Week 1 of SPREE summer camp started off with a fun theme of "Special Agent Training!" Kids at both camps spent the week of June 3-7 learning how to care for the River and environment, defeat some SPREE villians, and how to catch some crawdads in the River and Creek! 
Monday: What is a Special Agent?
Campers received a mission from Chompers, head of the SPREE Force, to learn to become special agents during camp this week, as well as learn some facts about water in Denver to get an idea of what challenges they may face over the week. Campers started by thinking about all the different ways they use water every day. There are more direct and indirect uses than you might think of at first! We also talked about the many different ways people in Denver need and use water- in homes, businesses, farms, factories, etc. We acted out how it can be challenging to share this limited resource, and discussed ideas on how to make it work. Next, campers learned that this water actually comes from the River right next to camp- the South Platte! We learned that the River starts in the mountains, and the water in it actually runs all the way to the Ocean!
For our special agent skills course of the day, we got to get introduced to the many Agents of the SPREE Force and learn about the special skills they each have. Then, we practiced some skills of our own through activities and games. We made disguises, practiced getting to know each other and being a good teammate, and honed our observation skills. 
Finally, it was everyone's favorite part of the day- critter crawl! We learned about what critters can be found in the River and Creek, how they indicate water quality, and we got to get in the water to catch some! We were challenged by Crusher the crawdad- and right hand man of Chompers, to each catch and hold a crawdad this week!
We all wrapped up the day with the start of our Special Agent Code of Conduct list that we added to throughout the week as we learned more and more!

Tuesday: Drip Drop and Evil Drip Drop
As we started our dive into the characters of the SPREE Force on Tuesday, we learned about Drip Drop, who likes to clean and conserve water, and Evil Drip Drop, who likes to pollute and waste water. Through these good and evil twins, we learned how to conserve water, keep water clean, and potential ways water can be wasted and polluted. 
To learn a little more about how water works, we did a few activities on the water cycle- especially how water works in a city. There is a natual water cycle that is always moving and changing water in our environment, but there are many man-made systems that we all depend on to keep water clean and available to use. We also acted out a story that showed us how even though we do our best to take care of our city's water, there are ways that we might not realize that we negatively impacting the waterways. But, there are many easy things we can do to help prevent this! We even investigated at camp on how much water a leaky faucet would waste in just a day! To wrap up, we worked together through an activity showing us that while there is a huge amount of water on Earth, there is very little of it that is fresh, and a precious small amount that we are able to use!
For our special agent training portion of the day, we honed our teamwork skills by playing games focused on critical thinking, agility, and working together! And of course, we got to get into the water and cool off while catching crawdads and macroinvertebrates. 

Wednesday: Energy Star and Energy Leech
Energy Star and Energy Leech are two more SPREE Force characters who are constantly at odds-one trying to conserve energy, and the other is trying to waste it! At camp on Wednesday, we learned how we use energy in our daily lives, how energy use is tied to the environment, and how we can make smart energy choices at home and camp. 
We invented and played our own board game, made "Wanted" posters for the Energy Leech, and made lightswitch covers to help us remember to turn off our lights.
Next, we got to use a cool renewable source of energy to help give us a snack- we used a solar oven (made from a pizza box and tinfoil) to cook some s'mores we got to have as a delicious snack! We then tried to burn off our own energy, calories, by doing some activities around camp. But after we got warmed up from that, we got to cool down by making our own cooling bandanas!
For critter crawl today, we learned a little bit about how water can be used as an energy source before we ventured in to catch and investigate more water-dwelling creatures.

Thursday: Defeat the Couch Potato
​Campers went on a field day, worked on more special agent skills, and worked to defeat the villain that is occasionally found in all of us- a couch potato! 
At the Cherry Creek Train, campers walked over to Confluence park for field day. HQ campers headed over to nearby Vanderbilt park. Campers spent the day exploring the new space, participating in silly games like a disguise relay, and making crafts back at camp. 

Friday: Trash Monster
The Trash Monster is the SPREE Force's archnemisis! He loves to eat trash, spread trash around the city and it's waterways, and spread pollution wherever he can. Now that the campers were expert special agents after honing their skills all week, they were finally up to the task of taking him on!
First the campers learned about one of the Trash Monster's secret transportation systems- storm drains! We learned that storm drains are designed to help keep the city safe from floods, but they can also be a trash transport system! We identified some storm drains and outfalls near camp, played storm drain tag, and played a storm drain relay game!
Next, we worked with our engineering minds and designed and built Trash Monster trap prototypes! 
Then, we were able to get wet to cool off and make sure we completed Crusher's challenge for us this week- for everyone to hold a crawdad!
Our awesome special agent week wrapped up with a graduation ceremony. Everyone got to take home their special agent passport and a sticker to help remember the week!

