SDWF School Programs

The SDWF programs are available to all schools anywhere in North America. All lessons can be downloaded directly from our website and curriculum connections for respective provinces and lessons are provided.

School Program Poster

If you are a teacher who uses our programs and has developed additional worksheets, information sheets, etc. to go with our programs when you teach them that you would like us to post on our website so that other teachers can benefit from what you have created, we would greatly appreciate if you would e-mail them to us.

Expectations of Teachers

To encourage students to develop critical thinking skills, which will empower them to become active members of their community.

Expectations of Students

To be interested in, and open to, new perspectives and opinions about issues related to safe drinking water.

Operation Water Drop (OWD)

Elementary teachers can demonstrate seven scientific tests on their own community drinking water; Alkalinity, Colour, Chlorine, Heterotrophic Plate Count, pH, Ammonium, Sulphate. The students learn the basic need for testing their water to avoid health concerns and how bugs can grow in their water.

High School teachers can guide their students to work in groups and test for the above seven compounds, as well as an additional 6 analytical tests: Manganese, Iron, Nitrate, Residual Chlorine, Total Hardness and Arsenic. Students can compare their local water to three other sample waters as well as to a control medium.

Friends of the Environment

Many chapters of TD Friends of Environment Foundation have provided funding for schools to receive Operation Water Drop.

Thomas Sill Foundation

The Thomas Sill Foundation Inc. has generously donated $15,000 to make Operation Water Drop available to elementary and high schools in Manitoba, teachers from urban, rural and First Nation schools.

Green Street

Green Street is a standard of excellence in environmental education. It offers a variety of high quality environmental education programs that actively engage Canadian elementary and secondary school students in learning about the environment, promoting environmental stewardship and taking further action. Operation Water Drop is Green Street approved.

Green Street has sponsored 83 high schools and 84 elementary schools to receive Operation Water Drop kits free of charge.

*Please note: ordering through Green Street is available to Canadian Schools only.

Operation Water Flow (OWF)

OWF encourages teachers of Math, Chemistry, Biology and Social Studies to support the Science teacher in order to give students a more thorough understanding of issues surrounding drinking water, such as establishing the true cost of water, the social responsibilities of providing safe drinking water, the need for national regulations, and the need for water conservation and source water protection etc.

Green Street is a standard of excellence in environmental education. It offers a variety of high quality environmental education programs that actively engage Canadian elementary and secondary school students in learning about the environment, promoting environmental stewardship and taking further action. Operation Water Flow is Green Street approved.

Operation Water Flow is available free of charge to schools across Canada as a result of Green Street funding and support.

Operation Water Spirit (OWS)

OWS is a collection of thematic units and lesson plans which will reinforce Aboriginal culture and perspectives regarding water for Aboriginal students while at the same time provide an Aboriginal perspective to non-Aboriginal students about water issues.

Operation Water Spirit is available free of charge to schools across Canada as a result of Green Street funding and support.

Template for Change (T4C)

Template for Change is a program that resulted from the Action Plans in the final lesson plan of Operation Water Drop. As students made their community Action Plan as part of the closing to the school program, parents and community members became aware of the students' perspectives on drinking water and requested that the action plan become a blueprint for implementation and not end in the classroom.

Template for Change is available free of charge to schools across Canada as a result of Green Street funding and support.

Operation Water Pollution (OWP)

Operation Water Pollution is designed for use in both Elementary and High School classrooms. This program directly connects with Science and Social Studies curricula and is set up as content-integrated lessons. The series of eleven lessons guides students through an examination of water pollution issues. The students develop definitions of polluted drinking water that serves as the backbone for the other lessons in this program.

Friends of the Environment

Many chapters of TD Friends of Environment Foundation have provided funding for schools to receive Operation Water Pollution.

Green Street has sponsored several schools to receive Operation Water Pollution kits free of charge.

*Please note: ordering through Green Street is available to Canadian Schools only.

Operation Water Health (OWH)

Operation Water Health is designed for use in both Elementary and High School classrooms. This program directly connects with Health, Science and Social Studies curricula and is set up as content-integrated lessons. Teachers may choose to present one of the lessons or all of the lessons as they find the material to be most suitable or applicable for their students and related subject lesson plans. The series of eight lessons guides students through an examination of health issues associated with water. The students develop definitions for both healthy and unhealthy drinking water and these definitions serve as the backbone for the other lessons in this program.

Operation Water Health is available free of charge to schools across Canada as a result of Green Street funding and support.