Stormwater Resources for Schools
Public Education and Outreach (MCM 1)
Public Involvement and Participation (MCM 2)
MS4 Coordinators will find the resources provided on this webpage to be useful for targeting schools in their public outreach strategy to meet Public Education and Outreach (MCM 1) and Public Involvement/Participation (MCM 2) goals. The resources will also be useful to K-12 teachers, K-12 curriculum coordinators, university teacher education faculty, and leaders of youth groups.
Sections of Webpage:
MS4 Phase II Activities in Schools
School Lessons and Resources Binder
Kentucky Resources
Kentucky Phase II MS4 Programs
National & International Events and Programs
School Curriculum Materials and Lessons
Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution
Stream Monitoring
Volunteer Programs
MS4 Phase II Activities in Schools
Success Stories Follow this link to learn about activities being done with schools by MS4 Phase II Community Coordinators.
Schools Lessons and Resource Binder
Resource Binder (PDF file - 28.33 MB)
This binder was included as part of the Stormwater Education Toolkit for Schools. The binder includes information, resources, and lessons organized into the following 8 sections: 1) MS4 Program, 2) Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution, 3) Workshop (classroom) Lessons and KY Education Standards, 4) K-12 Teachers, 5) K-12 Students, 6) Stormwater Stickers, 7) Kentucky Resources, and 8) Streams.
Entire Resource Binder (PDF File - 28.33 MB)
Binder Sections:
MS4 Phase II Program (PDF File - 861 KB)
Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution (PDF File - 2.29 MB)
K-12 Lessons and Kentucky Education Standards (PDF File - 1.43 MB)
K-12 Teachers (PDF File - 12.68 MB)
K-12 Students (PDF File - 7.70 MB)
Stormwater Stickers (PDF File - 669 KB)
Kentucky Resources (PDF File - 668 KB)
Streams (PDF File - 4.76 MB)
Bluegrass Partnership for a Green Community
Projects & teams are organized around the following initiatives: green buildings, reduce-reuse-recycle, green purchasing, environmental education, transportation, outreach & communication, water & stormwater, foods and sustainability, and green space & sustainability.
Bluegrass PRIDE
Bluegrass PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment) provides environmental resources and information to schools, community groups, local governments and citizens in Central Kentucky.
Bluegrass Rain Garden Alliance
Environmental Education in Kentucky
This website allows you to locate organizations and events across the Commonwealth. "EEinkentucky" is a one stop resource for teachers and all citizens who want a simple and straightforward way to discover environmental education opportunities in the Commonwealth.
Kentucky Association for Environmental Education
Since 1976, the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education has worked to build a sustainable environment through education. The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE) is one of the country’s oldest associations supporting environmental education. KAEE’s mission is to build a sustainable environment through education. KAEE members include K-12 teachers, nonformal educators, government and agency personnel, university instructors, and private citizens. KAEE offers an annual conference in September and workshops throughout the year for professional development.
Kentucky Department of Education
Kentucky Program of Studies and Core Content for Assessment
“How to Develop a Standards-Based Unit of Study” manual
The 2008 manual contains a unit template, information about the components of a unit and lesson plan, sample lesson plans, and a downloadable word document template.Kentucky's Education Cooperatives
Kentucky has a host of educational cooperatives that provide assistance and expertise for the benefit of their member school districts. This website provides the names and contact information for all of the regional offices in Kentucky. These people may be contacted to help you promote and/or offer your professional development opportunities for schools. They can also help you connect to specific teachers to work with in their classroom.Professional Development Training Opportunities
MS4 Coordinators and others can register on this site to publicize professional development opportunities.
Kentucky Division of Water
Commonwealth Water Education Project (CWEP)
Kentucky Watersheds
Basic informationKentucky River Basins Assessment Reports
Contains interactive maps.Watershed Viewer
Links to a clickable basin map. More detailed information is revealed by "zooming" into the map (with the "magnifying glass") or you can click on your county to download your county map.Kentucky Stormwater
MS4 informationKY Watersheds
Surf your watershed.Kentucky Watershed Watch
Publications:Watershed Watch Biological Stream Assessment
Watershed Watch Water Chemistry Sampling Methods
Watershed Habitat Assessment ProtocolsRiver Basins and Coordinators
Basin Coordinators are members of a network of watershed specialists, working for and in partnership with various agencies, under the banner of the Kentucky Watershed Management framework. Their job is to serve as facilitators for coordinating agency activities and as a point of contact for local organizations interested in addressing clean water issues in your basin. Also see www.watersheds.ky.gov for more information.
