Quills Theme: Contaminants in the Environment

Students take on the role of different people/animals affected by a water issue and have a town hall meeting to discuss its impacts.

A culminating activity for students to research a current Canadian environmental issue and design a social justice campaign for their school.

Students keep a personal water journal to track their own water consumption and understand ways they can contribute to making positive change on a personal level.

Students build a water filter out of materials found in a wetland

: Students use an egg carton to learn about how contaminants spread in a watershed and about the difficulties related to oil spill cleanup.

Students play a tag game that visually demonstrates how microplastics, toxins, and mercury accumulate in fish and humans, and illustrates the interconnectedness of living things.

Students learn about the impact of salt on local lakes by testing for key indicator species like zooplankton.

: Using dish soap students will test for water hardness vs. softness to determine the concentration of minerals like salt present in nearby bodies of water.

With a focus on Constance Lake First Nation students learn about the lack of access to clean drinking water in Indigenous communities across Canada. Students also learn about how technology can be used monitor water health and other changes in the natural world.

Students learn about watersheds and how they relate to the value of interdependence and the Indigenous Law of Water. Students also consider parallels between Indigenous land-based knowledge and Western scientific knowledge.

Students learn about the water contamination from oil sands and how scientists are helping to clean it up.

Discuss the Indigenous Law of Water and investigate toxins from personal care items that are harmful to aquatic environments.

Students listen to Anishinaabe water songs and the meaning behind them. Students reflect on how songs (music) possess power and can create powerful social change.

Students learn about Indigenous ceremonies that are related to water. Students research another culture’s ceremonies related to water and share them with the class.

Map an Indigenous trade and travel route along Canada’s first highway, navigating waterways from Kingston to Mexico.

Students research the original Indigenous names for local waterways and create a map with those names.

Students brainstorm where water is found and how it moves though our environment. Students then play a game to demonstrate how water moves through the water cycle using local examples.

Learn about the four parts of the medicine wheel, collect items from nature and create a story that connects items.

Students practice reciprocity by releasing their good intentions and thoughts into a local water source.

Students learn about Water Walkers and the important work they do protecting local water sources.

Students evaluate passages and images related to water and predict what perspective they are from. Students then compare and contrast the Indigenous and Western scientific views and understandings of water.

Students explore two different types of ecosystems (rich habitat vs. barren habitat) to understand why biodiversity is important for an ecosystem.