The Water Fair

Another day, another field trip. I was lucky enough to attend the Water Fair with Lela on Thursday. This is an event organized by the Washington County Water Conservancy District to teach 4th graders about guess what......WATER!!!

It was a really well put together event held at Dixie State College, with each class assigned a schedule of classes/presentations. No two schedules were the same, so different classes from the same school would attend different presentations.

The one event that everyone participated in was the Water Jeopardy. The classes were given the study materials prior to the Water Fair and then came to the Fair to compete against another school. Lela was excited for me to go on this field trip so that I could see how she "rocked" at this game. I have to say that she did rock and her class won. Her teacher, Ms. McNeel, told me that it is a tradition that the teams from La Verkin Elementary win each year.

After Water Jeaopardy, the class attended a presentation by the Audubon Society on the migratory patterns of birds. They had a beautiful film showing the northern migration of many different species of birds. I had been worried that the class would be bored, but they oooohed and aaaahed at all the right moments.

The third class our group attended was put on by the Southwest Health Department. It was about the importance of washing your hands. I know this can be a very boring and over emphasized subject, but the presenter made it lots of fun with games and videos that had the class laughing again.

Our fourth class was on the water cycle and how we use it. This woman should have a career in stand-up comedy. After a very engaging presentation on how water moves through the water cycle, including words such as transpiration and percolation, she had another great game. Each student would select a station, take a bead that corresponded with that station, then roll a die to see where they would go next or if they would stay where they were. Each station had something to do with the water cycle presentation. Lela picked the ocean first and found that it was pretty hard to leave the ocean once you were there. She was able to be a cloud twice and at the end made it to a glacier. When they returned to class, they were asked to write a story about their journey through the water cycle. As soon as she brings it home, I will share it. I understand it is very creative.

Our final class was with the St. George Fire Department. Their focus was on different types of fire and the way they put them out. This one was a little harder for Lela to listen to. At first she wanted to sit on my lap, but by the end was able to sit on the ground with the rest of the class and raise her had when asked, although she didn't ask any questions or make comments as in previous presentation.

After the Fair was over, we travelled to Worthen Park where the classes ate lunch and then played Red Rover and frisbee before returning to school. I had to chuckle at the expression on the faces of the parks crew who were quietly eating their lunches when five or six busses full of 4th graders interupted their serenity.