4th Graders Teaching About Storm Water Runoff

Student-Built Models Help Teach Kindergarteners (and Kori) About Pollution and Storm Water Runoff

Painting the Eco-Casita Mural June 2012

Vanessa's Class Working to Keep Trash Out of the Waterways

   



To quote Josh:  "Cardboard on the sidewalk!  Not on my watch."

A GREEN ROOF MODEL: by Elissa's fourth graders

This  model shows how much rain water a greenroof can keep from entering the water treatment plants.
And it's fun, too!

ECO-SAUSAGE by Dolores' fourth graders

Keeping pollution out of the drains and making the world a bit greener:  THE ECO SAUSAGE

A Green Roof: Song and lyrics by Jylene, Jania, Ava

A roof that has plants on it...
The plants take the water in...
When it rains.

It helps the environment.

Chorus:  Air Quality. CO2 taken out the air.
Growing food.  Help the air stay cool.

If you don't have a green roof you'll start to cry
You'll shatter the Earth
And the animals will die.

That's why everyone should try...
So get a GREENROOF.

Wild Weather and Climate Change

• By Theo Gold
• Every day we burn oil, gas and coal.
• We burn them to get electricity power the trains and our homes. We use gas, which is made from oil, to power cars, motorbikes, and trucks.
• When we burn the fuels they release carbon. When the carbon is burned  it joins oxygen, and we get carbon dioxide (CO2).
• Around earth’s atmosphere there is a layer of CO2.
• That CO2 gets there by floating up from earth
• from the fuels we burn. When the sun shines down on earth it reflects off the ground and hits the CO2 shield. The shield makes it bounce back to earth. When it hits the shield, not all of the heat can escape, this is called the GREEN HOUSE EFEECT.

So back at earth we keep using all these fuels. When we drive a car we burn fuels, to make the car we burn fuels and to get the parts to make it we burn fuels. So we just made a lot of CO2 just now and the more the worse. “Why?” you ask. Well the more CO2 we make the thicker it gets in the atmosphere, and the thicker it gets the less heat escapes the green house effect. When less heat escapes the green house the more it bounces back to earth which causes more extreme weather.

“How?” oh that’s easy. For tornadoes to form they need to be over a hot surface so they would usually happen at the end of summer when the ground is all hot. Now they can form in earlier in the year because the ground is hotter… and the ground is hotter because… because less heat from the sun is escaping from the atmosphere which heats up the earth year round.

GREEN Roof Brochure by Fourth Graders: Ella, Ariel, Nyla, Camilo, and Stokely

Ecorama Poster

Kids Can Make A Difference

Climate Change Cartoon 4

Another Cartoon

More Global Warming

Global Warming

Sage and Estella Tell About Stormwater Run Off

The problem we would like to tell you about is storm-water-run-off.  Sometimes when there are huge storms the sewage treatment plant gets overwhelmed with too much water, garbage and raw sewage you flush down your toilet.  It does not get filtered and gets dumped into the ocean.  And guess what is in that water going down the streets?  There is garbage and that is bad for the environment!  Also, some of your raw sewage you flush down your toilets and your shower water gets dumped out into the ocean without being filtered!  Ewwww!

                                                                      Storm Drain

People are doing things everyday to prevent storm-water-run-off.  We went to the Queens Botanical Gardens and saw some things we are going to tell you about.  We saw a Parking Garden, which the QBG changed from a parking lot to a parking garden, which has lots of plants to suck up water so it won’t go out to the ocean.  We also saw a Bio-swale, a Constructed Wetland, a Cleansing Biotope and a Green Roof.

                                                                              Bioswale

                                                                       Constructed Wetland

                                                                      Cleansing Biotope

                                                                           Green Roof

                                          Permeable Parking Lot


Tip:  Here in New York City come to The Queens Botanical Garden to see all of these ideas.

Queens Botanical Garden Green Trail Guide

P.S. Come when it’s raining to see them in action!


                                                                             









You can help prevent storm-water-run-off too!  Contact your friends and family and tell them how bad this really is!  Alert your neighborhood! Pick up garbage by the storm drains.

Green Roof Post by Lexington, Talia and Kay, Milo & Pablo

Do you want to help the environment but you don't know how?  One way to help the environment is by building a green roof.  A green roof is a roof with plants on it.  The plants absorb the rain water and decrease storm water runoff.  Do you want to know what storm water run off is?  Well, storm water runoff is the rainwater that falls into the streets, and collects all of the gas and garbage that you don't want in Rivers or Oceans.  That water collects into the gutters.  When the gutters overflow, what happens is that water piles up and ends up in places like the Gowanus Canal, which makes those bodies of water really dirty.

Green roofs have lots of wildlife because the plants and soil creates a good home for animals.  Have you ever thought about putting a green roof on top of your building?

Getting Ready for Ecorama on June 8th and playing the game day of...