Hello, Lodi! It’s been quiet for a while – sorry about that!
We’ve been hard at work on this year’s edition of the Mokelumne Current, but not nearly as hard at work as Lodi students.
After months of hands-on citizen science, field trips, writing, drawing, photographing, trash pickup and more, they have created a fantastic eight-page newspaper full of everything they’ve learned and a dose of creativity, too. These are just a few samples of the fantastic work they’ve done.
The Mokelumne Current will be in Saturday’s edition of the Lodi News-Sentinel. Want to get involved in next year’s Mokelumne Current? Keep reading:
The Mokelumne Current is a unique watershed focused newspaper, written wholly by students for the Lodi community, about the Mokelumne River Watershed and its environs.
Throughout the 2016/17 school year, several LUSD Lodi teachers took a novel approach to teaching their students. Most used California Education in the Environment Initiative curriculum units by first attending a training workshop offered by the City of Lodi in August 2016, where they received their “golden key” to be able to order a free classroom set of EEI curriculum of their choice. Using the curriculum as a spring board, these teachers supplemented the EEI units with several field trips throughout the year, focused on the watershed, or raised salmon in the classroom, or monitored at the river with the Storm Drain Detectives.
Students got involved at the Lodi Lake Coastal Cleanup, went on a research trip in the Delta and the San Francisco Bay, worked weekly in their school’s Earthkeeper carried journals, made notes, prepared questions, created drawings, did research, and finally, met with Lodi News-Sentinel staff to learn how to write their thoughts and research as a journalist.
The Mokelumne Current is the product of their yearlong study. Please enjoy this harvest of ideas! Many, many hours were spent by teachers and students preparing their “copy,” fit for publication. If you would like to study the Mokelumne River watershed, or attend an EEI training workshop, or contribute to the next issue of the Mokelumne Current, please email kgrant@lodi.gov or call (209) 333-6800 ext. 2317.
Kathy Grant, City of Lodi Watershed Program Coordinator