Kentucky Educational Television (KET)
Electronic Field Trip to a Watershed
Takes students to urban and rural settings across Kentucky to see how water from rain and snow is collected and funneled into common waterways—and how human activities affect the quality of water everywhere.Raindrops to Rivers
This Professional Development Resource uses authentic video of Kentucky classrooms to showcase high quality instruction on watersheds and nonpoint source pollution. Also included are links to Kentucky Core Content and Program of Studies, lesson materials, and additional resources.
Kentucky Environmental Education Council
The Kentucky Environmental Education Council was established to improve Kentuckians' understanding of their environment. Although KEEC's major focus is primary and secondary education, the Council also works with colleges and universities, businesses, local governments, private organizations and citizens. KEEC's goal is to provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make their own informed decisions about their environment. Includes links to instructional resources.
Kentucky Environmental Education Council
Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools
The Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools (KGHS) Program is a voluntary effort to empower students and staff with the tools needed to take action and make their school operate at peak efficiency by using environmentally friendly practices. The program extends into the community encouraging environmentally-friendly practices at home, work and play. Water resource protection is one area of study and action. See a list of participating schools at this website.Kentucky Project WET
Correlations to KY Core Content and more…Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water (K-12 Curriculum)
2004 Survey of Kentuckian’s Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors
Kentucky EXCEL (KY Excellence in Environmental Leadership)
The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP) is pleased to introduce its voluntary environmental leadership program, Kentucky Excellence in Environmental Leadership, known as KY EXCEL. KY EXCEL offers a nonregulatory approach that allows the department to work cooperatively with all of Kentucky's citizens to recognize and reward the many voluntary efforts conducted each year.
KY EXCEL's objectives are simple. The program wishes to encourage individuals, organizations and businesses to complete voluntary projects that improve Kentucky's environment. In addition, KY EXCEL desires to facilitate a process that allows participants to increase their environmental commitment, thus reducing their environmental footprint.
Kentucky Geological Survey
KGS - Classroom Activities
Kentucky maps, ways to get the word out to teachers, and more.
Kentucky Green Team Online Film Festival
An initiative designed to highlight sustainable environmental practices. First Lady Jane Beshear asked Green Team members to send in their suggestions on how we can inspire, teach, and encourage others to take steps to improve our world's environment. The winning submission, to host an online film festival in which Kentuckians could submit a film educating the public on energy conservation, was inspired by Syandene Evans, a freshman at Henry Clay High School in Lexington.
University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service
Kentucky Water Awareness Month
The Kentucky Water Awareness Month 2009 Packet Materials are available online. The packet includes information on stormwater, groundwater, and watersheds, and includes publications, fact sheets, promotional items, radio scripts, and activities. Please feel free to adapt and use the packet information to meet your programming needs.Living Along a Kentucky Stream
A practical guide for landowners with streams on or near their property. The publication provides simple Do’s and Don’ts for maintaining healthy streams and being good stream stewards.
This packaged program provides information about Kentucky’s streams, their importance to our state, and the actions you can take to protect this precious natural resource. Access to teaching guide, stream component quiz and answer key, stream stewardship discussion, crossword puzzle and answer key, and program evaluation.
Kentucky Phase II MS4 Community Websites
- Ashland
- Bardstown
- Bowling Green
- Boyd County
- Bullitt County
- Christian County
- Danville
- Elizabethtown
- Florence
- Fox Chase
- Frankfort
- Georgetown
- Glasgow
- Hardin County
- Henderson
- Hillview
- Hopkinsville
- Hunters Hollow
- Jessamine County
- Madisonville
- Mayfield
- Mt. Washington
- Murray
- Nicholasville
- Oldham County
- Owensboro
- Paducah
- Pioneer Village
- Radcliff
- Richmond
- Sanitation District 1 of Northern KY
- Shepherdsville
- Somerset
- Vine Grove
- Warren County
- West Point
- Winchester
MS4 Stormwater Program Overview, Phase II
MCM 1 - Public Education
Webpage and Links
PDF FileMCM 2 - Public Participation
Webpage and Links
PDF File
National and International Events and Programs
Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.
Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.
Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects. You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.
