Ocean Education 2003
International Year of Freshwater

Freshwater...
Our Living Link Wtih the Sea

Oceans Day 2003

Oceans Day, June 8, was declared in 1992 at the United Nations Earth Summit. The purpose of Oceans Day is to raise awareness about the life-sustaining role of oceans and to inspire people to take better care of them.

International Year of Freshwater
From space, the image of the continent where we live is like a huge island. Your community is one of thousands sprinkled across a huge mass of mountains, hilltops, flat lands, and wetlands. The freshwater that trickles from springs, creeks, and streams near you flows into complex networks of rivers and lakes. It may meander down the path of a watershed or thunder down waterfalls, churn into rapids, and then converge into larger water systems.

Whatever its path, the freshwater from your community inevitably drains into, and merges with, one of three vast oceans - the Arctic, Atlantic, or Pacific. Freshwater is our vital link with the global ocean, no matter where we live. It is this connection that we celebrate during this International Year of Freshwater.

Oceans Day 2003 Teachers Guide
Learning About Oceans, Unit 9
What's in This Unit?

• Ocean Links - a National Blue School Project that gives students a voice in ocean conservation.
• Curriculum-linked lessons on water, oceans, and wildlife.
• Tracking of ocean migrants through the Space for Species Web site.
• Ideas for school celebrations of oceans and marine and freshwater wildlife.

Order a copy of the Ocean Links game board that promotes awareness of water health in schools.

Order a copy of the Oceans Day poster to display in your school.

Download a copy of the Oceans Day 2003 Teachers' Guide in pdf format or order a printed copy.

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Join the National Blue School Ocean Links Project
Reserve an Afternoon to Participate in Ocean Links
Make a Point on the Water Map
Sign up for One to Five Years
Earn School Recognition
Play the Ocean Links Simulation
From Simulation to Reality
Blue School Program
Track Aquatic Species From Space
Resources

Join the National Blue School Ocean Links Project

The United Nations declared 2003 the International Year of Freshwater (IYFW) to draw attention to critical water problems facing our world today. IYFW will also generate action by individuals, governments, businesses, institutions, and communities to protect oceans worldwide.

Your students can take part in this international appeal for awareness to enhance water health by joining the Blue School program and participating in the national Ocean Links project. Ocean Links is a Canada-wide project that seeks to engage youth participation to:

• raise awareness about the life-sustaining role of oceans and to inspire people to take better care of them.
• promote an understanding that freshwater and saltwater systems are interconnected;
• create awareness that local actions to boost freshwater health also improve ocean health, and
• give students across Canada a voice in improving habitat health for freshwater and marine wildlife.

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Reserve an Afternoon to Participate in Ocean Links

Have your students look for signs of water health at their school and in their community by using the "Our Ocean Links Observations" sheet as a guide. Then, invite them to form opinions, based on their observations, about the health of local freshwater and the ocean into which it drains. Finally, ask students to suggest ways to improve ocean health and living conditions for aquatic wildlife by lending freshwater a helping hand. Have them send a completed "Our Ocean Links Water Health Report" to us by fax, mail, or e-mail so their voices will be heard. It's that simple! The report may also be completed on-line.

Every year, for five years, the Canadian Wildlife Federation and its Oceans Day partners will give youth a voice about ocean conservation by announcing students' views on the health of our freshwater and oceans. We will share their suggestions on how local actions by all Canadians can improve our oceans for marine life and all living things.

Make a Point on the Water Map

Be part of the "bluing" of Canada - literally! Schools participating in the Blue School program and/or the Ocean Links project will be identified as blue "water drop" points on Ocean Links Schools map. Make your students proud to see their school's name counted as part of a youth effort to make Canada more ocean-friendly.

Sign up for One to Five Years

Ocean Links will last for five years. Participate this year to celebrate IYFW, or stay with the project for two or more years. Register as a Blue School and make Ocean Links your starting point to boost ocean health. Your students' observations this year will draw attention to conditions at their school or in their community that could be improved to boost the health of freshwater locally for the sake of oceans globally. Staying with the project means future classes can track the progress of improvements recommended by previous classes.

Earn School Recognition

Schools participating in the Ocean Links project will receive a beautiful certificate for each year of involvement in the project.

Download a copy of the Blue School registration form.

Click here to continue.

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