Connecticut River Conservancy has continued their collaboration with the Water Way(s) Project for elementary school education in the Connecticut River watershed for the fourth year in a row. Conceptualized by Erin Maile O’Keefe–educator, designer and community activator–in collaboration with community members and teaching artists, Water Way(s) Project and Curriculum aims to combine experiential learning, creative movement, and Indigenous ways of knowing to connect children with their local waterways.
This November, the fourth-grade class at Green Street School participated in Water Way(s), spending two weeks exploring their relationships with the Connecticut River watershed. The residency culminated in an Expo where the students demonstrated the application of their learning experience to their loved ones and members of their community. Students presented maps, choreography, and reflections inspired and informed by the Whetstone Brook and a restored floodplain near the school. Student activities included the following:
Map-Making: Process and Exhibit
Mollie Burke, local legislator and art educator, encouraged students as they explained the process for creating individual maps of the Whetstone Brook, or Kitadowôganisibosis—the Abenaki name for the Whetstone that students learned and then taught the audience at the expo. The students outlined how they created precise maps of the Whetstone and its surrounding land, added details using markers, used watercolors to paint-wash their map, and glued them into detailed, hand-drawn covers. Each student’s unique map incorporated reflections, poems, and drawings inspired by what they had learned.
Exploring Water Pollution
Students—along with ECO AmeriCorps Member Clare Wangard—facilitated an interactive EnviroScape demonstration. The students used sprinkles and oatmeal to illustrate how everyday items like oil, trash, and pesticides can move from the land into waterways. After “making it rain,” Clare posed a question to the audience, “Would you like to swim here?” that was met with enthusiastic no’s. After the workshop, one student said they would make sure to pick up trash whenever they saw it to reduce pollution.
River Reflections
“So much depends upon a brook in the middle of nowhere giving life to everyone.”
On the first day of their residency, the fourth graders took a walking field trip to Kikitta Ahki, the recently restored floodplain of the Whetstone Brook. There, they spent time paying attention to the brook —its appearance, sounds, smells, and movements -- and learned how Vermont River Conservancy protected and restored this place. Students wrote letters to the Whetstone Brook on biodegradable paper and attached them to vines hanging from a nearby willow tree. The poems remain for students to revisit and community members to reflect on when they visit Kikitta Ahki. At the Expo, a few students shared their weathergrams.
Fluvial Geomorphology and Scarf Choreography
As part of their exploration of water, students used physical movement to imitate and explore how water moves. In groups of three, students depicted the movement of water using scarves. Some students used fluid movements to show the calm flow of water, while other students explored how water moves when it is disrupted, creating a splashing motion.
After that, the class came together in a choreographed performance to demonstrate how rivers moved historically and how they move today. Using blue fabric to represent water, pull ropes to represent currents, and push sticks to represent sediment, students first showed the formation of terraces, and then a flooding event. The students demonstrated how the shape of water—before and after glacial melt—has shaped the contours featured in Vermont’s landscape.
City Planning: Designing a Floodplain
After learning from Connecticut River Conservancy River Steward Kathy Urffer about how the landscape along waterways can support the river and the entire community—animals, plants, and people—students developed their own ideas for restoring a local floodplain. The students used colorful symbols on site maps to represent their ideas for improving the floodplain. Students’ designs proposed fish hatcheries, brick four-square courts, berry bushes, and sanctuaries for native fauna.
For more information: Water Way(s) - The Human Connection Project
Collaborations and Gratitude
Collaborating educators:
Erin Maile O’Keefe, Water Way(s) leader and educator
Mollie Burke, state legislator and educator
Hayley Kolding, Southern Vermont Conservation Manager, Vermont River Conservancy
Kathy Urffer, Connecticut River Conservancy River Steward, Policy and Advocacy Director, and educator
Clare Wangard, ECO AmeriCorps Member
Special Thanks To
Gedakina
Vermont Arts Council
Vermont Humanities
Kelly Shifflette and Kjersten Cantillo – 4th Grade Teachers
The Fourth Grade Class