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1 Dear Educator: As a leader of water resource and management issues for central Arizona for more than a century, SRP introduces a new element of our water education efforts Flat Dewey. Inspired by Flat Stanley, the children s book by Jeff Brown, we have created Flat Dewey as a creative way to get students thinking about how water touches us daily. We hope this project will dovetail with your water education efforts, including those about the water cycle, water conservation and resource stewardship. There also are opportunities to tie material to Arizona geography, state history and the upcoming state centennial. Each of your students will get at least three Flat Dewey water drop posters, plus instructions and other collateral. Students will send Flat Deweys to relatives or family friends who live in Arizona; these friends of Flat Dewey will be asked to chronicle their travels with the water drop. The focus will be on how they come across forms of water and how water affects them. Flat Dewey companions can take photos to support their journals. What should be recorded? If a person went to the lake to fish, the individual can write about how the lake provides recreation as well as a place to keep water until people need it. The person might pass by a canal on the way to the lake, giving them the chance to explain how water from the lake travels to people in the city. Water doesn t have to be visible. One may remember when driving by a field of carrots that water is vital to food production. Improved water delivery techniques over the years have enhanced food supplies while conserving water for future generations. Flat Deweys and their individual journals should be returned to each student within a few weeks. Students will use the information compiled by friends and family to write a story about each of their Flat Deweys. Imagination and creativity are encouraged, as is knowledge of Arizona geography and water features. For ideas and inspiration about water resource issues, students may visit SRP s togetherweconserve.com site. Send SRP your students Flat Dewey stories by Wednesday, Nov. 23. After we review them, the class with the best combination of water resource knowledge and creativity will get a pizza party with Dewey! Send essays to SRP Community Outreach, PAB332, P.O. Box 52025, Phoenix, AZ Ultimately, we d like your students to learn about water conservation and water resource stewardship. Children our future voters and leaders need a body of knowledge to draw from to make intelligent decisions about water use and water resource management. What we hope will take hold in Arizona is a growing sense that taking responsibility for water stewardship is something we all must do. We re all shareholders in this future. Sincerely, Alison W. Smith SRP Senior Community Outreach Representative

2 THE FLAT DEWEY PROJECT Estimated Time for Entire Lesson: 1.5 hours (about 30 minutes per activity) State Standards Correlation Social Studies Strand 4/Concept 1: The World in Spatial Terms Social Studies Strand 4/Concept 2: Places and Regions Social Studies Strand 4/Concept 3: Physical Systems Social Studies Strand 4/Concept 6: Geographic Applications Science Strand 6/Concept 2: Earth s Processes and Systems Reading Strand 3: Comprehending Informational Text Writing Strand 3: Writing Applications Content Objectives Students will be able to identify on an Arizona map places their Flat Dewey has visited, including lakes and SRP dams. Students will be able to interpret information from letters from throughout the state and make generalizations about the regions of Arizona (physical characteristics, major landforms, tourist destinations, weather patterns, etc.). Students will be able to describe how water gets to them, describe common uses of water in our daily lives and list ways to conserve water.

3 Activity 1: Introducing the Flat Dewey Project Procedures Teacher draws attention to the Arizona map hanging on the focus wall or bulletin board. Introduce the lesson objectives and Flat Dewey Story. Teacher reads the Flat Dewey Story to students. Review the water cycle and diagram it on the board so students can make the connection between the water cycle and the story. Post the Water in Our Community poster and discuss it briefly. Read the Flat Dewey Story again to students, this time stopping on each location Flat Dewey visits to discuss where Flat Dewey is located (could discuss location in the water cycle, location on the Arizona map, location within the community, etc.). Arizona map Materials Water in Our Community poster (call or to request one) Flat Dewey Story handout Flat Dewey character in black and white or color (three per student) Flat Dewey parent letter and address sheet copied back-to-back (one per student) Next, introduce the Flat Dewey Project, explaining to students that they are going to color small Flat Deweys like the one in the story. Tell students they are going to send their Flat Deweys to visit parts of Arizona and will be getting information back about those places. Distribute the Flat Dewey character page, and give students time to color their Flat Dewey pictures. Encourage students to put their name, address (if they have one) and school mailing address on the back of each Flat Dewey they send. That night, students should take home the Flat Dewey parent letter and address sheet. They should return it to school with three addresses of friends or relatives throughout Arizona (the more spread out, the better). Logistics Note: Some students may not have relatives throughout the state. They can still get good stories from within Maricopa County. You could also partner with another class in a different area of the state and modify the Flat Dewey Project as a penpal-type assignment. Also, some students may not get all the Flat Deweys they send out returned. As a contingency plan, you could send extra Flat Deweys to your own friends within the state.

