Murrieta Elementary students soak-in water conservation tips and lessons

Learning about water conservation doesn’t have to be boring. In fact it was quite the opposite for second- and third-grade students during an assembly Thursday at Murrieta Elementary School.

Stephen Snyder of Zun Zun gets down on students' level to make learning about water conservation fun for students at Murrieta Elementary. The event was sponsored by Western Municipal Water District. (Photo by Maggie Avants)

Two-man band and water conservation experts Zun Zun paid a visit to the school to educate youngsters on the value of saving water. The band’s entertaining presentation had students and teachers alike moving and grooving with dance moves such as the sprinkler and the swimmer.

Traveling Zun Zun musicians Stephen Snyder and Kevin DiNoto, both Santa Cruz residents, used instruments from around the world to illustrate to students that “we live on a water planet and that’s why we shouldn’t waste it.”

“It takes a lot of energy to bring you water,” Snyder said. “So when you save water it saves energy.”

Snyder used a limbo stick to demonstrate the world’s water levels to youngsters.

“We live in a part of the world where it doesn’t rain much, so we have to ‘limbo’ through the drought years.”

Third-grade student Christopher Boyle said his favorite part of the assembly was doing the swimmer, after students learned it takes 40 to 50 gallons to fill up a bathtub. Christopher said he was going to ask his 16-year-old brother not to take such long showers in the morning.

“This was a very exciting program; the kids were very engaged,” said Michele McKinney-Underwood, spokesperson for Western Municipal Water District.

Thursday event was sponsored by the water district, which is a regional water supplier to various parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, serving approximately 2,000 homes near the school.

Brenda Dennstedt, Western Municipal Water District division director, said their aim is to make water education fun for everyone.

“This is our future generation and we want them to know the importance of conserving water,” Dennstedt said. “It is not some ugly guerilla hanging out in the corner of the room.”

With the recent rainfall in the area, students also learned about the term ‘watershed’. Snyder used an imberra, a wind instrument from Chile, to illustrate the sound of rain.

“Your school is part of the watershed. Whenever it rains, it drains…into the lakes, creeks and streams, and ends up in the ocean,” Snyder said.

Oil, paint, litter and soap from washing cars ends up in storm drains, according to Snyder, which then end up in the ocean.

Second-grade teacher Liz Hudson said she talked to her class beforehand about conserving water.

“We talked about ways to save water and how to keep the runoff clean,” Hudson said.

Murrieta Elementary principal Estelle Jaurequi encouraged the students to go home and talk to their families about how they can save water at home.

To keep the lesson fresh in youngster’s minds, Zun Zun taught a jingle:

“Save some water when you wash your hair, when you brush your teeth, when you wash your socks. Stop the drip, fix the leak, sprinklers off when the sun is hot…”

Liselle DeGrave with media relations for Western Municipal Water District said the group and another act called, Earthcapades, will continue to make their way around to area schools spreading the water-wise message.

Maggie Avants is the education editor for SWRNN. Reach her at maggie.avants@swrnn.com. Follow SWRNNedu on Twitter!

Tags: Brenda Dennstedt, Christopher Boyle, Earthcapades, Kevin DiNoto, Liselle Degrave, Liz Hudson, Maggie Avants, Murrieta, Murrieta Elementary, Murrieta Elementary principal Estelle Jaurequi, Stephen Snyder, SWRNN, water conservation, Western Municipal Water District, Zun Zun

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Education, Environment, Local News, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.