Pre-Visit Activities : Pollution : Resources Sixth - Eighth Grade Online Curriculum : Watersheds

Teacher Reference Books
Audubon magazine, published by the National Audubon Society.
This bi-monthly magazine has articles on wildlife all over the world and the conservation issues affecting them.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993.
This book, first published in 1962, was a powerful look at how pesticides have affected the natural world. It led to the banning of DDT and helped start the environmental movement.

Duany, Andres, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, North Point Press, New York, 2000.
A look at the issues around and consequences of America's current system of urban development.

Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac, Oxford University Press, New York, 1949.
This classic of nature writing was one of the first texts to examine the ethical reasons of why humans need to preserve wild places.

Ricklefs, Robert E. and Gary L. Miller. Ecology, W.H. Freeman Company, 1999.
This college textbook is a great resource for finding out how wildlife communities interact with each other as well as the abiotic factors of their environment, and what human influences can be on these communities. 

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Southern Appalachian Watershed Conservation Clearinghouse
http://sunsite.utk.edu/samab/proj/watershed.html
This site offers links to a number of websites related to watershed conservation in the Southeastern United States.

South Carolina DHEC Bureau of Water
http://www.scdhec.net/water/
This website offers lots of information on watersheds in South Carolina including information on education and outreach programs.

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Surf Your Watershed
http://www.epa.gov/surf/
This EPA website is a wonderful resource that includes maps and interactives that can be used for a better understanding of watersheds and the conservation issues related to them.

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Student Reference Books
Bruning, Nancy. Cities Against Nature, Childrens Press, Chicago, 1992.
A student's look at how urban development affects wildlife communities.

Cone, Molly. Come Back, Salmon, Sierra Club Books for Children, San Francisco, 1992.
Learn how the students of Jackson Elementary School in Everett, Washington, cleaned a nearby stream, stocked it with salmon and protected it from pollution.

Herda, D.J. Environmental America: The Southeastern States, The Millbrook Press, Brookfield, CT, 1991.
A student's look at the environmental issues affecting the Southeastern United States.

Liptak, Karen. Saving Our Wetlands and Their Wildlife, Franklin Watts, New York, 1991.
This book describes the different types of wetlands and the wildlife found there. It also includes ideas for protecting the wetland habitats.

Mattson, Mark. Scholastic Environmental Atlas of the United States, Scholastic Inc., 1993.
This excellent reference book is filled with maps and charts that help kids to understand different aspects of environmental issues such as overpopulation and waste disposal.

McVey, Vicki. The Sierra Club Kid's Guide to Planet Care & Repair, Sierra Club Books for Children, San Francisco, 1993.
Learn how activities we do everyday affect the environment. Includes tips for improving our environment as well as classroom activities for students.

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Student Fiction Books
(These books may be too elementary for middle school students, but they are beautiful books that can be appreciated by everybody, accept, maybe, punky pre-teens)

Cherry, Lynne. The Great Kapok Tree, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, New York, 1990.
A man getting ready to chop down a tree in the Amazon rainforest falls asleep and is visited by many different members of the rainforest wildlife community who tell him why they do not want the tree to be cut down.

Cherry, Lynne. A River Ran Wild, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, New York, 1992.
A beautifully illustrated story of how a river in New England has changed during the last 400 years as more people moved to live on its banks.

Jeffers, Susan. Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message From Chief Seattle, Dial Books, New York, 1991.
A beautifully illustrated book of the ecological message of Chief Seattle, an Indian chief who lived in the Pacific Northwest from 1790 to 1866.

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Curricula
Aquatic Project WILD
Aquatic Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on aquatic wildlife and ecosystems. The activities cover a broad range of environmental and conservation topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 734-3814.
For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

The GLOBE Program
Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a hands-on international environmental science and education program. GLOBE links students, teachers, and the scientific research community in an effort to learn more about the environment through student data collection and observation. To learn more about the GLOBE program visit their website at www.globe.gov.

Either before, after, or in place of a visit to the South Carolina Aquarium, we encourage teachers using the South Carolina Aquarium's sixth through eighth grade curriculum to visit a local stream, pond or river to conduct water analysis experiments. You can find detailed water analysis procedures on the GLOBE website. From the home page, visit the measurements section and then proceed to hydrology.

