Did you know that today is World Water Day? It is a day when people all around the planet learn about and commit to conserving one of Earth’s most vital natural ​resources - WATER! The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #6 is for EVERYONE on the planet to have safe water and sanitation by the year 2030 ("Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all."). According to the World Water Day website, we are definitely not going to meet that goal unless things change drastically!

Elementary students often feel like they are not big enough, powerful enough, or old enough to make a difference when it comes to big issues like a global water crisis. However, we can increase their understanding, sense of ownership, and empowerment when we provide interactive, relevant STEM activities.

After exploring the World Water Day site and thinking about how to include our students in becoming more educated inhabitants of our planet, these activities came to mind:

• Have students watch this two minute United Nations video, an ancient story about the hummingbird doing its small part to put out a forest fire, when discussing the importance of their own impact.
• This is one of my favorite STEM activities to do with elementary students - The Water Filter Challenge. The power, in my opinion, comes from creating the polluted water together following this realistic story. It is a very adaptable lesson which could be done whole group for very little learners. It incorporates lots of great math (using a budget) and engineering as the kids work to create the best water filtration system. This lesson has been built combining resources from the Moore County Schools Digital Integration Team and the NC Science House.
• Here is a more challenging STEM activity designed by my colleague Carrie Robledo. It involves the Sphero robot, which can be submerged in water. The STEM Lake Sphero Water Cleanup can be introduced by including this associated information about “Jenny” and the efforts to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Relevance to the real world is key for our students!
• I am writing the Emersyn Blake series for all the reasons discussed above. Emersyn Blake and the Spotted Salamander helps young students understand how water quality can affect even the smallest creatures that rely on it. There are numerous enrichment possibilities that can be used with this book linked on Collazo Cove!
• Read and learn more about all 17 of the UN’s SDGs.

I would love to hear about your favorite water conservation STEM activities! Please feel free to share in the comments! We are #BetterTogether!

My day was made yesterday when two of my colleagues shared this picture of a beautiful tree hollow with me! Not only because I think tree hollows are magically amazing, each with their own unique characteristics, but because of what my friends shared next. They told me how on their weekly walks along this same path, they had obviously passed this tree many times. However it wasn't until they had read my new picture book, Beasties of the Tree Hollows, that they actually noticed its incredible hollow! 

As I mention in the "Dear Reader" section of my new picture book, I have always loved tree hollows and take pictures of every one I notice. Many of my actual photographs create the backgrounds of the pages of the book. But even for me, I am noticing tree hollows in so many more places now that my book has been published, and I can't help but imagine what Beasties live there!

This is exactly why I wrote Beasties of the Tree Hollows! I hope kids (young and not as young) will get out and notice more of the amazing natural resources all around us. And I hope, even more, that we all will never get too old and jaded that we are unable to imagine the Beasties!

By the way, if you'd like to listen to the podcast my friends Rachel and Rebekah record on their walks, subscribe to their podcast "Everything, But Nothing Really".