River of Dreams
River of Dreams is a cross-curriculum watershed education program tailored to elementary students, based on the book “Paddle-to-the-Sea”. Through the design and launch of a 14″ cedar canoe, participants learn watershed terminology and how their subwatershed fits into the Red River Basin. Interactive classroom activities include connections to reading, writing, social studies, math, and art.
River of Dreams Basics
Participants in River of Dreams will:
– Learn about watershed functions and terminology
– Discover the geography of local watersheds and how they fit into larger drainage areas
– Imagine a journey down a local river all the way to the ocean and write a story or poem to describe this ‘dream’
– Design and decorate a 14″ cedar canoe as an expression of themselves, the local watershed, and regional culture
– Launch canoes into a local river
– Track canoes at riverofdreams.org; where will they be found next?
Canoe Tracking Website
Each River of Dreams canoe is afixed with a label that reads “This canoe was launched by a student in the Red River Basin, go to riverofdreams.org to log your find” followed by a unique tracking number. The tracking ID allows students to follow the journey of their canoe as people find it along its way to Hudson Bay!
Program Highlights
Check out highlights of the last full year of River of Dreams program by watching the video to the right. Below, you will find links to recent media publications highlighting River of Dreams.
2021 DL-Online2020 GF Herald – UND2019 GF Herald – Miniature Canoes2019 Wahpeton Daily News2018 Crookston Times2018 Northern WatchTeacher Portal
Coming Soon – IWI is in the process of creating a portal for our River of Dreams teachers to access worksheets, review videos, and riverofdreams.org unpload instructions.