River Eco-Journey Curriculum

River EcoJourney Curriculum River EcoJourneys is an arts-based, interdisciplinary curriculum designed to teach 3rd - 6th grade students how to care for Minnesota's rivers through watershed stewardship and nonpoint source pollution prevention. Through a series of sequential lessons, River EcoJourneys creates a framework for students to better understand the river environment and how human activities can cause pollution and impact people and wildlife. With their newfound understanding, students learn to care about the quality of life in their watershed and take action by proposing solutions to keep it healthy.
The River EcoJourneys curriculum turns the classroom into an engaging learning environment where Art meets Science. Students unleash the power of the creative process to discover scientific knowledge. As a result, Grades 3 - 6 students meet some of Minnesota's Graduation Standards in Art and Science.
The River EcoJourneys lessons consist of four units.
In Unit 1: Water, Water, Everywhere, students begin their journey by using visual arts, poetry, music, movement and hands-on experiments to learn about the importance and properties of water.		In Unit 2: Watershed Wisdom, students learn about watersheds and river pollution prevention through mapping, model-making and hands-on experiments.
In Unit 3: Our Watersheds Come Alive! students learn about watershed habits, plants, animals, and food chains through visual arts.		In Unit 4: Bringing it All Together, students create culminating art projects that synthesize all the information learned: Grades 3 and 4 students create a diorama of river habitats and its life; Grades 4 and 5 students create an interactive watershed mural; and Grades 5 and 6 students produce a puppet show called "Watershed Wishes".
We invite you to join us on this journey of creative exploration and discovery. The destination is an understanding that leads you and your students to care for the life found within your watershed. An understanding that prompts you to take action to protect it for now and ever more.

River EcoJourneys Navigational Help Bring ArtStart artist and River EcoJourneys author, Susan Milnor, to your school to help navigate your river journey. Call Susan at (651) 698-2787 for more information on the following offerings: Jumpstart Your Journey on the River Susan Milnor will come to your school for a River EcoJourneys teacher orientation meeting. She will provide an overview of the curriculum, bring samples and models of River EcoJourneys projects, and answer any questions you may have. Classroom Help on the River Journey Susan Milnor will come to your classroom to work with your students on selected projects or to help with project set up and model building. Customized assistance is available to suit your needs. River EcoJourneys School Residency Bring Susan Milnor to your school for a complete residency experience for your students. The residency will culminate in one of three final projects from the curriculum: Habitat Dioramas, The Watershed Wisdom Mural, or ArtStart's River EcoJourneys Puppet Show, "Watershed Wishes". River EcoJourneys author, Susan Milnor, is pictured above with ArtStart's River EcoJourneys "Watershed Wisdom Mural". Susan holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. She has taught numerous River EcoJourneys teacher workshops at Audubon Center of the North Woods and children's classes and school residencies for ArtStart over the last ten years.
For more information or a brochure call 651-698-2787. Email: ArtStart
All pages © 2000-2008 ArtScraps