Project WILD
Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on a broad range of environmental and conservation topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 734-3814.
For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

SCMAPS:
SCMAPS is an integrated curriculum for grades 6-8 that uses maps and aerial photography to focus on the natural and cultural history as well as the geology and geography of South Carolina. It is filled with useful classroom activities, many of which deal specifically with watersheds. For information on signing up for a SCMAPS workshop call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (803) 734-3814.
For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

Project WET
Project WET is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers that focuses on water, waterways and watersheds. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 737-0800.
For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

Field Trip Sites
Lee State Natural Area
This site, located near Florence, allows students to explore the Lynches River and its associated hardwood floodplain forest. Education programs offered there focus on understanding and stewardship of watersheds. For more information call (803) 428-5307 or click on www.southcarolinaparks.com/.

Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area (Jones Gap and Caesars Head State Natural Area)
This natural area, located in the Northwest corner of South Carolina, joins the watersheds of Table Rock Reservoir and Poinsett Reservoir. It contains two state parks and three Heritage Preserves and a diversity of mountain habitats. Both state parks offer education programs that explore the ecology, hydrology and geology of the area. For more information call Caesars Head State Park at (864) 836-6115 or Jones Gap State Park at (864) 836-3647 or click on www.southcarolinaparks.com/.

Table Rock State Park
Located in the Northwest corner of the state, this park includes some of South Carolina's most spectacular scenery. Part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this park gives students an opportunity to see the waterfalls, elevation changes and other features that are characteristic of a mountain landscape. Education programs are offered there that promote awareness and appreciation of the surrounding watershed and its associated natural resources. For more information call (864) 878-9813 or (864) 878-7269 or click on www.southcarolinaparks.com/.

Congaree Swamp National Monument
Located just outside of Columbia, this is an area of old-growth riverbottom hardwood forest that is protected by the National Park Service. Its blackwater and brownwater swamps are very indicative of the habitats found in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina. These swamps, formed with water brought from the Piedmont, can be used to illustrate the interconnectedness of aquatic habitats in a watershed. The Monument has developed a curriculum and offers environmental education programs for visiting school groups. For more information call (803) 776-4396 or click on www.nps.gov/cosw/.

Francis Biedler Forest
Located near Harleyville, Francis Biedler Forest is the last remaining stand of virgin bald cypress trees and tupelo gum in the world. It gives students the opportunity to see a pristine blackwater swamp habitat that is a part of the Edisto River watershed. The forest is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday and offers interpretive environmental education programs. For more information call (843) 462-2150 or click on www.pride-net.com/swamp/.

ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve
This reserve, located between Edisto Beach and Hunting Island, contains 12,000 acres of tidal marshes and estuarine waters. The area is rich in wildlife: fish, crustaceans, birds and even mammals can all be found here. Boat tours are available through this area for high school and college students allowing them to tour some of the watersheds of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers. For more information call (843) 762-5032.

St. Stephen Fish Lift/ Jack Bayless Hatchery
This is a good place to see the some of the changes man has made on watersheds. Located near St. Stephens, this fish lift allows anadramous fish (the fish that migrate into freshwater rivers to spawn) to bypass the lake Marion and Moultrie dams that block their way. A fish hatchery is also here where striped bass, white bass and hybrids are produced for stocking the lakes of South Carolina. The fish lift operates from about March 15 to April 15 and school groups are welcome. For more information or to arrange a group tour call (843) 825-3387.

Savannah District Lakes
Located in the upstate on the Savannah River, these man-made lakes include Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond. Around 130 parks and recreation areas can be found around these lakes. They are a good place to look at the reservoirs that have made major alterations in South Carolina's watersheds. For information on bringing school groups to these lakes call 1-888-893-0678 for Hartwell, 1-800-944-7207 for Russell, and 1-800-533-3478 for Thurmond.

If you are aware of other books, videos, websites, curricula, fieldtrip destinations or other materials that would make excellent resources for this activity, please e-mail them to us for inclusion in this list at: Education@scaquarium.org