5th Grade Henrico Watershed Animations
Fifth graders at Laburnum Elementary have been studying Henrico County and Virginia watersheds (SOL4.9a). Today students in Ms. Burgess’s class created animations for Laburnum’s watershed. First we reviewed watersheds and why understanding them is important. Several students didn’t realize that their drinking water comes from the James River. So we discussed where the trash that is thrown on the ground eventually ends up (Answer: rain washes it into creeks and rivers which flow into the James River). Next we went to Google Maps and found Laburnum Elementary. We searched for the nearest creek, which turned out to be Horse Creek. Then we followed Horse Creek to the Chickahominy River and finally to the James River. Now they were ready to create an animation showing the path a discarded piece of trash takes from Laburnum Elementary down through the watershed into the source of their drinking water. We used ABCYa! Animate to create the animations. You can see them all here.