On Tuesday, the focus was on how people in Colorado use and utilize the river as a resource. We played games about irrigation, explored native and non-native plants, dug miniature reserviors, and built our own model water-treatment plants. ​

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to the animals of the South Platte in Denver. On Thursday, we focused on the larger, vertebrate river dwellers. Campers acted out the lives and skills of beavers, made prints with native fish, and learned about Colorado's state fish- the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. ​

SPREE summer campers this week became water experts during Water Engineers camp! We started by learning more about what an engineer does, and what the engineering process looks like. We did an activity to figure out the typical order of the engineering steps: 
​1. Identify the Problem (What do we need to do? What is our goal?)
2. Brainstorm (the most important step!)3. Design (blueprint)
4. Build (may be a model/prototype at first)
5. Test and Evaluate (Then may need to go back to step 4, until it is perfect and safe and ready-to-go! Or even go back to steps 2-3)
6. Share the Solution
Monday's focus was on many different forms of River engineering. One activity was on bridges. We learned about many types of bridges and how they work. Then, we constructed our own mini river bridges with limited materials and tested them out with different weights on top. Another river engineering feat we learned about and modeled was locks and dams. We learned about how they work, looked at some real locks and dams in the creek, and made some models and tested them with some mini boats we built! 

"The power of water" was the theme for Tuesday! Campers learned about the unique skills and properties that water has, as well as the power it has that people can harness for work and energy. First, campers learned about hydropower- how it is harnessed and how it works. Then, we built our own models of waterwheels and tried them out in the creek! 

On Wednesday, campers learned about a different aspect of water engineering- water quality! First, we experimented with our enviroscape. An enviroscape is a model of a city that shows how pollution and runoff in cities and rural areas get into and affect waterways. Then, we made a model water filtration system using rocks, dirt, sand, and other natural materials. while not safe to drink, we got some very cool and successful results! During our daily critter crawl, we learned more about water quality through the animals that live in the creek. Did you know that different macroinvertebrates have different tolerances to pollution levels? We caught many critters and sorted them into their water-quality indicator groups. The Cherry Creek is home to many pollution sensitive groups! Another cool thing that campers got to do on Wednesday is work with a guest educator, Donny Roush, from Denver public works. He worked with the campers to do a scientific check up on the creek. Campers did different tests that help us see the health of the waterway and learned more about  water quality in Denver.

Our field day took place on Thursday. The campers walked to nearby Confluence Park to investigate and play at the place where the two major waterways, the South Platte River and the Cherry Creek meet up. We played lots of games to beat the heat and looked for critters in the confluence.

Friday's focus was on the "Clean River Design Challenge." Campers were tasked with putting all of their gained water engineering skills and knowlege to the test to build miniature trash removal devices for the cherry creek. This was inspired by a competition that The Greenway Foundation hosts annualy, in which college students from several Colorado universities compete to design, build, and ultimately implement their in-stream trash removal devices. Campers were thrilled to have the CRDC event coordinator as well as a member from 2018's winning team as guest speakers for the day. They brought several models from the competition with that served as inspiration for campers' designs.
Campers did a great job learning about and experimenting with many different aspects of water engineering this week! We wrapped up our day and week with a graduation ceremony to celebrate. 

The last week of June took campers on a journey- a journey of the South Platte River! 
On Monday, campers started in the mountains, learning about where and how the South Platte begins. We made our own mini mountain models and discovered how snow melt forms into creeks, streams, and eventually rivers. And, we learned about how Colorado is the headwaters state, and that all of the water in Colorado flows out into other states. 
We built miniature watershed models demonstrating how water gets to Denver through the transmountain diversion and how it is then distributed and used throughout the city.
On Tuesday, the focus was on how people in Colorado use and utilize the river as a resource. We played games about irrigation, explored native and non-native plants, dug miniature reserviors, and built our own model water-treatment plants. 

Field Day was on Wednesday! We explored a new nearby park and learned about our local waterways with a hands-on activities. First, we investigated the storm drains that were nearby camp. These inlets and outfalls are where rainwater and snowmelt drain away from streets and sidewalks so that the city doesn't flood. Campers learned that this storm water goes straight from the streets to the creeks and river, with no filtering- even when the water picks up debris and trash on the way. Campers had a blast volunteering to pick up some trash in the park with grabbers and gloves to help prevent it from going into the river through the storm drain.

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to the animals of the South Platte in Denver. On Thursday, we focused on the larger, vertebrate river dwellers. Campers acted out the lives and skills of beavers, made prints with native fish, and learned about Colorado's state fish- the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. 

On Friday we zoomed in ever further on the South Platte. We caught, looked at, and learned about macroinvertebrates such as crawdads, clams, and dragonfly nymphs. Then, we got to look at some microscopic life, too! We used microscopes to look at and learn about some of the tiniest critters and particles that are in the river water. We especially liked learning about tardigrades, or water bears. They are tiny, near indestructible microscopic creatures that have many cool adaptations that allow them to survive in a wide variety of environments- even space!
Next, we did some scientific tests to give the river a "check up." We tested the dissolved oxygen levels, pH, turbidity (clarity of the water), and took its temperature. With these test results, combined with the pollution intolerant critters we found, we were able to determine that the River is pretty healthy! 
After a week of learning about the South Platte's journey, the expert campers had a graduation ceremony!