Monterey Pass Battlefield Institute

4-6 Grades (Running Time: 45 minutes)

Maximum number of volunteers: One to two interpreters.

Theme:

Students will obtain a better understanding of how pollution spreads to our local waterways by interacting with an interpreter. These waterways include the Antietam Creek which dumps into the Potomac River near Shepherdstown, WVA. From there the Potomac River flows to the Chesapeake Bay.

Objectives:

Using a visual aid, students will see first-hand how pollution affects the Antietam Creek. They will also learn that what happens in our area, could affect other water ways downstream.

Materials Used:

1.       8.5x11 paper sheets
2.       Blue marker or crayon
3.       Pencils
4.       Sanitized trash like bottles, Styrofoam plates, cans…ect…

Procedure(s):

1. Give out one sheet of paper, one pencil and one blue marker or crayon to each person.

2. Instruct each person to color in half (landscape) of the paper blue without telling them that is a waterway. The white half of the paper, each student will use a pencil and draw what their dream house, dream business or dream farm would be. Fifteen minutes should do just fine.

3. After the students are done, gather all students up and stand them in two lines facing each other. Starting with the front of the line have each student explain what their dream house, business, and or farm would be. The student will then lay the paper down with the white sections pointed toward their feet and the blue sections on both sides of the line connecting and making a creek.

4. Once all papers have been placed on the ground, then explain that the blue represents the Antietam Creek.

5. Go over the amount of pollution that is generated by their dream house, business, or farm. Pollutants can occur in from the rain, floods, or simply runoff.

6. Take however amount of sanitized trash and place it into the students hands. The bigger the dream, the more trash they will receive.

7. After all the trash has been handed out, start with the front of the lines and have each student pass their trash to the next student, so on and so forth. By the time all of the trash makes its way to the end of the lines, explain how trash and pollutants from upstream make their way downstream and dumps into the Potomac River which flows to the Chesapeake Bay.

8. After the last two children have all of the trash, ask them what they could have done differently to stop the pollution? Simple solutions could include recycle, not to build near the creek and so on. There isn’t really a wrong answer for this, as its more of a discussion to think outside of the box.

Closure: Ask the students what they could do in order to help protect the Antietam Creek? Such as landscaping, trees, or build further away from the creek.

Our site Director John A. Miller designed a program similar to that of what he did when he was a historian at South Mountain State Battlefield. The program simply called "Hiking Through History" allows outdoors enthusiasts to take in the nature, beauty and history. The program isn't a tour, but rather it's a hike that breaks down the different time periods of what occurred without bogging the hiker down with a ton of facts. The program at Monterey Pass did just that. We covered history of our park from 1747 to 1945. And yet some of the landmarks at our park were formed over a period of millions of years ago such as Monterey Peak. The tour itself covered about three miles of trails in our park and it was the first time that many outdoors enthusiasts were able to explore the park in whole. It also is a great way of exercising as hiking through the woods is good for the mind and body.