Leonie Woodham

25 Aug Leonie Woodham

Leonie Woodham, Australia

Leonie Woodham is a business owner, a poet and a community leader. In 2016 she was a participant in the Rivers and Ranges Community Leadership course, where she and her team produced a Water ways project which was then delivered as a pilot in a classroom. The project was very successful and became the basis for a class resource book to be used in primary schools. The project was based around a poem entitled “Our Water Ways” which was written by Leonie

Presentation Title: Our Water Ways

Our project consisted of a waterways model showing the journey of water from the mountains to the ocean and all the Areas in between that impact on the quality of our water

Prior to visiting the model the children were invited to discuss their knowledge about water issues. Their answers and ideas were written on a whiteboard.

We then gathered around the Water ways model and journeyed with water.

On “the journey” several water samples were taken at strategic locations.

These included

Animal manure

Dirt

Farming and household chemicals

Blue/green Algae

Petro chemicals

Stormwater runoff with rubbish

An explanation was given on how it got into the water and how we could prevent it from happening.

At the end of the waterway (the ocean) the chilren were invited to tip their samples into the container of water(with pretend fish).

We discussed the importance of the areas where fresh water mixed with salt water creating fertile breeding and feeding areas for many species and the impact that pollution was having.

The children then participated in a discussion about our broader use of water to ascertain the increas in their level of awareness. Their answers and ideas were again written on a whiteboard.

The poem The journey of Water was read to the children and the children were asked to provide an artistic response to their learning.

The project was turned into a book to be used as an educational resource.

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