Tuleyome Adventures Education Program

It’s easy to turn on the faucet at home and not think much about how the water made its way there. It’s easy, also, to see snow on distant mountain tops, a river flowing through a canyon, a small local pond, and ocean waves crashing on the beach but not to see the connection between each of them. Water is vital to life, needed by all living things, so water education is important. Helping students see these connections and appreciate water’s journey is the primary goal of the Water Trail as part of our Tuleyome Adventures Education Program.

This particular trail is designed for 4th and 5th grade students who focus a lot on the interactions between the hydrosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere during their science course work. Students begin with an activity and demonstration that helps students visualize the amount of water available on Earth and the much smaller amount of water available for human and wildlife use.

From there, students get to take a journey through the water cycle from the perspective of a water molecule travelling around the Cache Creek Watershed area. Students roll special dice and run from one station to the other, making their way between clouds, the ocean, groundwater, Cache Creek, and even plants and animals. As they travel from station to station, they track their movement in their field notebook, collecting data that simulates that of actual water molecules. Students begin to notice that water molecules get “stuck” in certain areas, like the ocean, and move out of other areas rapidly.

Now that students have journeyed through the water cycle, it’s time for them to take notice of their own watershed, the watershed responsible for sending water to our area. Students walk along the trail until they reach a good vantage point of the mountains to the West, the mountains that form the barriers of the Cache Creek watershed. Students take some time to sketch out the watershed in their notebooks. Later, they will add details showing how a single water molecule might move through this watershed.

An important aspect to understand about watersheds is the effect we have on one another through our actions. As students wind up their time on this trail, they will engage in an activity that helps them better grasp this concept. In this activity, students are told they have just received a plot of land and a million dollars. They can do whatever they want on their land, build whatever they want. With paper, crayons, and colored pencils, students go to work creating their dream space.

Once the pictures are drawn, students are seated on either side of a long blue ribbon representing a river that runs through the canyon of a watershed – Cache Creek. Students at the start of the ribbon live at the top of the watershed, in the mountains. Students at the end of the ribbon live at the bottom of the watershed. One by one, students share their drawings and talk about something that might affect their neighbors. Is there runoff that could end up in the river? Did someone need too much water, leaving too little for everyone else? Is something seeping into the groundwater or is there not enough water for wildlife? Through this activity, students start to recognize that each landowner doesn’t work in isolation. As a community, we must work together to protect the journey water takes as it makes its way to our faucets.

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