Students investigate how clean water moves through their community and how a school garden can support people, insects, birds, and soil. Through runoff experiments, native garden planning, and stories from Kumeyaay and immigrant community partners, they learn that land, water, culture, and care are connected in San Diego. They work together to design a class garden plan and signs that show practical ways native plants, sand, gravel, and soil can slow dirty runoff and support living things. The experience builds students’ sense of place, voice, and responsibility as they share real solutions with families and community guests.

Students investigate how water moves through streets, drains, soil, sand, gravel, and native plants, and use that understanding to design a school garden that helps keep runoff cleaner. They learn what local insects, birds, and soil need to live well, and plan garden spaces and signs that support native plants, habitats, and healthy land. Students study how people in San Diego care for land and water, including Kumeyaay stewardship and stormwater protection, and connect family and immigrant community stories about water, food, and helpful plants to their garden plan. They build skills in observing, modeling, speaking, drawing, revising with feedback, and working together to share their ideas with families and community partners.

Students will create runoff test models, observation drawings, habitat-sorting charts, and draft garden maps as they investigate how water moves and what native plants, insects, birds, and soil need. They will also make native plant signs that name a plant, an insect or bird, and how that plant helps water, soil, or living things, adding family or community water and food stories gathered from immigrant community partners. As a final product, the class will produce a native garden plan with labeled plant spaces, drainage paths, and placements for sand, gravel, rocks, and soil to help water flow more slowly and cleanly. For the exhibition, students will share their revised models, signs, and short oral stories connected to Kumeyaay stewardship, stormwater protection, and the class garden design.

Kick off with a “Drain Detectives Day” where a city water staff member and a Kumeyaay cultural educator help students trace how rain moves from streets to storm drains, soil, rocks, and plants in San Diego. Students rotate through quick splash labs, pouring water into trays with sand, gravel, soil, and native plants to see which materials slow runoff and keep water cleaner. End with a garden story circle where families or a multilingual community partner share short stories about water, home foods, and helpful plants, and students sketch what people, insects, birds, and soil might need in a school garden. This shared experience gives students concrete questions to investigate about clean water, native gardens, and community care.

Host a Community Waterkeepers Fair where 2nd graders guide families, school staff, a city water staff member, a Kumeyaay cultural educator, and multilingual community partners through the class-built native garden plan, runoff models, and student-made signs. Students can demonstrate how water moves through sand, gravel, soil, and native plants, explain how the garden supports insects, birds, and soil, and share a short family or community story about water, home foods, or helpful plants connected to one part of the garden. Set up a walk-through “Drain Detectives Showcase” with labeled plant spaces and drainage paths so visitors can ask questions and give warm feedback. End with a reflection circle or comment wall where guests name one thing they learned about caring for land, water, and living things in San Diego.