WORLD’S FIRST FLOATING WETLAND CLASSROOM

Students learn by doing aboard the award-

winning 120’x 32’ steel deck barge with live wetlands designed by the University of Virginia and owned and operated by The

Elizabeth River Project. The barge is a unique and powerful living laboratory for

students to learn about river science, the Elizabeth River watershed, ecosystem,

stewardship and restoration efforts. As America’s Greenest Vessel, her “green” design demonstrates sustainable practices

for home and school. Students come aboard thinking globally and leave equipped to

make a difference in their community.

MISSION: MMaakkiinngg rreessttoorraattiioonn ooff tthhee EElliizzaabbeetthh RRiivveerr aa rreeaalliittyy..

SAFETY: The barge is Coast Guard certified and passengers come aboard while the barge is docked and not underway. One chaperone or teacher is recommended per 10 students.

Learning Barge

222000111555---222000111666

GGGrrreeeeeennnSSSTTTEEEMMM

DDeeeepp iinnttoo tthhee RRiivveerr’’ss SShhaalllloowwss

EElliizzaabbeetthh’’ss IInntteerrttiiddaall ZZoonnee

SScciieennccee TTeecchhnnoollooggyy EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg MMaatthh

TThhee EElliizzaabbeetthh RRiivveerr PPrroojjeecctt’’ss Dominion Virginia Power

SCHEDULE SCHOOL PROGRAMS October 1 – Dec. 4

Grandy Village Learning Center 2971 Kimball Loop Terrace Norfolk, VA 23504

Winterized

December 5 – March 30, 2016

April 1 – June 10

Elizabeth River Landing Park By Jordan Bridge

1400 Elizabeth River Way Chesapeake, VA

SUMMER PROGRAMS Announced in January

PROGRAM INFORMATION

IDEAL GROUPS WHAT TO BRING 20-60, K-12 students (90 maximum) Sunscreen, water bottle, hat

public & private schools jacket/raincoat, closed toe shoes youth organizations

home schools PRICE (please call if question about cost) scouts $9 per student ($250 minimum)

$12 per out of area student TO SCHEDULE Teachers and chaperones are free. Call Robin Dunbar at 757-392-7132 or Assistance may be available for Title I schools.

email Robin Dunbar, Education Director, MATERIALS rdunbar@elizabethriver.org In the spirit of going “green,” field trip documents can be

DATES downloaded @ elizabethriver.org

Fall 2015: Oct. 1–Dec. 4 (Program Info., Agreement Form, Spring 2013: April 4–June 10 Pre/Post Activities, Green Tips, etc)

HOURS WEATHER Programs last 1 ½ hours Programs will need to be 10-11:30 and 11:30-1:00 rescheduled if raining hard

Hours are flexible for bus schedule Contact Robin Dunbar, cell 757-439-8894 for questions.

Past Deckhand Educator Ryan Beale helps a

student learn about periwinkle snails.

PRE/POST ACTIVITIES

To enrich and prepare students for the barge program, additional activities are available at www.elizabethriver.org under Education and then

Learning Barge. Teachers will be mailed “MY HOME RIVER,”

quiz prior to barge visit and asked to have students complete and bring to the barge for staff to grade. At the end of the

barge program, teachers will receive the same quiz again for students to complete in class along with a stamped/addressed

envelope to return to barge staff to grade and calculate. Students will also have an opportunity to SNAIL MAIL the barge

crew by writing a letter to the crew on the back of the quiz and share what they will do to support a healthy river. If students have access to computers you might consider exchanging letters with a global classroom on

www.ePals.com. It’s FREE!

2015-2016 PROGRAM

Learning Barge’s education program received the 2011 Environmental

Excellence Award from SeaWorld Busch Gardens and the 2014 Governor’s Gold Award for Sustainability. To continue this standard of excellence this year’s new program, GreenSTEM Deep into the River’s

Shallows ~ Elizabeth’s Intertidal Zone, teaches the importance of the river’s shore health for water quality, habitat, food web and erosion control. Students also learn how to do a comparative field investigation that can be performed in their schoolyard and home.

