Estuary & Park Ecology
About this Program
The Estuary and Native Plants course will provide opportunities for urban students to explore natural spaces in and around Stuyvesant Cove Park and the East River tidal strait. It will encourage students to experience the park and estuary as fascinating and complex living ecosystems. Students will learn about the science and history of Stuyvesant Cove Park and the East River while participating in water quality testing and analysis, native plant studies, wildlife observations, oyster gardening, and composting, among other activities. The program will help students to better understand and connect with our local ecosystems and to encourage their stewardship of our natural resources.
Estuary Program Setup
This grant-funded program is currently available at no cost.
Schedule a Program: To schedule a program please fill out this Pre-Visit Form and email back to education [at] solar1 [dot] org.
Time and Setup: Solar One offers either 1 or 2 sessions that last approximately 1.5 hours long on-site at Solar One and in your school. Solar One offers opportunities for schools to use our East River location to conduct water quality testing during these sessions and as separate field trips. There is a maximum of 25-30 students for this program at one time.
Solar One provides a water quality program that explores the East River Estuary through Field Study and Water Quality Labs. Available for one or multi-session programs at Solar One and in your school.
Session One: Introduction to the East River Estuary & Water Quality
Session Two: Water Quality Lab
Program Outline: Estuary Ecology (pdf)
Park Ecology Program Setup
Schedule a Program: To schedule a program please fill out this Pre-Visit Form and email back to education [at] solar1 [dot] org.
Time and Setup: Solar One offers from 1-3 sessions that last approximately 1.5 hours long on-site at Solar One and in your school. Solar One offers opportunities for schools to explore Stuyvesant Cove Park’s native plants and animals during these sessions and as separate field trips. There is a maximum of 25-30 students for this program at one time.
Session One: Introduction to Urban Ecology
Session Two: Ecology Project & Park Tour
Session Three: Native Species Investigation
Oyster Gardening
For 2 years now Solar One’s Education Program has worked with oyster gardening program partners NY/NJ Baykeeper, The River Project and The New York Harbor School to connect schools and teachers with a rack of oysters that they can observe and help monitor as a key part of the NYC Oyster Gardening Program. Solar One hosts oyster gardens on the East River – if interested in obtaining the permit for a rack of oysters contact the Baykeeper here.
Resources
SCORE (oyster specific)
MD Sea Grant (oysters K-12)
LA Sea Grant (oyster biology)
Aquaculture
BRIDGE (gen. marine)
Teacher Materials
Click on the links below to download great worksheets, readers and activities perfect for you classroom. The files are PDF files, if you do not have Adobe Reader you can download one here.
General Water Quality Resources:
Water Quality Reader (For Grades 4-8) PDF
Program Outline (PDF)
Baykeeper Oyster Presentation
Note: These materials are meant for educational purposes solely. All text, unless otherwise noted, is copyright Solar One 2008.
Water Quality Monitoring Station
Thanks to a generous grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation Solar One is home to a Water Quality Sonde Monitoring Systems. Apart of a network of water quality stations around the city, the station provides a live data feed of important water quality parameters from the East River Tidal Strait. This data can be accessed via our website here.
Check out the real-time data from our East River Water Quality Monitoring Station here.
Resources
River Project
The NY/NJ Baykeeper
The Gowanus Oyster Garden Stewards
Inland fishes of New York
East River NYC
Green Shores
Pictures