4 Activity 2: Sending Flat Dewey Procedures Introduce the activity. Either allow students to write their own letters or simply copy the participant letter and journal for each student (back-to-back). Optional Students Write Own Letters: Give students time to write their own letters to accompany the Flat Dewey Journal handout, which will be sent to friends and family. Either use the Flat Dewey Journal handout or allow students to brainstorm items and information they want to know from each destination. Encourage students to ask for the city and region of Arizona where Flat Dewey landed, what form Flat Dewey landed in (snow, rain, hail, sleet should make sense for region), what the weather is like there, what the terrain is like there and how people conserve water there. Students can also request that participants send a picture of Flat Dewey in the region/town he visited. Letters should also include a deadline for returning Flat Dewey and information. Arizona map Materials Colored dot stickers Returned and completed address sheets Envelopes (three per student) Stamps (three per student) If not writing your own letters: participant letters and Flat Dewey Journal handout (three per student copied back-to-back) On the Arizona map, use colored dot stickers to record locations where Flat Deweys are being sent. Have students address and stamp their envelopes, include their letters and colored Flat Deweys, and send! Use the school s address as the return address.

5 Activity 3: Flat Dewey Has Returned! Procedures Once you have received the Flat Deweys back via mail, distribute them to students (it s fun to make a big deal out of this!). Tell them it s raining in the classroom as all the Flat Deweys return to them! Give students time to read the information they received. Have them record their findings on the My Flat Dewey Story graphic organizer handout. Students should share either in groups or as a class where their Flat Deweys traveled to and the information they learned with other students. Remember to use dot stickers to record on the class Arizona map the places Flat Dewey visited. Give students time to ask questions about the map. Ask students questions such as the following: Materials Arizona map Colored dot stickers My Flat Dewey Story graphic organizer handout (one per student) Optional: science/ writing notebooks What do you want to know about Arizona now that you ve done this activity? What did you find out that was interesting? Is there anything else you want to learn about water or the water cycle? Record students answers on chart paper or the whiteboard, and encourage them to use responses on the list as research questions. Have students write a story about Flat Dewey s journey through the water cycle in Arizona. They can piece the stories of their three drops together and add their own ideas. You may also want to allow them to incorporate other Flat Dewey destinations from classmates. In their story, they should include important details about Arizona geography, plants, animals, regions and, of course, the water cycle. Optional Extension: Create a class book of students Flat Dewey stories, and share it with another class at your school. Lesson Closure: As a conclusion to the lesson, have students share what they have learned about Arizona and the water cycle. Brainstorm with students what they would like to do to continue the project, and encourage them to continue sending out Flat Deweys and collecting responses. SRP Flat Dewey Essay Contest: Be sure to enter your students essays, photos and pictures of their Flat Deweys into the SRP Flat Dewey Essay Contest. For more information about submitting essays, visit srpnet.com/celebratewater. The winning student will win a class pizza party with the real Dewey the Dew Drop! The contest ends Nov. 23, 2011.

