Don’t spoil my soil! was the slogan at Lowther North Intermediate School on Thursday.
More than 300 sixth-grade students learned about soil Thursday during a mini water festival at Lowther. Debbe Schopper, of Lyon County Conservation District, said the mini water fair event was designed to teach students about soil in Lyon County from soil erosion to water pollution.
There were three stations: a stream bed complete with sand made out of recycled bottles; a rainfall simulation station to demonstrate how soil erodes in different conditions and a rock bed station where students got to learn about the rock bed and got to eat “worms” and “dirt.”
The first station, the stream bed, was a trailer filled with the recycled bottle sand. The students’ job was to use the sand, build a town and work together to prevent a river from eroding their town.
“They find out what happens to our river beds,” said Cindy Paul, a science teacher at Lowther North.
The second station consisted of three pans of soil. One pan had soil with grass planted on it, one had soil with hay on top and then last pan was bare. Students observed as water trickled from an overhead pipe. The pan without any ground cover eroded the most.
“It shows what kinds of different things affect soil and how we can protect soil with plants,” Paul said.
The third station was edible and involved pudding and gummy worms. Students used the materials to build layers of soil and learned how pollution gets into those layers.
“They learn about the rock bed and where clean water comes from,” Paul said.
Paul said the event tied directly into the school’s curriculum.
“One of the things (they) learn in the sixth grade is changes in the earth’s surface,” she said.
Schopper said more than 1,500 kids have been reached through the water fair since Earth Day.