Watershed Explorers

Lake Hodges

Overview

Led by the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, students learn about the importance of Lake Hodges and the surrounding area to local wildlife and overall watershed vitality and health. They are introduced to wildlife monitoring and survey techniques and become citizen scientists for the day collecting valuable data for the San Dieguito Citizen Science Monitoring Program. Students then split into teams to look for animal tracks & scat, search for reptiles & amphibians, look and listen for birds, and test the quality of the water collected in the reservoir.

Objectives

Students will:

learn about the importance of Lake Hodges and the surrounding area to wildlife, and overall watershed vitality and health;
be introduced to scientific surveys being conducted within the San Dieguito watershed and become citizen scientists for the day collecting valuable data for the River Park; and
get hands-on experience with mammal tracking, reptile & amphibian surveys, identifying birds, and testing water quality.

California Performance Expectations & Dimensions

Note: This program can assist with meeting the following Performance Expectations and Dimensions from California’s Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Grade 5: 5-PS3-1; 5-LS1-1; 5-LS2-1; 5-ESS2-1; 5-ESS2-2; 5-ESS3-1.

Grades 6-8: MS-LS1-3; MS-LS1-4; MS-LS1-5; MS-LS1-6; MS-LS1-7; MS-LS1-8; MS-LS2-1; S-LS2-2; MS-LS2-3; MS-LS2-4; MS-LS2-5; MS-ESS2-1; MS-ESS2-2; MS-ESS2-3; MS-ESS2-4; MS-ESS2-5; MS-ESS2-6; MS-ESS3-1; MS-ESS3-2; MS-ESS3-3; MS-ESS3-4MS-ESS3-5.

Grades 9-12: HS-LS2-1; HS-LS2-2; HS-LS2-6; HS-LS2-7; HS-LS2-8; HS-LS4-6; HS-ESS1-5; HS-ESS1-6; HS-ESS2-1; HS-ESS2-2; HS-ESS2-3; HS-ESS2-4; HS-ESS2-5; HS-ESS2-6; HS ESS2-7; HS-ESS3-1; HS-ESS3-2; HS-ESS3-3; HS-ESS3-4; HS-ESS3-5; HS-ESS3-6.