For Students

Watershed PREP Class

(Protection, Restoration, Education, and Prevention)  

Environmental educators from WMWA are available to implement free lessons on watersheds and water quality in fourth-grade classrooms at public and private schools. The one-hour-long lessons meet the Minnesota State Science Standards and can be tailored for each school.

Schools located within the Bassett Creek, Elm Creek, Shingle Creek, and West Mississippi watersheds or serving students who live in those watersheds can request environmental educators to implement the following lessons free of charge. Schools outside of our member watersheds may request WMWA educators, but a small fee may be needed.

About the Watershed Classes

WMWA educators have three classes that can be tailored to schools' needs. The lessons include a presentation and fun, hands-on activity:

  • What is a Watershed and Why Do We Care? - Includes an overview of the concept of a watershed, a look at the watershed where the school is located, and an exploration of the pollutants found in a watershed and how to reduce their impact.
  • The Water Cycle: An Incredible Journey - Explore the movement of water, the states of water, and how water is polluted and cleansed as it moves through the cycle
  • Erosion and Our Water – Learn how human-caused erosion affects our waters. Engineer ways to keep soil from reaching the water using methods learned in the lesson.
  • The Watershed Game – Help students understand the relationship between land uses within a watershed, water quality, and their community.  The Game emphasizes collaboration, cooperative decision-making, persuasive argument, teamwork, and leadership skills, as well as science and math.

WMWA educators are also available to help you implement community and service learning projects, plan school events, and develop additional water-themed lessons.

​WMWA's "Ten Things You Can Do" Brochure outlines steps families can take to protect and improve local water quality. Each student receives a copy to take home at the end of the lesson.

Contact us for more information or to request an educator at your school or email our Educator at [email protected].
 

The Water Cycle

The water supply of Earth is a required element for life to exist and thrive. The water cycle is a continuous cycle that keeps water moving on and around Earth in different forms. The different stages of the water cycle include evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. Each stage of the cycle leads to the next stage, and each stage is an important part of a process that helps to water plants, fill cisterns, dry up puddles, and remove floodwaters.

Water Cycle Glossary of Terms

  • Aquifer: An aquifer is an underground layer that contains groundwater.
  • Cloud: A cloud is a visible mass of small water droplets or tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere.
  • Condensation: Condensation is the process by which water vapor changes into liquid.
  • Current: A predictable, steady flow of fluid in a larger body of water.
  • Erosion: Erosion happens when soil is worn away, usually by wind, water, or ice.
  • Evaporation: The process by which water changes into water vapor.
  • Fog: Clouds near the ground are known as fog.
  • Freshwater: A lake, river, or spring is a source of freshwater, which animals can drink.
  • Glacier: A glacier is a mass of ice that moves slowly across land.
  • Great Lakes: The Great Lakes are the biggest freshwater bodies of water in the world, located in the United States.
  • Groundwater: Water found in an aquifer.
  • Humidity: The amount of water vapor in the air is the humidity.
  • Ice: Ice is water in solid form.
  • Ice Sheet: An ice sheet is a mass of glacial ice that covers a large area.
  • Lake: A lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land.
  • Pollutant: A pollutant is a substance that harms a natural resource.
  • Precipitation: Precipitation includes all types of water that fall to Earth.
  • River: A river is a big stream of fresh water that flows.
  • Runoff: When fluid overflows from a farm or factory, it's known as runoff.
  • Snowmelt: Melted water from snow.
  • Temperature: The degree of heat or cold, measured with a thermometer.
  • Transpiration: Water that evaporates from plants is transpiration.
  • Vapor: Vapor is a liquid that is suspended in air.
  • Water Cycle: Water moves between the land, bodies of water, and atmosphere in a process known as the water cycle.

Learn More About Water!