Water BUGS!

Here come the Water BUGS!

This coming school year, the Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS)'s 7th grade curricular projects will focus on WATER.  We’re working with Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC) to develop hands-on field projects near the Gowanus Canal that will teach students about storm water runoff and ways we can put rain water to good use. Closer to home, we have a need to reduce storm water runoff back at the school and find practical, sustainable ways to water BUGS’ new certified wildlife habitat. Currently, BUGS has no outdoor hose access, so our students need to haul heavy buckets of water from inside the school to water our habitat!

BUGS was honored to receive a grant from the Citizen's Committee for New York City to pay for storm water collection system materials. We now need funds to fund additional staff to collaborate with teachers and groups of students to design, build and implement the system and study its effects. 

Please help us fund our Sustainability Teacher in this dynamic and important hands-on learning project that will reduce storm run-off, quench BUGS’ thirsty garden, and build students’ knowledge and skills!

BUGS’ Sustainability Teacher will engage teachers and students to:

Create a Rain Water Collection and Storm Water Reduction project and connect it to the BUGS curriculum in all subject areas. Examples: students will calculate water volume and rainfall rates in math class, design the system in art class, and study the historical significance of water use and gathering in social studies.

1. Design a rain water collection unit.
2. Build the rain water collection unit in small student teams with different jobs and focus areas.  
3. Implement the system and observe any adjustments needed before winter freezing. 

100 hours of the Sustainability Teacher’s time @ $30/hour will enable our diverse student body to take part in this educational, hands-on, and sustainable project!

Our hands-on Rain Water Collection and Storm Water Reduction project will educate children while benefiting the environment. We’re launching this project because:

• Storm water run-off creates pollution, damages our water supply and wildlife, and causes flooding.
• Without hose access, our BUGS garden is thirsty and needs the water collected through our new collection system.
• Hands-on learning is an essential part of BUGS approach to creating inquisitive, inventive and innovative scholars! This interactive school-based project will cultivate students’ “systems thinking” that they need to understand sustainability, the interconnection of resources, and how to find creative solutions to vexing problems.