Teachers are encouraged to use the following water activities and resources to help their class prepare for their day at the Children’s Clean Water Festival. Each activity includes background information, an easy to do classroom activity, local contact for more information, local field trip opportunities (if available), and where to find additional resources.
- Properties of Water
- Water Cycle
- Watersheds
- Wetlands
- Groundwater
- Water Quality
- Water Conservation
- Post-festival | Take Action
Water websites for teachers (including funding opportunities)
- Clean Water Services – Classroom and field-based education programs and stewardship opportunities.
- Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors (ECO) – Hands-on Ecology Enrichment programs for Portland-area schools.
- Environmental Protection Agency – Find an array of environmental and science based lesson plans, activities and ideas below from EPA, other federal agencies and external organizations.
- Every Kid in a Park – Fourth-grade educators can download an activity and print National Park passes for students.
- NOAA Classroom Resources – Here’s a round-up of six digital resources and social media channels you can explore online to bring Earth science to life in your classroom.
- Oak Lodge Sanitary District – Classroom presentations and other water science opportunities.
- Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom – This program promotes using agriculture to teach science, math, history and nutrition across existing curriculum.
- Portland Bureau of Environmental Services – Free classroom and field study science education programs.
- Portland Parks and Recreation – Environmental education field trips
- Portland Water Bureau – Classroom visits, tours and assemblies for Portland Schools.
- Project WET – This is national website for the teacher training program. Find out where you can attend a training.
- Regional Water Providers Consortium – Information on local water systems and water conservation.
- Sauvie Island Center – The Sauvie Island Center provides local children with unique experiences on a working farm, helping them to make the connection between the food they eat, farming and the land.
- Slough School – Slough School provides hands-on programs for students to learn about the history and ecology of the Columbia River watershed, its organisms, and the human effects on the area.
- SOLVE – Service learning opportunities, project planning and training.
- Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge – Teacher workshops, field trips, curriculum and more. Information about Summer Day Camps.
- Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District – Classroom resources covering pollinators, soil, weeds and more.
- USGS – Watershed data, historic information, multimedia resources and more.
- Water Environment Foundation – Hands-on activities from the Water Sourcebook designed for use by teachers, non-formal educators, and water quality professionals.
- WaterSense (an EPA program) – Water conservation information and worksheets.
Water websites for students
- USGS – Water Science for Schools – This US Geological Survey website has information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.
- Learning to be Water Wise – Learn more about the water cycle and take a waterwise test to see just how waterwise you are.
- EPA’s Drinking Water For Kids – This site includes games, activities, and experiments to help kids learn about drinking water.
- Every Kid in a Park – Fourth-graders and their families get free access to hundreds of parks, lands, and waters for an entire year.
- Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission – Explore this site to learn more about the fish and Indians from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
- WaterSense (an EPA program) – Kid-oriented water-related information and activities geared for kiddos.