Grade 8 students reflect upon their relationship with water at H2Awesome conference
October 25, 2017
GUELPH, Ontario – Hundreds of grade 8 students spent Wednesday learning about and reflecting upon their relationship with water.
The 2017 H2Awesome Water Conference is a joint project between the City of Guelph, Upper Grand District School Board, Wellington Catholic DSB, and Wellington Water Watchers. Around 300 students from UGDSB and WCDSB schools in Guelph attended the conference.
H2Awesome aligns with the Science and Technology, Social Studies, and Environment Curriculum and is an opportunity for students to learn about their relationship with water and water systems in their communities.
The day began with everyone gathered together for a traditional land acknowledgement, welcome and keynote speech by Elder Doug Pawis.
For the remainder of the day, students attended two water workshops meant to engage them so they are ready to continue with an action plan when they return to their classrooms.
There were 18 workshops available including:
- Thinking like a River: Knowing Where You Are in Relation to Water, with Educator and Outdoor Consultant Paul Gifford. The theme of this workshop was the interdependence of the elements that make up a place like Guelph.
- Don’t Bug Me, Aquatic Insects with Robert Giza. This session focused on how aquatic insects and how they are a terrific way to evaluate the health of rivers and streams.
- Community Drum Circle with Elder Doug and Elder Debbie. Students participated in a drum circle, smudging ceremony and learned about the power of storytelling from traditional teachings about men and women’s responsibilities in indigenous culture.
- Get Hands on with Groundwater, with Emily Stahl, City of Guelph. Students learned about how water gets from underground to the tap, through models, chemistry and underground video.
- Biimaadziwin N ibi Aakwan/Water is Life, with Elder Jan Sherman, offering traditional Anishinaabe teachings, environmental knowledge about water and water songs that can be used to develop school projects.
- All the Water in the World, with Sue Reid from the Waterloo Wellington Children’s Groundwater Festival. The focus on this session was learning about the interconnection between surface water and groundwater through an interactive model.
- Gardening to Conserve, with Ashley Thackaberry from the Guelph Community Food Forest. Students learned about growing food for themselves and wildlife, following ecological gardening principles that help conserve and project our freshwater supply.
As a follow up to the conference, this spring, Paul Gifford will guide each class on a half-day of outdoor learning in their school’s community. The class’s personalized tour will engage students to learn and document where their community is located in relation to water.
On Wednesday, teachers were offered a special session with Gifford, Cathy Chaput and Anneke McCabe, discussing the spring visits with Gifford and explaining how students can make a Water Doc using WeVideo.
See more from H2Awesome below:
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