Lake Champlain Basin

Last week on Thursday we had a guest teacher in 2nd grade. We had Ms. Stephanie Larkin from the ECHO come in and teach our class about the Lake Champlain Basin. Ms. Larkin brought in a replica of the Lake Champlain Basin. Together we discussed what pollutants are around the lake such as fertilizer, dog waste, oil leaking from cars, manure, sand/dirt, etc. We polluted the replica with different food items (sprinkles for the dog waste, cinnamon for dirt, etc.). After our replica was all polluted it rained! Students were amazed as to how the fertilizer from a farm runs down the mountain, into a stream and then into the lake, along with many other pollutants. By the end of the demonstration the lake was rather dirty. Students learned that what we do at home and in the community has an impact on Lake Champlain. Now that we have learned how the lake is polluted we are going to learn how we can help protect and clean the lake.