COTTONWOOD,
Ariz. – Cottonwood is the first city or town in the State of Arizona to
sponsor, support and participate in a water conservation program for all grades
in the elementary and middle school divisions. On July 16 the City Council
approved the implementation of a kindergarten through eighth grade conservation
program for Verde Valley school children.
Working
in cooperation with the Verde Natural Resource Conservation District (VNRCD)
Education Center, a comprehensive water conservation program has been developed
that will be implemented beginning in the fall of 2013. The kindergarten through
fourth grade program entitled Cottonwood Kids Conserve is a
classroom program designed for grades kindergarten through fourth grade in the
Cottonwood Oak Creek School District (COCSD) that emphasizes the importance of
conserving water. A total of 1650 students in the kindergarten through fourth
grade will receive a conservation lesson four times each year. This program will emphasize four essential
questions:
1) Where
is water found on earth?
2) How
does water get into and out of houses?
3) Why
is it important to save and not waste water?
4) How
can we conserve water?
The
fifth through eighth grade water conservation education program is estimated to
introduce about 1100 students in the COCSD to a different topic each year that
is related to water and the importance of conserving water. The fifth grade
program entitled Connections is designed to help students understand the
physical properties of water and its connection to nature, the environment and
humans. The sixth grade program entitled Ground Water is
designed to teach students the link between groundwater and surface
water by introducing them to the concept of a watershed and allowing them to
interact with a groundwater model. The seventh grade program entitled Top Ten
Wanted Dead & Alive Species
teaches students about the economic,
social and ecological impacts of native and invasive species in the Verde River
watershed. The eighth grade program entitled Properties of Water teaches
students how the health and quality of a river affects all water users
including humans, agriculture, wildlife, and industry. The fifth through eighth
grade classes are three day programs. The K through eighth grade water
conservation program also includes a field trip each year for the second and seventh
grade classes to Dead Horse Ranch State Park and Montezuma Well.
The VNRCD education center headed
up by Lynda Zanolli will teach the water conservation classes in all nine
grades. The COCSD is fully supportive of this program. Superintendent Barbara U’Ren states, “We are very excited
about this partnership between COCSD, VNRCD and the City of
Cottonwood. This partnership demonstrates the value that our VNRCD and the
City of Cottonwood places in educating students for solving issues of
the future. These learning experiences will
last a lifetime and may open up new avenues for career exploration
and will assist COCSD as we prepare students for the 21st century.”
The City of Cottonwood also sponsors an annual program called
Water
Literacy for Kindergarteners, a partnership with geologist and
community volunteer Linda Heidenreich and COCSD. Kindergarteners spend several
days touring the Cottonwood water and reclamation plants and visit the Verde
River. The city also is a co-sponsor of the Verde Valley fourth grade Project
WET program, held annually at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, and worked last year
with the VNRCD and Zanolli on a second graders' conservation program.
Mayor Diane Joens states, "The Cottonwood City Council
is pleased to collaborate with many partners who care about our children and
the important topic of conservation. Conservation is one of the keys to our
future water supply. Cottonwood's Natural Resources Director Tom Whitmer did a
great job in creating this first-ever program with Ms. Zanolli. It will be a
great model for other teachers and schools to use in the future."
For further
information on this program contact Tom
Whitmer 928-340-2737.