MEANINGFUL WATERSHED EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

The Elizabeth River Project offers a menu of youth

education opportunities resulting in a MWEE, a Meaningful Watershed Education Experience.

• The Learning Barge

• Wetlands in the Classroom

• River Star Schools & Youth Organizations

• Princess Elizabeth Presentations

• Paradise Creek Nature Park

• Elizabeth River Adventures Summer Camp

• W.A.T.E.R. – Watershed Action Training For Elizabeth River – Youth to Leaders

Program; New program under development

Teachers are encouraged to participate in several initiatives including utilizing their own schoolyard.

INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION

Students transform to junior scientists performing a field investigation. They ask, “How do I

connect to the Chesapeake Bay and the Elizabeth River and how do my actions impact the watersheds health?

Upon arrival students will be greeted with an introduction to the Elizabeth River Watershed and relationship to the James River, Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

They will learn how the river’s population has changed over time and how we are proud to welcome them aboard to America’s Greenest Vessel. Every student will receive a

data book and a pencil to record their data. This also allows for hands-free activities. Learning station lessons are concluded by reviewing environmental stewardship actions.

21st CENTURY SKILLS

Students rotate through six education stations that:

• are designed to excite youth about their home river; • offer an opportunity to discover and explore; • are research-based utilizing real-world restoration projects; • utilize critical thinking and problem-solving to stimulate their senses and

spark curiosity; • foster a generation of stewards empowered to care for the Elizabeth River.

Curriculum addresses Virginia Standards of Learning in science, language

arts, math and art. Students explore, analyze, map, gather data, graph, identify, predict and compare results. Program begins with a research question and

concludes with reflection.

STANDARDS OF LEARNING

SCIENCE: K: 1,4, 5, 6, 8, 9,10 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 2: 1,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 4: 1, 3, 4,5, 6,7,8 5: 1,4, 5, 6, 7 6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 LS: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, PS: 1, 2, 5,6, 10, 11 ES: 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 13 Biology: 1, 5, 8, 9

MATH: K: 6, 8, 10, 13 1: 2, 5, 14 2: 1, 3, 5, 6, 14 3: 1, 3, 4, 13 4: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13 5: 1, 2, 4, 5 6: 2, 6 7: 3 8: 3

HISTORY: K: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 1: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 2: 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 3: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 VA: 1, 2 Geography: 1

LANGUAGE

ARTS: K: 1,2, 3, 4, 6, 10 1: 1,2, 3, 4, 9, 11,12 2: 1,2, 3, 6, 7, 8,9,11 3: 1,2,5,6 4: 1, 2,3 5: 1, 2 6: 1 7: 1 8: 7

ART: K: 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18 1: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9,12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 2: 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 22 3: 2, 4, 5, 10, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 4: 2,3,5, 6, 8 10, 13, 20, 23, 24 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 16, 25, 29 6: 2, 6, 15, 17, 18, 21 7: 3,4,9,10,24, 27 8: 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, 20

SIX LEARNING STATIONS

SHORE SAVERS: How can I help create healthy shores?

Students learn the benefits and function of a healthy shoreline by viewing Grandy Village Learning Center’s shoreline. They learn to identify 3 native wetland grasses that are living on the barge and the plant parts and erosion. They measure the pH of 2 soil samples comparing how

runoff can alter the pH. With monoculars they will view an osprey nest and learn the osprey’s place in the food web and how they rely on the shallows for food. They’ll also construct a tiny osprey nest with a tool that mimics talons and read a short historical article about how items found in osprey nests have changed over time.

The Learning Barge docked on the Eastern Branch at Grandy Village Learning Center.

