Environmental Protection posters

W.A.T.E.R. - What a True Environmental Resource! How will you conserve and protect it?

Dear Fifth/Sixth Grade Educators,

We invite your students to participate in the annual Environmental Pathways statewide poster and poetry/prose exhibit. The theme of the 2016 event is W.A.T.E.R. - What a True Environmental Resource! How will you conserve and protect it? focusing on the importance of conserving and protecting water, including drinking water and storm water; both individually and as a community.

We believe that the creation of posters and written works gives your students an opportunity to express and share, on a deeper and more personal level, what they have learned. The student exhibit also draws attention to environmental issues.

We recommend that you have a school exhibit of your students' works. Ask students and faculty to vote for their favorite entries. Then send the Illinois EPA the top four posters and top four poetry/prose entries (representing the school) for inclusion in the statewide exhibit.

Students whose works have been chosen for the exhibit, together with their parents and teachers, will be invited to an awards reception in Springfield. The finalists will receive certificates and ribbons. Twelve students (six in each category) will be given special recognition and will each receive an environmental reference book for his or her school's library. Following the recognition reception, the works will remain on display at the Illinois EPA April 11 through May 9.

The top twelve entries also will be displayed on the Illinois EPA's web site providing additional recognition for the winning entries as well as promoting the program.

Exhibit timetable is as follows:

Educators introduce green infrastructure and the impact to water resources and why it's important; and to explore ways that individuals and communities can help conserve and protect drinking water and storm water.January 19-22Students create posters or written works relating to the theme focus.January 25-29Teachers display posters and poems/prose at their school. Students and faculty vote to select four posters and four written entries to submit to the Illinois EPA for further judging.February 1Teacher/school sends four posters and/or four poems/prose to the Illinois EPA; a total of eight entries per school. Entries must be postmarked before or on February 1, 2016.February 17Illinois EPA staff selects the top posters and written works for exhibition.February 18A panel of judges (from local organizations) selects the top twelve entries.April 9Reception and awards ceremony held in Springfield.April 11 - May 9Top posters, poems and prose on exhibit at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Springfield.