Toolkit

The “We Are Our Watershed” Educator’s Toolkit helps teachers and up to 35 students learn about the NYC water supply and its watershed in upstate NY. Students each receive a handheld sign with an image of one part of the system on one side: a reservoir, a forest, a mountain, aqueduct, water tunnel, treatment plant, faucet. The reverse side contains a locator map, information about the system, and prompts for classroom discussion. “Water lines” are laid out in the classroom and students arrange themselves to create the connections between the parts of the system. They are prompted to make the sounds of the water flowing through the system. A curriculum guide contains information about the water system, instructions for the activity, conversation prompts, and other resources.

This toolkit is being tested in 4th-11th grade public school classrooms throughout NYC, including at Brooklyn Tech, PS 58 (The Carroll School), MS 632 (Columbia Secondary School), MS 964 (Central Park East II), and in the Watershed Agricultural Council’s Summer Forestry Institute for teachers and environmental educators. After a pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, testing will resume in Fall 2022.

Funding for the toolkit is provided by the Watershed Education Grant program of the Catskill Watershed Corporation, in partnership with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection.