Wetlands Day
Las Gallinas Welcomes Dixie School to Wetlands Day on April 7th
Every year Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District and STRAW (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed), a group from the Bay Institute, conduct Wetlands Day progams for local elementary students, teachers and parents. The program has evolved to an enriching one day experience and includes many of the favorite activites of the prior three-day event. Interactive activities include stations situated throughout the plant and the accompanying wetlands that incorporate a wide range of environmentally specific issues into a fun and educational experience. Wetlands Days has been an event our local schools look forward to year after year.
Examples of what students experience include: a 30-minute plant tour by one of our experienced operators, an educational video about wastewater treatment with question/answer period, a wastewater lab station where students receive hands-on experience and instruction from a lab technician, a stormwater diorama featuring a miniaturized watershed where participants learn about stormwater pollution, a bird-bingo station where participants learn about the birds that live in a wetlands habitat through a classic game, a creek-critters station provided by McStopp where participants familiarize themselves with several endangered species that are affected by pollution, and a wetlands mammal station provided be Wildcare where participants learn how to build a beaver dam.
Each student leaves the program with new knowledge and a goodie bag of school supplies and reading materials they can take home to their families. The objective of all these activities is to reach a wide range of people from our local community and educate our children about pollution prevention from a young age in a fun environment. The Wetlands Days program successfully reaches hundreds of students and adults and is now scheduled on a by-request basis.
The response to this program has been tremendous. After the event, the district receives thank you cards from the participating students describing what they enjoyed about the program and what they learned. Teacher evaluation forms are used to help judge age appropriateness and other aspects of the program. The total number of students participating is the primary criterion used to evaluate the success of the program and on this basis this activity has been highly successful. Las Gallinas Sanitary District plans to continue to host Wetlands Days far into the future and feels that this event is a great form of community environmental outreach.
Teachers and schools are encouraged to contact Nina Capetanos about the program, or call (415)472-1734.
Check out the photo galleries for more pictures recent Wetlands Day events.
