2024 Southern Maine Children's Water Festival

Maine Department of Environmental Protection sent this bulletin at 12/04/2023 11:50 AM EST

Dear Educator:
We are excited to announce that planning is underway for the Southern Maine Children's Water Festival on Friday, May 10, 2024 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland! We hope that you can join us!

Apply by January 12 for this popular event!

What

This fun water-themed event is for 5th and 6th grade students and their teachers. Students will engage in hands-on activities on topics such as wetland habitats, lakes, wildlife, groundwater, and aquatic life via presentations, exhibits and performances. There is no charge to send students to the Festival! A reimbursement grant of up to $200 per school is available to help defray the cost of bus transportation.

The Festival's principal objectives are:

To provide student and teacher interaction with water professionals;
To demonstrate water's properties, values and uses, and threats to water
quality;
To provide teachers with resource materials;
To develop career interests in environmental protection;
To promote networking among teachers, students and presenters.

Who

Students in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Lincoln, Oxford, Sagadahoc, York, and southern Kennebec counties are eligible to attend. Time and space constraints limit the number of participants to 700 students, plus teachers and chaperones.

How

Attendance at the Southern Maine Children's Water Festival is determined on a competitive basis. Teachers are expected to conduct classroom activities about water prior to the festival to familiarize their students with fundamental vocabulary and concepts.

Schools are selected based on current or planned integration of water topics into their
curriculum as well as their geographic location, to equitably distribute opportunity. Priority is given to schools that have not attended recently.

Festival application