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Water Sense




MMSD has worked with many schools within our service area.  These school projects included: 
Summerfest Planting Day (2008 photos), Beach Sweep and Just Add Water(JAWS), and Kid's Fest at Summerfest.

Take a look at what some other schools are doing to educate students about water quality and environmental science!  And then, let us know how we can help you with your water science education programs.

Hawley Environmental School – Installed a butterfly garden and prairie garden and regularly collects and analyzes water samples from the Menomonee River.  Hawley also participated in the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Green and Healthy Schools program for which they conducted health, safety and environmental assessments, meeting requirements in 10 different areas: energy, mercury, indoor air quality, chemical management, waste and recycling, water, pest management, transportation, community involvement and school site/grounds. These 10 areas of interest are incorporated in the Environmental Education curriculum across the grade levels at Hawley.

Trowbridge Elementary – Installed a rain garden and uses Lake Michigan as a focus for its environmental science instruction.


Rufus King High School – Students participating in the Testing the Waters (TTW) program learn the proper use of water quality testing equipment and learn other ways to determine the health of a waterway.  Training and curriculum materials are provided with the TTW program.

Franklin Pierce Elementary School – is one of many schools that have participated in the Urban Ecology Center's highly acclaimed River Connections Program which affords 4th , 5th, and 6th grade students to connect with the river in a unique way to learn the basic concepts of land use and its impact on water quality, and how critters in the river help to determine the health of the river.

Academy of Learning and Leadership – Students from the Academy of Learning and Leadership engaged in a three-month study of the Menomonee River.  They visited various waterways at three different times to observe changes in the environment as the climate changed from winter to spring.  During their visits, they looked for pollution sources, signs of life and vegetation.  Water quality experts were then invited to the classroom to offer them more in-depth information about their observations.  At the end of their three month study – parents and others were invited to an all-school program during which the students shared what they had learned through poetry, songs, displays, journals and exhibit tour guides.  The students were very impressive and learned a lot about the environment and water quality during their expedition!

Starms Discovery Learning Center – Starms is one of many area schools that has been involved with the annual water quality learning experience and service learning project, Just Add Water and Beach Sweep (JAWS).  JAWS first provides professional development to teachers who later administer learning activities in the classroom about water quality, properties of water, watersheds, water conservation, and water pollution.  Since program inception, thousands of students for area schools have participated.  The culminating activity, is a beach clean-up and data collection process that becomes part of an international database of debris collected around the world.

Escuela Vieau – Participating in the Alverno Civic Leaders Program, five students from Vieau volunteered to help increase awareness of how to safely and properly dispose of unused or expired medications during a special Medicine Collection Day” at Miller Park last summer. The students also crafted several posters to help spread the word about the program and why it's important. Their volunteer work is part of an after-school program called Civic Leaders and is supervised by two Alverno students.  Vieau also requests presentations on water quality for all of its 3rd grade classes to ensure that the learning is equitable in all of its classrooms. 


Various Schools - Interest is growing among several schools to participate in World Water Monitoring Day.  Cass Street School, Keefe Avenue School, Whitnall high schools and many others participated last year.