed to meet Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOLs) and support the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement's goal to "provide a meaningful Bay or stream outdoor experience for every school student in the watershed before graduation from high school."

This material was developed through a grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment. It was written by Jeremy M. Lloyd, Assistant Professor of Science Education, and Kathleen M. Register, Executive Director of Clean Virginia Waterways. Illustrations and graphic design are by Kevin Bopp.

Download a Power Point presentation about the Monitoring Kits (ppt)

Download a data collection sheet to use with your class. (Excel) (PDF)

Growing Native Curriculum

The "Growing Native Educational  Guide" provides educators practical, user-friendly lessons and stewardship activities directed partly toward the "Growing Native Program" but including information on watersheds, forests, improving water quality, and environmental stewardship. It can be accessed at http://www.growingnative.org/. The lessons are correlated to the North American Association for Environmental Education Guidelines for Learning and state academic standards in the Potomac River Watershed, it provides a large amount of information also applicable to other watersheds and can be modified to apply to your watershed.

Other Pages Regarding This Event

Registration

Monitor Your Own Stream

Statewide Events

Contacts

Previous Years