2015 Water Festival - Salem Hills Elementary
On June 1, Salem Hills Elementary School, Inver Grove Heights, MN, hosted their all school “Water Festival”. For several weeks before the event, all classrooms in the school focused on local and global water. Each class adopted a theme and prepared to share their results at the festival. Students created jewelry to sell, created Ugandan art note cards, sold lemonade and water at a Kindergarten stand, created informational posters, and all students participated in a “Walk for Water”, carrying jugs of water around a course outside of the school.
The third grade classrooms at Salem Hills created a fascinating arcade with many games built out of cardboard and other creative materials. The games were filled with facts and activities that focused on water. It was a STEM project that sparked innovation in the students. We couldn’t believe the work and planning that went into the 30+ games that were created. The excitement level and fun that occurred as all students in the school were invited to play the games was a joy to observe. We played a few ourselves, and were impressed with the knowledge about water and Uganda, their partner country, that students shared with us.
At the end of the day, Salem Hills raised funds to support their partner school project- Hope Nursery and Primary School in Uganda.
Salem Hills is recognized as an “Ashoka Changemaker School”. “Ashoka strives to make empathy, teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving (what we call changemaker skills) as valued in education as traditional academic skills, so that all students find their voices and can make a positive impact on the world.” (quoted from the Ashoka website) The faculty at Salem Hills recognizes H2O for Life as a premier project where learning and actions come together to support their school mission.
Salem Hills is a longtime partner with H2O for Life. Thanks to the staff and students for another amazing year learning about water and taking action to support water, sanitation and hygiene education for schools around the world. Your students and faculty are truly changing the world.
