One Square Block is designed to hone students’ skills of
observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving, all
necessary tools for effective watershed stewards. Every block
tells a story—of plants and animals, history and culture, soil
and water. One Square Block™ invites students to explore a
single square block in their community—their own neighborhood, a
local park, the schoolyard—and create poetry, art, and reports
about what they find there. Younger students may create field
guides to plants, trees, and animals on their block; they’ll
learn where their water comes from, where the rain runoff goes,
and who lived there a long time ago. Older students may
investigate land use, transportation, zoning, and other
specifics; they conduct oral histories and learn to identify
architectural details, weather patterns, and geographic
information systems (GIS) coordinates. Each block project will
post a detail-rich, standardized “block print” online and
compare its block with other blocks from around the world. We