Children and Nature Awareness Month
Global Youth Service Day - April 24-26th
National Environmental Education Week
National Environmental Education Week, made possible by Canon, promotes environmental literacy and stewardship among over 3.5 million students annually by creating a full week of environmentally-themed lessons and activities for students in K-12th grade classrooms, home schools, nature centers, zoos, museums and aquariums.
Each year, thousands of educators from across the country use EE Week's online resources to incorporate environmental learning into their classrooms in an educational week-long prelude to Earth Day. Registration for EE Week is free.
North American Association for Environmental Education
NAAEE is the national professional association for environmental education. NAAEE members promote professional excellence in nonformal organizations, K-12 classrooms, universities (both instructors and students), government agencies, and corporate settings throughout North America and in over 55 other countries. Since 1971, the Association has created opportunities for its members to improve their skills in creating and delivering programs and services that teach people how to think, not what to think.
World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.
School Curriculum Materials & Lessons
Drop in the Bucket - Powerpoint Presentation
Project WET Lesson. which guides students/adults through a hands-on lesson which demonstrates how much water is available on Earth for human use.
Education of Young People about Water
Extension Service, University of Wisconsin System
Searchable database by grade level for 150 school curricula
Enviroscapes
Enviroscapes
Website for manufacturer of realistic, three-dimensional models of watersheds, landfills, wetlands and more. An effective demonstration tool for students interested in learning about point sources and non point sources of water pollution.
EPA
Classroom Education on Stormwater
Community, Culture, and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place
Kid’s Stormwater Stickers
Kids, Students, Teachers
This EPA website provides information and curricula on educating a variety of age groups on the environment and water pollution.
EPA Elementary Grades
EPA Middle Grades & High School
After the Storm
Brochure
Brochure, SpanishDVD order
This "free" DVD contains a Television program about watersheds that was co-produced by EPA and The Weather Channel.
EPA High School
High School Environmental Center
Protecting Water Quality from Urban Runoff
Water where you live
Click on a map of your state and find water resource information.
Give Water a Hand: For Young People Taking Action in Their Community
Give Water A Hand is a national watershed education program designed to involve young people in local environmental service projects. Following steps in the Give Water A Hand Action Guide (download it for FREE!), your youth group or class plans and completes a community service project to protect and improve water resources.
Give Water A Hand program activities are presented in two publications -- the youth Action Guide and the Leader Guidebook (for youth leaders and teachers). These easy-to-follow, illustrated guides show how to organize and carry out effective action-oriented projects. You can obtain the guides for FREE by downloading from this website or the above website. The Action Guide is also available in Spanish.
Give Water a Hand - Action Guide
Green Teacher
Green Teacher is a magazine that helps youth educators enhance environmental and global education inside and outside of schools.
Green Teaching Resources
K-12 resources from Waste Management and powered by Discovery Education
Kentucky Water Awareness Month
The Kentucky Water Awareness Month 2008 Packet Materials are available online. The packet includes information on stormwater, groundwater, and watersheds, and includes publications, fact sheets, promotional items, radio scripts, and activities. Please feel free to adapt and use the packet information to meet your programming needs.
Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water (K-12)
Kids, Students, Teachers
This EPA website provides information and curricula on educating a variety of age groups on the environment and water pollution.
Lamotte Lesson Plans (Water Quality)
Lamotte-developed lesson plans
These Lesson Plans are provided to help organize an existing curriculum, allowing the teacher to spend more time on hands-on activities that meet key classroom learning objectives and improve student achievement.Teacher-developed lesson plans
The following lesson plans were developed by educators for use with LaMotte products.
Macro Mania
Mammoth Cave National Park
This website provides curriculum materials for grades K-12 including the following stormwater-related activities:
Secret Sink (Grades 6-8)Soda Sink (Grades 6-8)
National Curriculum
Rain Garden Grants and Lesson Plans for Schools
Lessons and activities to facilitate rain garden education. Whether you are building a rain garden at your school or simply incorporating rain gardens into your current curriculum, these activities can act as helpful resources. Each activity is aligned to Kentucky core content 4.1 and can be adapted to grades K-12.
The Bluegrass Rain Garden Alliance offers a $500 grant to help a school in Central Kentucky build their own demonstration rain garden! Elligible counties include Franklin, Scott, Harrison, Nicholas, Bourbon, Clark, Montgomery, Fayette, Clark,Powell, Estill, Madison, Jessamine, Garrard, Lincoln, Boyle, Mercer, Woodford, and Anderson.
