| Havergal
College
Ontario, Canada |
Payson Seymour Elem., Illinois, USA | Colonel Light Gardens Primary School, Adelaide, South Australia | School
No.217
St. Petersburg Russia |
Pinehurst
Primary
Cape Town, South Africa |
Pingelly District High School, Pingelly, Western Australia |
| Ray Miller Elem., Missouri, USA | Rosenwald-Dunbar Elementary, Jessamine County, Kentucky USA | Pettisville Elementary School, Ohio USA | Fairfield Elementary School, Virginia USA | Compton Primary School
South Australia |
Cowell Area School
Cowell, South Australia |
Module Two from Havergal College Ontario, Canada
For Module Two, Using Water in Our Past, you can
visit our website http://www.hccommunity.havergal.on.ca/btaylor/modtwo.htm
The text from our website is written below.
We are looking forward to hearing about the work
everyone else has done.
Mrs Thom's 2T and Mrs Siatkowski's 2S classes
Water in Our Past
by the Grade Two Girls in 2T
The Dolphins and Manatees of 2T worked together
to learn about the water in our past. The Dolphins ask:
"Do you know who were the first people to live
in our province, Ontario?"
"Do you know why our province is called Ontario?"
"Do you know how our city, Toronto, got its name?"
Read further and the Manatees will give you the
answers.
"Ontario and Toronto are actually native words.
The native people lived here first. They used canoes to travel from lakes
and rivers to a meeting
place. Where the three rivers (Credit, Humber
and Don) meet together in Lake Ontario, is where the meeting place was.
Toronto means "meeting
place" in the native language. Ontario
has many lakes and rivers. In the native language, Ontario means"shining
waters".
Burke Brook
The Whales and Starfish learned about the history
of the small brook that runs behind our school. Here is their report:
Before Havergal was built, two brothers named
Edward and Jonas Burke settled on a farm right where our school, Havergal,
is today. A brook
ran through their farm. It was named Burke Brook
after the two brothers. That's how it got its name.
Water in Our Past
by the Grade Two Girls in 2S
In the past people did not get water in their
homes from pipes and taps as we do now. They would go outside and use a
pump which was located over a
well. Later on, these pumps were inside their
homes and would have been connected by pipes from outside wells.
by: The Otters
Pioneer settlers and Native Canadians used to
collect rainwater in pails, barrels or animal skins. They would use this
fresh water in their
cleaning and cooking. They could also use it
to water their gardens.
by: Blue Whales
In the past in Canada, pioneers and natives could
get water by gathering snow and ice and melting them into water in the
sun, over a fire or on a
stove. Also they could scoop water up with a
bucket from lakes and rivers.
by: The Copper Seals
The pioneers and settlers might have called on
someone known a diviner who could find groundwater under the land by holding
a branch and
feeling the groundwater while walking over the
land. Then they could dig a deep hole in the ground to make a well. To
use a well you lower a bucket
or pail down on a rope, scoop up the water and
raise it up again.
by: The Silver Dolphins
Module
Two from Payson Seymour Elementary, Illinois, USA
View drawings
Dear Water partners,
How are you? I guess we're OK. We're going
to tell you a little bit about the Mississippi River in the past.
The deepest, longest, biggest river in
North America is the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is 2,348
miles (3,779km). The source of the
Mississippi River was discovered by Henry
Schoolcraft on July 13,1882. The river starts in Lake Itasca in Minnesota,
goes through Louisiana and
flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi
River is about seven or eight miles from our hometown, Payson. For
many years, the river has been
used to ship different kinds of goods up and
down the river. Corn was shipped down the Mississippi river on boats
from Illinois farmlands. Not only
was the river used for shipping goods, it was
used for traveling. In the olden days, pioneers and Indians both
used the river for traveling. Pioneers used
the river for bathing, and also drinking,
and traveling. Back then could only get across the river by taking
a ferry boat. It is easier today to get across the
river using the bridge. Hannibal just built a
new bridge to get across the river because the old bridge was going
to fall down anytime. When cars started
raveling on the new bridge, they started to bomb
the old bridge.
From, Ashley B, Tori, and Adam
===============================================================
Dear Water Partners,
Hi! We are writing about the Fall Creek Water.
Fall Creek is about 2 miles from our school. We have been there on
a field trip once. Over the
Fall Creek Water there is a 100 year old
bridge. The bridge is flat, made out of stone like rocks, it's about 30ft.
long, and good to eat lunch under. The land
changes along the creek water. The way the land
changes along the creek is when the water flows along it and pushes the
rocks to the side and makes the
soil more fertile. It also makes the land
dip down where it is flowing. Along the creek there were different kinds
of banks. There were low and steep banks.
