K-4

Read Coyote Wanders Up River (pdf) with your students. Discuss concepts introduced in the Teacher's Manual.
Have students read other Hispanic, Native American, ranching and cowboy, or other stories involving water in New Mexico. See Children's Book List (pdf).
Discuss with students the characters and the setting in the story. Ask them how the stories reflect New Mexico's relationship with water and the importance of water in New Mexico.
Have students think about an experience with a river, stream, lake, or water source. Have them recall details: time of day, season, weather, sights, sounds, smells. What feelings did they have? Why is their memory of that experience so strong? Have them write or tell a story about their water memory or an imaginary story using descriptive words and elements of composition. They may write a legend about why water is on earth or a story from the perspective of a raindrop, animal living by a stream, etc.
Have students create an illustration, painting, diorama, theatrical presentation, or dance about one of the stories they read or their own water story. You may want to invite local artists to help students create a mural, puppet show, theatrical presentation, or dance.
Have students reflect on their experiences or add their stories to their Water Journal.

Sayings, proverbs, and dichos

Talk with students about how people all over the world and especially in New Mexico pay attention to the weather and seasons for their survival — seasons and weather can tell people when to plant crops, when animals migrate, or when to move camp.
Discuss how, in New Mexico, our sayings and proverbs reflect the importance of water in our lives.
Give them an example of a proverb heard in New Mexico, when sheep gather in a huddle, tomorrow we’ll have a puddle or other popular sayings like when it rains, it pours or it’s a drop in the bucket.
Ask students if they have ever heard a saying or proverb (el dicho in Spanish) about water or weather. List them on the chalkboard.
Introduce other sayings from the Water Sayings (pdf) hand-out. Have they ever heard any of these? Can they give an example of a situation that illustrates the saying?
Have students work in pairs to illustrate or act out the meaning of a proverb. Have the rest of the class try to guess which proverb or saying they are representing.
Ask students to talk with their parents or family members about sayings they had about water or weather when they were children. Share these sayings with the class.
Make a booklet with the proverbs and sayings illustrated with drawings. Students may also add the sayings and drawings to their Water Journals.

Symbols

Discuss with students the different seasons in New Mexico. Ask them how water, weather patterns, and plants change in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Ask them what is their favorite season and why? What is their least favorite season and why?
Have students describe different activities they do in different seasons of the year — which ones have to do with water?
Talk about how water is critical for all living things. Native Americans in the Southwest honor and invoke rain with seasonal ceremonies and use symbols to represent clouds, lighting, and thunder in their pottery, weavings, baskets, ceremonial clothing, and petroglyphs.
Share with students Native American Symbols (pdf) from the Southwest and ask them what they think they represent.
Provide students with the meanings of the symbols. Have them try to match the symbol with its meaning.
Go to the Water Picture Gallery to find images of Native American designs in clothing, baskets, weavings, and other objects. Have students research (library, on the Web, or other sources) the meaning and use of the Native American symbols.
If you live in or near Native American community, have students bring in cultural artifacts from home displaying rain or water symbols.
Invite an elder to visit the class and share water-related stories and cultural artifacts. Check to see whether it is customary to offer the elder a gift in exchange for the information he or she shares with the class.

Presentation

Have students read their stories or perform their plays for another class, the rest of the school or the community. You may want to videotape their performance to share with family members.
Have students create a web page with their stories and illustrations to share with students from other states or other countries.
Share water stories with a sister city or school connected with an exchange program. Have students compare water in their community with water in another part of the world.

Assessment

How effective were the students in interpreting stories, sayings, and symbols about water?
How well were students able to determine the meaning and importance of water in their communities and in New Mexico through examining stories, sayings, and symbols?

Extension

Ask a local storyteller to tell the class a water-related story from New Mexico.
Listen to an audiotape of the story La Llorona told by Joe Hayes. Discuss the meaning of water in the story and any experiences they have had around water.
If you live in or near a Native American community, visit a ceremonial dance and observe how water is honored in the costumes, songs, and objects.
Discuss cultural events or artifacts that honor water in your community. San Ysidro, patron saint of farming, is believed to bring a good harvest. Look at cultural artifacts from ranching communities that involve water such as dowsing rods, water troughs, wells, and windmills.
Listen to songs or ballads about water. Have students write a song about water. They may want to use tunes from other songs like My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean or Oh, Susanna or create a rap using New Mexican water-related themes.
Create and play musical instruments to make water sounds such as rain sticks or drums.
Write a water poem. You may want to try various styles, such as Japanese Haiku, Dada, or Rap.