6 Hi! My name is Flat Dewey, and I represent water in its many forms. My purpose is to help explain the water cycle, which follows the movement of water on, in and above Earth. Although the amount of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go in a hurry. Let me tell you about my travels throughout the state so far this year. Right after the new year, I was part of the Colorado River, flowing south past Parker. While I was resting on top of the river, the warm sun caused me and some friends to evaporate and go into the air as vapor. Higher in the atmosphere, a bunch of us got together to form a cloud. Strong winds moved us northeast, where we joined with more clouds. It was like a big party all of the clouds got bigger and thicker as more of my friends arrived as water vapor. As we traveled over the mountains in north-central Arizona, we met cooler air currents. It was too cold for me, so I joined with others to become a snowflake. The trip down was very peaceful, and I landed on a nice, big pine tree. I stayed in the pine tree for several days. A breeze came along, blowing me and other snowflakes onto the ground. Because we were in the shade under the tree, we got colder and combined to make ice. We stayed there for weeks, enjoying the company of pine needles, pinecones and squirrels. As winter changed into spring, the sun s rays reached us. Our ice group melted, and we separated into water drops. Some soaked into the ground, while the rest of us flowed downhill. We joined with others to form a small stream and traveled into a creek. Our journey in the creek took us to the Verde River. As part of the river, we continued flowing south until we became part of a larger body of water called Horseshoe Lake. Gradually, other water drops and I moved closer to Horseshoe Dam, which creates the lake. We flowed through the release gates into another reservoir, Bartlett Lake. The days are getting longer and warmer now. I like my new home, but as it is now summer, I think I may be changing and going somewhere else. Where will I go next?

7 Dear Parent or Guardian: We all know water is essential to our lives, but many of us take it for granted. Turn on the faucet, and there it is. When you see Earth from outer space, it s a blue planet with huge oceans covering 70% of its surface. Yet less than 3% of that is freshwater, and only 1% is considered usable freshwater. What is needed is more education about our precious water resources. As a leader of water resource and management issues for central Arizona for more than a century, SRP introduces a new element of our water education efforts the Flat Dewey Project in which your child s class is participating. Drawing on the inspiration of Flat Stanley, a children s book by Jeff Brown, we created Flat Dewey as a way to get children thinking about how water is part of our daily experience. Flat Dewey is a fun project that involves family and friends. Your child has three Flat Dewey water drop posters to give to different relatives or family friends who live in Arizona. The purpose is to have each family member or friend keep a journal about their everyday occurrences involving water. They are encouraged to take photos or draw pictures to support their stories. We ve included instructions with this letter to guide them, plus a form to help them keep a journal. After several weeks, participants should send back to your child their Flat Dewey, their journal, photos and any other materials that help tell the water story. Your child then will compile the journals he or she gets back from relatives and friends to write an imaginative story of how Flat Dewey traveled through Arizona. Students will give stories to their teacher by (provide date). Children can be creative as their imaginations let them. Each classroom and school will submit its collection of Flat Dewey stories to SRP. After we judge them, the class with the best collection of Flat Dewey stories will get a pizza party and an award. The important point is that your child learns about water conservation and water resource stewardship. Students our future voters and community leaders need a body of knowledge to draw from to make intelligent decisions about how to manage and use water. What we hope will take hold in Arizona is a growing sense that the responsibility for water stewardship is something we all must do. We re all shareholders in this future. Sincerely, Alison W. Smith SRP Senior Community Outreach Representative

8 Dear Parent or Guardian: As we mentioned in a letter that came to you from your child s teacher, Flat Dewey is a fun project that involves family and friends. It s a way to get children thinking about how water is part of our everyday experience. Your child has three Flat Dewey water drop posters to give to different relatives or family friends. The purpose is to have each family member or friend keep a journal about their everyday occurrences involving water. After a week or so, the family member or friend should return the poster to your child in order to finish the project. To help move this project along, we ve included this form for you and your child to complete and return to the teacher immediately. Please include the names of relatives or friends who live in Arizona and could participate in the Flat Dewey project. 1) Name Address City/ZIP code 2) Name Address City/ZIP code 3) Name Address City/ZIP code Please include Arizona residents only. Thank you.