On the banks there are rocks, dirt, grass, and
bugs. The bottom of the creek is sandy, muddy, and rocky. The rock is limestone
rock. The bottom of the creek
is pointy with rocks, squishy with mud, and powdery
with sand. We think that the Pioneers and Indians drank out of the
creek long ago. We don't really think
that dinosaurs drank out of the creek because,
we don't even think that the creek was here that long ago. Maybe
and maybe not. We think that the water was
clean enough to drink long ago. We think
most of the rivers, creeks, and ponds were pure clean long ago. So
people probably drank out of it. The creatures that
drink from the creek that we know are deer,
racoons, squirrels, birds, fish, opossums, and bugs. There are a
lot more animals that drank out of it but, there are too
many to name. These are just some of the animals.
The Fall Creek Water flows into the bottomlands of the Mississippi
River. That is one of the reasons the
Mississippi River gets bigger. The rocks, sand,
and mud flow into the Mississippi River with the Fall Creek Water.
Sincerely, Ashley W. and Chris
================================================================
Dear Water partners,
Roll, roll, roll your boat gently down the
river! The mighty Mississippi River is the biggest river in the whole of
North America. It starts at Lake Itaska in Minnesota
and runs down to the Gulf of Mexico. The
Mississippi River ends at Louisiana. it was discoverd by a man called Henry
Schoolcraft. It's about ten miles from
Payson. For a long time the Mississippi
has been used to ship goods down it such as corn, beans, and other
goods. Farmers could ship oats, wheat, and other
crops. A lot of people use this river to
travel especially in the earlier days. For example some people sailed
down the river, and maybe fished for catfish. You could
travel from Quincy, Illinois to St. Louis,
Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, Greenville, Mississippi, Baton Rouge,
the capital of Louisianna, New Orleans, Louisianna,
straight down to the Gulf of Mexico!!!!
The people in the olden days probably used yachts or canoes to sail
along. It would be easier we think to cross today because
we actually have bridges! They have a new
bridge in Hannibal now and they tore the old one down!!!!!
Paul, Kala, and Brandon
===============================================================
Dear Water Project Partners,
This is something we wrote for you. It is
about water at Fall Creek.
Fall Creek is about 2 miles away from our
school. Over it is a Bridge that is 100 years old. It is around 50 feet
tall and about 12 feet wide. It is made of stone.
The bridge is about 26 feet long. We have
been to Fall Creek on a field trip with our class. We saw a lot of amazing
things on our field trip. Some of those things are:
#1. A frog pond
#2. A water fall
#3. A lot of trees
#4. A lot of flowers
#5. A butterfly garden
#6. Some Field grass
The frog pond had a lot of tad poles. The water
fall was beautiful when the light shined on it. There were tons of trees.They
were big, beautiful, and not many leaves
were on the trees, they were on the ground.The
flowers were very beautiful, but some were only buds. At the butterfly
garden the butterflys were not there. The field
grass was tall, yellow, and cool. The
creek was very twisty. It went right, left, and down, down, down.
Along the creek a gorge was formed by erosion 1,000 of years
ago. It has been there so Pioneers used
it for their water. The creek has really changed a lot by erosion.
Because of erosion the creek now has made a gorge known
as "the Fall Creek Gorge."
Sincerely, Jordan, Shauna, and Tegan
====================================================================
Dear Water partners,
We are writing about the Mississippi River. Did
you know the Mississippi River is the biggest River in the United States?
It is about 10 miles away from Payson.
That isn't very far! The River is 2348 miles
long. That is big! The river begins in Lake Itasca and ends in the Gulf
of Mexico. The goods that might have been shipped
down the river are beans, beef, wheat,
and corn.
The river has also been used for traveling on
like a highway. They could travel to New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis,
Quincy, and St. Paul.
They crossed the Mississippi River in the old
days by taking a ferry across because there were no bridges back
then. They also caulked the wagons and floated them
across, or they would take them across on a log
raft. It is a lot easier now days to cross a river because there are
bridges. The old bridge got blown up at Hannibal
because they built a new bridge. That is how
they used Mississippi water in the past.
Sincerely, Nathan, Krykette, and Eric
====================================================================
Hello Fall Creek partners,
Fall Creek is about 2 and a half miles
from Seymour Elementary school.
