OARS River Log | By Shelley Zuckerman, OARS’ Youth Education Coordinator—TerraCorps Fellow | Published June 18, 2025

With Water Wise Workshops

This spring, OARS brought our Water Wise Workshops (WWW) program to in-school and after-school programs for the first time! More than 90 second-grade students at Green Meadow Elementary School in Maynard attended our Plants and Animals workshop. In collaboration with The Nature Connection, we brought an American Toad, Gray Tree Frog, and Yellow Spotted Salamander to teach the students about local wildlife.

OARS delivered WWW at Coalition for a Better Acre in Lowell and the Concord Recreation Department after-school program at the Concord Thoreau School. Over the course of four weeks, students learned about different river science and environmental education topics, including pollution, groundwater, and the water cycle. Participants were encouraged to reconsider their relationship with the environment and how they can adopt environmentally friendly practices, such as conserving water and leaving no trace as they are out in nature. Through these interactive workshops, students designed their own watersheds, traveled as a water droplet through the water cycle, and built mini aquifers!

Students at Green Meadow Elementary School creating a food web based on local plants and animals
OARS also hosted free stand-alone workshops at the Concord Fowler Library and the Framingham Public Library. Just this spring, more than 170 elementary-aged students attended the Water Wise Workshops, which is more students than OARS reached in the entirety of 2024! We are very excited to bring WWW to summer camps for the first time ever, starting this July!