STATION 5 River

Quality

STATION 1 Shore Savers

STATION 6 Tidal Moon River

STATION 2 Oysters

STATION 3 The Shallows

STATION 4 BOGO

Art & Rhythm

CHESAPEAKE GOLD, OYSTERS: How can I help restore oyster reefs?

Students will have a close-encounter with oysters and learn how to tell an oyster’s age and describe color. Each student will receive a sample of oysters to examine, sort and compare. They’ll then choose one oyster to trace and measure. They’ll examine a historical post card of a large mound of oyster shells and predict what the image is about. Students will learn about animals that rely on oyster reefs as habitat by playing an oyster shell game. They will also predict how many gallons of water an oyster

filters a day and observe how oysters improve water quality in aquariums and where oysters are on the food web.

RIVER QUALITY: How can I help improve Elizabeth River’s water quality?

As junior scientists, students will hoist buckets of river water onto the barge to measure river quality. They will read results of bacteria and dissolved oxygen tests prepared by the previous day’s students and they too will prepare tests for students coming on the barge the following day. They’ll also learn how the barge helps improve the river quality with alternative energy sources and green practices and play a Scoop the Poop Corn hole game learning how animal waste impacts the river’s health and can travel downhill. For art, they will look at images of the historical Chesapeake Bay Retriever and sketch one.

TIDAL MOON RIVER: How can my I help protect the blue crab? Students predict if it’s low or high tide. They discover how phases of the moon affect tides and marine life and learn to read a NOAA tide chart. They discuss the moon’s affect on blue crab behaviors and hoist up a crab pot from the river and learn how “ghost fishing” or abandoned crab pots impact the river and draw a crab. Students learn about historical marine debris and about NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and how things float and sink.

THE SHALLOWS: How can I connect to the Elizabeth River?

Using the barge’s observation pool, students will explore life in the river’s shallows. Using rulers, they’ll measure the depth of the observation pool

and compare to the depth at barge site. They predict life at that depth and view a NOAA diagram on intertidal zones to identify vertebrates/invertebrates like: fish, oysters, snails, barnacles and sea squirts. They’ll take the river’s temperature and salinity and learn how the clarity of the river changes with the depth.

MALI BOGO ART & MUSIC: What are the mudflats and why are they important to the river?

Students learn that there are patterns and rhythms in and around the river. Students learn about mudflats and get a closer look at sediment samples with magnifying glasses. They then view historical African Mali mud art and learn how to paint with mud, or “bogo,” an African term for mud, as they make mud-paintings. The students will use recycled cloth to create bogo style symbols representing the river map, animals and plants. They’ll then celebrate the river with African caxixi rattles and a rhyming river song that depicts a story they can retell.

African caxixi rattles

Dominion Virginia Power

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – BWET grant

Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (Sales of Chesapeake Bay License Plates)

Chesapeake Bay Trust Kinder Morgan

Luck Companies

Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake & Virginia Beach Public Schools

Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority

PNC

Portfolio Recovery

Rotary Clubs of Norfolk, Portsmouth & District 7600 Virginia Environmental Endowment

BAE Systems - Norfolk Ship Repair

Colonna’s Shipyard Crisman + Petrus Architects

Crofton Industries & Diving East Coast Steel Fabrication, Inc.

General Dynamics NASSCO - Earl WF Magann Corporation

Ireland Marine, Inc. Kinder Morgan/Elizabeth River Terminals

Marine Chemist Atlantic

Matherne Marine Design, Inc. MHI Ship Repair and Services

Norfolk Tug Co. Inc. Robbins Maritime, Inc.

Solar Panels Plus USCG Sector Hampton Roads

Virginia Ship Repair Association

Yacht Systems Services Incorporated

MORE INFORMATION Contact Robin Dunbar, Ed. Director

rdunbar@elizabethriver.org

757-392-7132 www.ElizabethRiver.org

475 Water Street, C103A

Portsmouth, VA 23704

2015-2016 Learning Barge Program made possible by:

The Maintenance Advisory Committee’s generous in-kind support keeps our barge floating!