There was an old bridge that has moss growing
on the bridge and some bricks were falling out. The new bridge has a little
moss growing on it. It looked about
three months old maybe not even that. We have
been there and we even ate lunch under it. The creek was twisty, mossy
and soggy and it turned about every half
of a mile. Some of the water made soggy
land and some water made hard land that you wouldn't sink in. Some water
had steep cliffs by it and some made little cliffs.
A lot of the cliffs were rocky. The bottom of
Fall Creek felt like it was sand and mud were mixed together. The
mud and sand made the water look cloudy. We think
pioneers, old birds maybe Indians drank out
of it. We don't think it was clean enough to drink it back then because
there were animals living it the water. Fall Creek
flows towards the Mississippi River and
finally flows into it. Fall Creek was probably used a long time ago by
the pioneers. The pioneers used the Creek for drinking
water, bath water, washing their clothes,and
probably a lot more things besides those that we said.
BY, BY, BY,
Bridget and Jennifer
Module Two from School 217, St. Petersburg, Russia
Hello,
For the last 3 weeks we worked under the Module2,
And here is some results of our work,
On the 4th of April we have visited the Chemical
Laboratory of the Sanitary Epidemiological Station of the Krasnoselki
region. Where we were talked about
the fresh water researches. In our region there
are two water systems: City water system and regional. In Krasnoye
Syelo springing-waters of the lake systems
flew into the water -main system. This water
doesn't have ammonia, nitrides but it's rather coarse and gives us
lime sediment during the process of boiling.
Some of us use water from the City-water supply
system. Such water can cause allergy for little children, that's
why it must be always boiled.
We also made some methods to research water :
1. The foundation of the residual chlorine. Chlorine
is used for uninfection of water. It's normal contain in water is
0.3-0.5. The transparent solution was added
to springing water. The water has become a little
bit yellow. Then the transparent solution of starch was added. The
water has become blue. After the using of
titration method that solution has become colourless
again. The content of chlorine was 0.7. It's increasing in water
is depended on the process of snow melting
and flood. Such water contains more microbes,
that's why for their removal much chlorine must be used.
2. With the help of the spectrometer we determined the content of ammonia and nitrides in drinking water and compared this with distilled water.
3. Also we determined the PH. The city water has PH-6.7 but our water - 7.3.
Also we were shown the distiller for receiving
distilled water , scales of different degree of precision for weighing
dry reagents, computer where all the information
of the drinking water mixture is concentrated
every day.
Our teacher told us about history of water development in our city.
In 1718-1721 the Ligovsky canal was built from
the Dudergoph river to the centre of the city. Through the pipes
water was supplied to the "Summer Garden" for
the fountains and for the brewery. In 1739
water was given to Petersburg's houses through the wooden pipes from the
canal.
The Dudergoph and the Ivanovka rivers are natural
rivers. The Dudergoph canal and 4 lakes(Dudergophskoye, Dolgoye,
Ligovskoye, Bezimyannoye) are artificial.
Long time ago the Dudergoph river flew straight
into the Finnish Gulf. Nowadays it flows there through the Dudergoph
canal.
Originally the Dudergoph river wasn't wide navigable,
but winding, and it was a fast river. Being dammed it has formed
4 lakes. As a consequence of the first dam
formed Dudergoph lake, built in 17th century
when the Swedes were the owners of the land. The others were built
in the years of Peter the first. The dams crossed
the Dudergoph river in front of the Gulf, so
a large pond was formed there. It's mark is kept as a deep winding
ravine between Avangardnaya street and Zhukova prospekt.
In 1970 the Dudergoph canal was made. It stretches
along Petergoph Road. The Dudergoph river and the Ivanovka river
flow into it.
Since 1715-1721 a lot of cottages were built
there. When the railway appeared there were especially lots of them.
At the times of Catherine the second military drills
were being held in our district and bridges,
pipes, water pumps, drinking water reservoirs began to appear.
Intensive farming around the Dudergoph river
caused shallowing, pollution and disappearing of tributaries.
Long time ago the beauty of the Dudergoph river
and its high waters were achieved by people's work and care. Millers,
water keepers looked after the river. All
parts of the river were fixed after the villages.
At the meetings of those villages people solved the questions connected
with taking care of the river, repairing of the
bridges, dams. It's completely forgotten now.
A disastrous flood of 1777 destroyed geratly
the fountains of the "Summer Garden". In 1891 the Ligovsky canal
was covered up with earth and not to break the hydrosystem of the
main Neva river. the Petergoph canal was built in 1970.
