At the start of the pandemic, one year ago, we had no idea what a huge impact it would have on our lives, our livelihoods, and our kids. While our normal work at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center (CRWEC) had us leading school field trips so that children could see the source of their drinking water, it became apparent that COVID had other plans. We created the CRWEC as a gathering place to connect people with the source of their water. But what do you do when you can’t gather safely?
In response, SPU’s team along with our Educators were able to pivot to meet students in a whole new way thanks to our nimble team of experts. Our Education staff at the CRWEC are now able to bring the watershed to you! Through a series of videos and activity sheets students (and all customers in the greater Seattle area) can learn all about their drinking water now, and into the future.
These free educational resources can be found online here.
You can explore topics including:
Where Does My Water Come From?
Each video has an accompanying activity, which serves to deepen understanding through questions, hands-on learning, and creating connections between your faucet and the protected forests of the Cedar and Tolt Watersheds. Teachers have used these in their virtual classrooms, with great success.
See what Seattle teachers & students are saying about this program:
“They’re great! They are exactly what I need to let kids know where their water comes from and that it is cleaner than ANYTHING they get from a bottle…Students learn the reality of where the water comes from, the history of how it happened and the science that keeps it safe. Thanks!”
– Seattle area high school teacher
“Overall, amazing, amazing resources. Your team ROCKS! The videos are so well done, and captured all our interest. We can’t thank you enough.”
– Seattle area 4th grade teacher
“I thought the videos and activities were absolutely fantastic! I loved the videos because they made me feel like I was tasting fresh water right at the spot. I loved the activities ‘cause we got to tell about water resources and draw water drops for how many times we use water. And last but not least, the videos were awesome because they had wonderful pictures, and excellent water cycle explanations. I loved the afternoon!”
– Seattle area fourth grade student
“It was soooo cool!!!!!! I just learned that water takes 3 WEEKS!! To come to our faucet! It takes so much steps and I hope we can do it again”
– Seattle area fourth grade student
“I think it was Awesome 😎 cause we learned about the two rivers which give us water 💦.We also learned about how are water gets cleaned before it comes to us. I pretty 😍 much think that it was 🤩 AWESOME!”
– Seattle area fourth grade student
While there is no replacement for actually visiting the Cedar River Watershed Education Center and taking a tour to see your water, check out these educational materials in the meantime! We can’t wait until we can be back in person, to share this incredible natural resource with you. We are hopeful that we can resume offering limited in-person tours and fieldtrips once it is safe to do so and when schools allow fieldtrips again. And keep drinking water from the tap! It’s clean and safe, coming to you from SPU.
To stay up to date on our future reopening and additional resources, find us online and on Facebook.