9 Dear Friend of Flat Dewey: You are being invited to take part in a fun assignment by, a relative or family friend. As a leader of water resource and management issues for central Arizona for more than a century, SRP is collaborating with the student s school to introduce our Flat Dewey project. Drawing on the inspiration of Flat Stanley, a children s book by Jeff Brown, we created Flat Dewey as a way to get children thinking about how water touches our daily lives. Flat Dewey is water drop poster distributed to students. The poster is intended as a companion of sorts to help families understand the many uses and forms of water. You ll help the student who sent you this poster by completing the journal sheet that accompanies this packet. First things first: Please read the Flat Dewey water drop story on the back of the poster. While you work, run errands or take trips, think of ways Flat Dewey can travel with you and experience various forms of water. Take photos or draw pictures to support your stories! For example, if you went to the lake to fish, you can talk about how the lake provides fun as well as a place to keep water until people need it. On the trip to or from the lake, you may see a canal and explain how water from the lake travels to people in the city. You can be as creative as your imagination lets you. Water doesn t have to be visible. When going past a golf course, you may note that recycled water, rather than freshwater, is used to irrigate the greens. Or when visiting a park in a new neighborhood, you may point out that the landscape is irrigated from runoff channeled from the community into the park. The important point is that you put together a journal or notes that will help the student learn about water conservation and water resource stewardship. Students our future voters and community leaders need sufficient knowledge to draw from so they can make good decisions about how to manage and use water. SRP works with schools to promote water resource education. This year SRP launched a campaign to educate Arizona residents about our status as a water provider and leader in water issues. For ideas and inspiration about water resource issues, please visit SRP s togetherweconserve.com site. Also, feel free to contact the student s teacher with ideas or questions about the Flat Dewey project. Return your Flat Dewey journal sheet, with any photos, pictures or additional notes, by (provide date). The student will use the journal and any other materials you provide to write a story about Flat Dewey s trip around Arizona. The class with the best combination of water resource knowledge and creativity will get a pizza party! Sincerely, Alison W. Smith SRP Senior Community Outreach Representative

10 Flat Dewey Journal Your Name: Date of Arrival: Flat Dewey arrived on the above date. The weather that day was (circle all that apply): hot/mild/windy/humid/rainy/snowy/stormy Flat Dewey is currently visiting the (circle one): desert/mountains/lake/valley/high country The weather during his visit is (circle all that apply): hot/mild/windy/humid/rainy/snowy/stormy During his visit, we saw water in this form (circle all that apply): rain/snow/clouds/lake or pond/canal We also saw these places where water might be (circle all that apply): water tank/golf course (irrigation)/crops or farm field/underground storage facility or well Name the uses of water you and Flat Dewey saw or experienced in the course of a day. While Flat Dewey was with you, could the water drop have gone through the water cycle, meaning changing from vapor to water to another form then back to vapor? How could this have happened? Please explain. (For example, Here in Show Low, Flat Dewey evaporated during the warm afternoon but returned later as rain during a storm that night. ) While Flat Dewey was with you, what did you do to conserve water? Did you take shorter showers? Install water-efficient faucets? Put in a drip irrigation system? Please tell us how you conserved water.

11 My Flat Dewey Story Student s Name: Date: Directions: Use this graphic organizer to summarize your Flat Dewey s trip around Arizona and plan your story. Introductory paragraph: Tell us about Flat Dewey and the project you did with your class. Body first paragraph: Tell us about the first place Flat Dewey visited. How did Flat Dewey get there (wind, rain, snow, etc.)? Where did Flat Dewey land (city/town), and whom did he visit? Tell us about the relative/friend he visited and what the city/town is like. What did Flat Dewey do while he was there? Sum up the journal you got back from the relative/friend Flat Dewey was visiting.

12 Body second paragraph: Tell us about the second place Flat Dewey visited. How did Flat Dewey get there (wind, rain, snow, etc.)? Where did Flat Dewey land (city/town), and whom did he visit? Tell us about the relative/friend he visited and what the city/town is like. What did Flat Dewey do while he was there? Sum up the journal you got back from the relative/friend Flat Dewey was visiting. Body third paragraph: Tell us about the third place Flat Dewey visited. How did Flat Dewey get to this place (wind, rain, snow, etc.)? Where did Flat Dewey land (city/town), and whom did he visit? Tell us about the relative/friend he visited and what the city/town is like. What did Flat Dewey do while he was there? Sum up the journal you got back from the relative/friend Flat Dewey was visiting. Conclusion: End your story in a special way! Where will Flat Dewey go next?

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