When our city was being created, canals and rivers served as water ways. Wood, stones and other building materials were delivered along them. There was boat communication between city's islands. Canals drained marshes, and the taken out soil was used for raising the banks. That served as a protection >from floods. Peter the first wanted to dig 15 more canals. The greatest floofs were in 1777, 1824, 1924, 1955, 1967. After the flood of 1777 which took a lot of lives by Catherine the second order the population of the city began to be informed about the threat of a flood with cannon-fires, flags, signalling lamps and the ringing of bells.
Since the foundation of the city in 1703 there
have been more than 288 floods, of which 220 were dangerous and 3
were disastrous, when water raised higher than 300 cm.
Waiting to hear from you soon,
Students of the 5th grade and Oleg Siidra,
Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Module Two from Pinehurst Primary, Cape Town, South Africa
Dear Water Project Pals,
We live in a suburb in Cape Town called Pinelands.
Pinelands is a low-lying area and before it became a developed area,
there were parts of it that were under water.
When we had really heavy rains, parts of Pinelands became flooded. It was
usually just the streets that became flooded
and so people couldn=92t drive around in their cars, as it was
very dangerous.
Pinelands experienced quite a bad flood in 1975.
This flood lasted one whole week. A lot of damage was done to the streets
and bridges as well as the plants, which died.
Fortunately there were no houses that were damaged and all the people were
all right. In some places there was so much water
that it took a person up to their waist.
About 12 years ago, Pinelands also experienced
a drought. This drought lasted one whole summer, as there was not enough
rainfall.
This summer (which is now quickly coming to an
end), we have had water restrictions, as there has again been a shortage
of rainfall
last winter. We have only been allowed to water
our gardens on even days of the month (before 10am or after 4pm, for an
hour only)
and we are not allowed to use a hose to wash
our cars. If we are caught watering on an odd day of the month, we will
be fined heavily,
and there are people who come around and check
up on us! We have also been urged to shower and not bath and try and conserve
water as much as possible. Hopefully this winter
there will be plenty of rainfall so that we won't have to face these water
restrictions
next summer time.
We hope that you have found this information about our suburb interesting. We look forward to hearing from you all again soon.
The Grade 4s of Pinehurst Primary School in Pinelands,
Cape Town,
South Africa.
Module Two from Ray
Miller Elem., Kirksville, Missouri, USA
Dear Water Project Pals,
We have studied the history of water in Kirksville
and the surrounding area. We were surprised by some of the important
historical
information. We also have been listening closely
to information about the Mississippi River; which is about 60 miles east
of Kirksville.
It is flooding some of the cities along its path.
The Mississippi is cresting at levels nearly as high as the flooding in
1993. Some smaller
towns put sand bags up to protect their buildings;
some cities have floodwalls that they put up to protect their buildings.
Near Kirksville, at Thousand Hills State Park
is a petroglyph site. Big Creek was the water source in this area;
it supplied plenty of clean
water for the Indians. The petroglyphs, or rock
carvings, are part of an ancient ceremonial ground used by prehistoric
American Indians.
The Indians who made the carvings are believed
to be associated with the woodland tradition. Most evidence of the
woodland tradition is
dated prior to A.D. 900 by the radiocarbon dating
method. Archeologists think Indians were in North Missouri fifteen thousand
years
before Jesus. In 1949 Kirksville needed a greater
water supply and an outdoor recreational spot, Big Creek was damned and
Forest Lake
was created. Forest Lake was the main water
supply for Kirksville until 1985. In 1828 a group of settlers came up the
Chariton River
and settled near Kirksville. (Missouri had just
become a state in 1821.) The Chariton River was full of fish and
there was a spring of
pure water, too. Another water source for this
area was Baden Springs; it was a mineral spring. In the late 1800’s
a group of residents
tried to commercialize this spring for its mineral
water. Many people from Kirksville made the 14-mile trip to drink
this water that was
supposed to be good for your health. Hazel Creek
was an important stream that flowed into the Chariton River. In the
1980’s it was
damned to create Hazel Creek Lake, this has been
Kirksville’s main water supply since 1985. Other important water sources
in our area
include Salt River, the Fabius River, Floyd Creek,
Steer Creek, and Cottonwood Creek. Most farms have ponds, some were natural,
and
some were manmade. Kirksville has had some droughts
and minimal flooding problems in its history. Flooding mostly affects farmland
near the rivers or streams. In 1993 we had many
houses receive water damage from heavy rains and run-off water.We hope
you have
enjoyed reading about Kirksville’s water sources
and our history. We look forward to hearing from you in the next
module.
