South Dakota Online Water Festival
South Dakota Online Water Festival
Water Festivals are annual events for Grade 4-6 students to learn about all aspects of water. Led by water professionals and educators, the 25 minutes sessions give students an opportunity to learn about water in a hands-on, interactive way as well as to be exposed to a wide range of water related careers.
Unfortunately, the pandemic prevented many schools from participating in a Water Festival during the 20-21 school year, so a new approach to Water Festivals was developed. If students can't come to the Water Festival, the Water Festival will come to them through videos, lesson plans, and activity trunks.
The South Dakota Online Water Festival is a collection of hands-on activities that teach Grade 4-6 students about water. These activities are presented via a short YouTube video (less than 20 minutes) that is meant to be watched interactively, with viewers pausing the video at key times and responding. Activities require various supplies. Specialized supplies for Discoveries at Willow Creek and Water Testing are provided in a loaner kit.
Below is a list of activities presented on this website. The More Great Water Learning Resources page has links to other demonstrations that are often presented at water festivals in South Dakota.
"Water" You Observing - In this activity, students will make and record observations of an organism (Great Blue Heron) then compare what they learned via observation with facts from a resource. Requires paper and pencil for each student which is provided by the teacher.
World of Water - Students watch video snippets to make observations about how the world of water (hydrosphere) interacts with the the worlds of rocks and soil (geosphere), plants and animals (biosphere), and air and wind (atmosphere). Requires handout which can be downloaded. The handout is not provided in the loaner kit.
Discoveries at Willow Creek - Students will practice using an alcohol filled thermometer to measure air and water temperature, just like the characters in the story Discoveries at Willow Creek. Along the way, they will learn a little about Celsius temperature too. The loaner kit will contain 30 copies of Discoveries at Willow Creek and 30 alcohol liquid thermometers.
Water Testing - This activity guides students through reflecting on what is clean water for both humans and aquatic creatures and leads them in using the Earth Echo Water Challenge Test Kits to test creek water for dissolved oxygen and pH. The loaner kit will provide 30 Earth Echo Water Kits.
While all educators are invited to use these activities, we regret that the kits may only be loaned to school and out-of-school programs in South Dakota. Smaller kits for Water Testing are available to South Dakota home school families. Please be aware that there are a limited number of kits available.
For more information about the loaner kits please email Anne. There is no fee to borrow. Shipping to your site is included but the borrowing site is responsible for return shipping.