Reduce Reuse Recycle Replenish ART

Hello Duke and Grey Owl,


It looks like you have taken action on water conservation, we have too!  Have you seen ‘Gyre’ by artist Christ Jordan?  It is based on the famous Japanese painting ‘The Wave off Kanagawa'.  His piece is made of over 2.4 million pieces of plastic garbage, the estimated number of pieces of garbage that end up in the ocean each hour!  We couldn't believe this!

Inspired by ‘Gyre’ and other examples of recycled item art, the grade ones and twos created pieces to promote environmental awareness and water conservation made entirely of previously used items.  Their environmental messages are everything from 'save the fish', 'don't litter', to 'save the people'!

They did a wonderful job working as both artists and environmentalists!

The Humber Watershed Over Time

Hi Grey Owl,

Grade 1/2 students at Bala did a similar activity about the story of our watershed over time.  We used finger puppets of early settlers, present day people, animals, houses, factories, and farms.  After many people, farms, and factories moved in along the Humber River we noticed the water level going down, and that the water wasn't as clean as when it was just animals and First Nations people living in the area.  It's complicated because the factories and farms make the most pollution, but they are making the things that people in the city need.  Students thought that Torontonians should ride their bikes instead of driving, and that we should all use less 'stuff'.

Here are some pictures of our cast in front of 'Lake Ontario'.

This activity was adapted from one in The Project Wet Curriculum Guide.

Duke of Connaught Watershed Study

Hello again!

A few days ago we went on a walk around our schoolyard to see the impact that we have on our watershed. We were shocked by all of the things that we never really notice in our own yard. Here are a few pictures that we took to help share our journey with you.  

We were most shocked by the clogged drain at the edge of our sports field. Which image do you find most shocking? Have you found similar things in your schoolyards?

We each filled out an observation chart of both natural and unnatural things that caught our eyes in the yard.  Most of our findings were unnatural items that had negative effects on our watershed. Below are some examples of our observations.

Water Saving Tips

Hello Grey Owl and Bala,

To follow up on our Big Splash survey, we have created quick tips for improving our water use. We have been learning about writing for different audiences. The other day we visited a Grade 1-2 class at Duke of Connaught and they seemed to like our tips. We hope you do too! We didn’t forget about our grade 3-4 friends either. We have added more detailed facts on our images for you. Feel free to send us some more tips to add to our list.

Talk to you soon!

-Grade 7s of Duke

Which Water Use is Most Important?

Today Bala's grade 1s and 2s had some important decisions to make. We made a list of all the water uses we could think of--it was a long list!  There is only so much water on earth to share with everyone, so how do you decide which use is most important?

We decided there were four categories, human use, animal use, plants (including plants that we eat), and fun uses.  We cut and pasted pictures of these four categories in order from most important to least important.  We then tallied our results and made a bar graph as a class.

 Overall we thought human use was most important, although some people thought it was plants, others thought it was animals, and a few thought fun uses were most important.  We had an interesting discussion about it.   Here are eight samples of our work.

This activity is adapted from The Project Wet Curriculum Guide

Duke of Connaught - How Big is Your Splash?

Today we did a great survey to measure our use of water. It made us all take a closer look at our daily activities and how much water we are wasting. Did you know that the average person only needs 20 – 50 L of water per day to survive? In Canada, the average person uses 331 L of water per day! We couldn’t believe it!

Here are a few examples of our Splash Surveys:

Greetings from Duke of Connaught

Hey Bala and Grey Owl,

We are a grade 7 class at Duke of Connaught. It’s nice to finally say hello and see some of the work that you have been doing.

At our school, we are known as  the water experts. Throughout the school year we have learned about how lucky we are to have access to fresh water. Did you know that not everybody has clean water in their homes and schools? In some parts of the world people have to walk far distances to collect clean water every day. Earlier this year we did a “Water Walk” to raise awareness of the lack of access to water in Uganda.

We are celebrating World Water Day by looking at our use of water and our effect on our watershed. We will be making posters around our school to give students tips on using water responsibly.

We can’t wait to see how you celebrate World Water Day.

Talk to you soon!