Your friends,
Mrs. Bowers’ Third Grade Class
Module Two from Rosenwald-Dunbar Elementary, Jessamine County, Kentucky USA
Module Two fromPettisville Elementary School, Ohio USA
Hi Water Pals,
We do have our
website up, now, and we hope you enjoy our class pictures from
our recent field trip to our local water treatment plant. It was
freezing cold
here in northwestern Ohio today. We even
had snow showers all morning. There was no accumulation, though,
but we don't very often see snow this time of year!
Our weather lately has been quite dreary,
with Easter Sunday being a complete washout. I guess the old saying of
"April showers brings May flowers" is true
for us this year. Pettisville is located about
40 miles west of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes
are the largest supply of fresh water in the world.
We have never experienced severe drought in this
area, and feel very fortunate because the farmers in our area rely on ample
amounts of rainfall to produce healthy crops.
We live only about 15 miles south of the Michigan
border. Michigan has many lakes,most of which were formed from receding
glaciers long ago. As the Ice Age ended
due to temperatures warming, the glaciers receded
and formed lakes in low lying lands. The source for our water, Devil's
Lake in Michigan, is a natural spring fed lake.
From Devil's Lake our water flows south through
streams and tributaries and eventually ends up in the Tiffin River,
where it is pumped into Archbold, a neighboring
community. Pettisville's water is then piped
from Archbold. There is a man-made lake located about 10 miles
north of us near a small town called Fayette. Harrison
Lake State Park attracts many fishermen
and campers from Toledo, and other surrounding communities. There
are many streams located near and around our community.
Near these streams are many low lying areas or
wetlands habitats. During the spring as the snow melts, and spring
rain comes it is not unusual to see flooding along
streams and in wetlands areas. However,
our area hasn't experienced any kind of severe flooding for a number of
years. However in the early 1900's June flooding was quite common
in nearby Archbold, Ohio. Before storm sewers and tiling, the business
district of Archbold would sometimes be filled with enough water for
rowboats to manuever. Brush Creek, a creek that runs east and south of
Archbold would overflow. In 1918 the livery stable actually had carp on
its floor when the floodwaters receded. Carp is a kind of fish commonly
found in muddy rivers and creeks. In 1937, the postmaster in Archbold even
caught a carp in his office. Because of these incidents, Archbold has
earned the nickname of "Carptown", and even celebrates each summer with
an annual Carpfest. What would a carpfest be without a huge fish
fry? We hope that you find this information helpful to understanding about
water in northwestern Ohio.
Your Pettisville Water E-Pals
Module Two from Fairfield Elementary School Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
Module 2 - History of Water
People have lived near the Chesapeake Bay
or the rivers that feed into it for thousands of years. The Powhattan
Indians were the largest tribe in this area when the English arrived in
April 1607. The English first landed in what is now Virginia Beach.
We have a park there called First Landing Seashore State Park. The
English colonists stayed here for 2 days then sailed up the river they
named the James River and started the settlement of Jamestown. It
is the oldest English settlement in North America. It is almost 400
years old. Many European settlers came to this area because it is
very good for growing things. The James River and the Elizabeth River
come together just before they empty into the very southern corner of the
Chesapeake Bay. We call this Hampton Roads. It is an excellent
harbor for ships. This is the big reason why this area attracted
businesses. They were able to trade from here to anywhere ships could
sail to.
In 1776 the 13 English colonies
that had grown up along the Atlantic Coast declared independence from England
and formed the United States of America. The final battle of our
war for independence happened at Yorktown in October 1861. Yorktown
is on the York River where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The
British forces surrendered when their ships were stopped from entering
the Chesapeake Bay by French Navy ships.
Our area grew into the second biggest
shipping center on the east coast of the U.S. Only New York is bigger.
Piers have been built along many of the rivers in our area to support the
many ships that have come here since the Jamestown settlers arrived.
None have been built on the Chesapeake Bay because when the weather gets
bad the Bay can get very rough.
A Navy base was established right
where the James and Elizabeth Rivers empty into the Chesapeake Bay in the
1700's. Since then it has grown into the largest Navy base in the
world.
The small lake some of us live near
called Lake James is man made. We live in a very flat area.
In order to get enough gravel and dirt to build one of the highways here
they had to dig down and this created a large pit. The lake is about
300 meters long and about 200 meters wide. The story is that they
dug into an underground spring and the pit filled up so fast one of the
big steam shovels did not get out and is still on the bottom of the lake.
No one knows for sure.