STREAM OF DREAMS®
Fish on Fences
What are people saying about Stream of Dreams?
“We have all learned that we can make a difference,”
Kathy Bosci teacher
Teachers at Crescent Park Elementary School were asked if the Stream of Dreams program was successful in raising watershed awareness in their classes: "Absolutely! The presenters engaged the students using a variety of questioning techniques. Very well planned presentation. The presenters were passionate about this topic, most ably presented their information and students learned a lot." "The Stream is awesome!" "Wonderful class presentation, thank you. Very enjoyable, educational, and productive!" "It has spawned (no pun intended) a year-long theme. We will be studying water-related issues for the remainder of the year."
The most important lesson that the students learned, however, was that they are powerful citizens of the world.
Hundreds and hundreds of them! Joyous, exuberant, brilliantly-coloured fish of many sizes, many shapes, swarming and swirling and thrusting their way eastward along the fence, just as their real-life counterparts are now doing in the Fraser River down below. Graham Dowden
Every fish is different, every fish is individually painted according to the lights of each individual painter, and yet, all of them are artfully arranged into a community with a single interest - by colour groups, or according to whether they have hearts on them, or sunsplashes, or bones.
There's even a school of fish on this fish fence beside a school! All praise to the children who painted them, to the teachers and other adults who conceived this brilliant idea and inspired the children to execute it, and even to any of the rest of us capable, in this grim time of pollution and corruption and murder and war, of slowing down, taking in this stunning art exhibits and allowing our spirits to soar.
Graham Dowden Mission City Record. Reprinted with permission
“We are extremely excited to showcase the mural as part of our ongoing dedication and commitment to the environment,” says Joan Hamilton, principal at Roberta Bondar
Students, staff, parents, community volunteers and the CVC team worked together to prepare the mural. Students from grades 6, 7 and 8 painted wooden fish and pledged with their families to actively make lifestyle choices that would help preserve their watershed.
“Part of building a resilient community is to maintain the well-being of our environment,” says Hamilton. “We have tied the Stream of Dreams project into our curriculum through science, art and community involvement—this will provide the foundation for ongoing learning and action to protect and conserve our local water resources.”