Splashing in Kentucky: An Educator's Guide to Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
A variety of lessons and content information for K-12 teachers.
Stormwater Education Toolkit for Youth
Click on “Publications” and view links to a Water Festival Manual, student activities, lesson plans, student worksheets, and educational resources.
Stormwater Outreach Materials and Reference Documents
The electronic files on this page include resources for children.
Surveys and Evaluation
A sample collection of educational stormwater surveys.
Water Environment Federation for Students
Check out this web page to download WEF’s materials and curricula for educating various age groups. Also provides information in Spanish.
Environmental Resource Guides, Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention
Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Grades 9-12
Water Science for Schools
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science for Schools web site offering information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.
Water Sourcebooks
The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12 divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 5-8, and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters.
This environmental education program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment.All activities contain hands-on investigations, fact sheets, reference materials, and a glossary of terms. Activities are organized by objectives, materials needed, background information, advance preparation, procedures, and resources. All parts of the program may be printed and copied.
Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution
Frequently Asked Questions about Stormwater
General Stormwater and Storm Drain Awareness
Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox
The Toolbox is intended for use by state and local agencies and other organizations interested in educating the public on nonpoint source pollution or stormwater runoff. The Toolbox contains a variety of resources to help develop an effective and targeted outreach campaign.
Nonpoint Source Pollution Homepage – EPA
Nonpoint Source Pollution Outreach Resources and Websites
This EPA website contains information and links to a variety of non point source pollution documents, factsheets, testimonials, videos and more.
Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
Stormwater Outreach Materials and Reference Documents
Materials for the general public, homeowners, construction site operators, and children.
What is Stormwater? How Does Stormwater Pollute our Streams?
Animated graphic to illustrate how stormwater runoff occurs and how it carries pollutants to streams
What is Nonpoint Source Pollution and How to Prevent Nonpoint Source Pollution
Stream Monitoring
Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.
Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.
Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects. You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.
Izaak Walton League of America—Save Our Streams Program
Save Our Streams (SOS) is a national watershed education and outreach program. Citizen involvement in watershed protection and conservation activities has proven to have measurable, positive results on the quality of our nation's waters. Today, more than ever, citizen involvement is critical to the protection and restoration of America's waters. Recognizing the importance of the work you do, we provide tools and resources to help you conserve local waterways.
Biological Stream Monitoring
This web page provides basic background information concerning biological stream monitoring—why, how, link to publications.Where to Purchase Stream Monitoring Equipment
Stream Quality Survey
Sheet to record physical and biological monitoring data.
Kentucky Water Watch
The Kentucky Water Watch program is run by the Division of Water in support of all volunteer monitoring efforts statewide. The Water Watch program is dedicated to helping you protect Kentucky's streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. The Water Watch program accomplishes its goals through volunteer monitoring, community education initiatives and community leadership and action.
Publications:
Watershed Watch Biological Stream Assessment
Watershed Watch Water Chemistry Sampling Methods
Watershed Habitat Assessment Protocols
Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River
An 11x17-inch key to help identify river critters.
Stroud Water Research Center
Through rigorous research, education and public outreach, the Stroud Water Research Center, seeks to advance our global knowledge and stewardship of fresh water ecosystems. Driven by the philosophy that understanding the science of fresh water is fundamental to our ability to protect the integrity of this finite and vital resource, Stroud seeks to disseminate its research findings to its peers in the scientific and educational communities, as well as businesses, landowners, policy makers and individuals, to enable informed decision making that effects water quality and availability in our local communities and the world around us.
They accomplish their goals through the pursuit of both basic and applied scientific research, as well as through educational programs, which serve audiences ranging in age from elementary school children to adults in continuing education programs.
Volunteer Water Monitoring
This EPA site is a good place to start if you want to begin a volunteer water monitoring program. The site provides methods, a national newsletter, a listserv, conferences and related links.
Wonderful, Wacky Water Critters
A detailed, illustrated guide to critters commonly found in many waterways. Written for young readers. Describes insects included in river key (see Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River) above.
World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.
Volunteer Programs
Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.
Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.
Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects. You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.
Service Learning
Service Learning: Education Beyond the Classroom
Volunteer for Change: A Guide to Environmental Community Service
Learn and Serve America 's National Service Learning Clearinghouse
World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.
Contact:
John Drake