My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains: Children's Book, Curriculum Activity Guide, and Teacher Workshops

Registration is now open for two days of hands-on place-based

teacher training designed around the children's book

My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains!

This year's Forests to Faucets: My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains teacher training workshop will be held on June 26-27 in Pagosa Springs. Registration is required. Please click here for registration details!

Project Overview

My Water Book

My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains is a book that takes children on an illustrative journey of snow falling high in the San Juan Mountains to becoming the water in their faucet tap. It introduces children to the distinctive wildlife, ecosystems, and diverse uses of water along the way from the mountains to the desert. By learning about their local environment, children experience connection to their “place” and the natural resources on which they depend. The Durango 9-R and Archuleta County School Districts have endorsed this project.

Published in 2009, this book is a local adaptation of My Water Comes from the Mountains, which focused on the Boulder Watershed in the Front Range. The new publication highlights the western San Juan Mountain watersheds and communities and incorporates art and quotes from school children in La Plata County.

The My Water initiative supported the publication and distribution of the book to schools and educators throughout the San Juan Mountain region. The book is available for free to classrooms in the southwestern San Juan Mountains (Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, and San Juan Counties) as supplies last. The book is also for sale from local and online booksellers.

This project is a result of the San Juan Collaboratory, a joint effort among MSI, Fort Lewis College, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the USFS/BLM San Juan Public Lands Center, along with Durango 9-R Schools.

Forests to Faucets Teacher Training Workshops

To maintain momentum within the My Water initiative and to provide educators with the resources and tools necessary to best utilize the books in their classroom, Forests to Faucets: My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains was developed. This program, developed through a partnership between MSI, Water Information Program, and San Juan Mountains Association, provides local teachers with free two-day workshops. The workshops build teachers' capacity for teaching watershed science by providing place-specific knowledge and activities that can be easily integrated in science and social science curricula. Each participating educator graduates with a copy of the My Water book and teacher guide and each school receives a My Water kit which contains materials to complete the activities in the teacher guide.

Past Forests to Faucets Workshops:

2012: Durango and Silverton. 12 educators received 16 hours of in-depth, place-based education.

Upcoming Forests to Faucets Workshops:

2013: Pagosa Springs. Visit our workshop event page for details on registration.

Participating Districts & Schools

Archuleta 50 Joint: Pagosa Elementary

Bayfield 10Jt R: Bayfield Elementary

Dolores RE-2(J): Seventh Street Elementary, Rico Elementary

Durango 9R: Animas Valley Elementary, Escalante Middle School, Florida Mesa Elementary, Fort Lewis Mesa Elementary, Needam Elementary, Park Elementary, Riverview Elementary, Sunnyside Elementary

Durango 9R/Diocese of Pueblo Catholic School Net.: St. Columba School

Ignacio II JT: Ignacio Elementary, Ignacio Intermediate

Mancos RE-6: Mancos Elementary

Silverton: Silverton Elementary

Telluride R-1: Telluride Intermediate

Atsa Biyaazh Community School

Four Corners School of Outdoor Education

Southern Ute Indian Tribe