Day in the Life: The Beginning
“Day in the Life” (DitL) programs started on the Hudson River and New York Harbor in 2003 with a dozen schools and 300 student participants. These students headed down to the river’s edge to do some sampling and sharing of their data. Both students and teachers ‘were hooked!’ as they found the event provided a meaningful educational experience that allowed the students to apply their learning through hands on science at the river. The event has continued and grown ever since. The most recent Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor event has involved ~5000 students and educators at about 90 sites covering the full Hudson estuary and beyond into the wider watershed, with sampling occurring from the New York Bight up to the Troy Dam, stretching above the dam to Peebles Island and on up to the Adirondacks, and reaching west into the Mohawk River, the Hudson River’s largest tributary.
The DitL of the Hudson and Harbor also spurred DitL events across New York State, from Peconic Bay and Carls River on Long Island to the Niagara River and Lake Erie. More recently, before COVID, there was the DitL of the Genesee River and the last couple of years have seen the DitL of Lake Ontario and St Lawerence River. And, in 2024, DitL of the Oswego River and Finger Lakes is starting.
Hudson River and New York Harbor
For resources including lesson plans, guides to fish, crabs, and macroinvertebrates; history of the original DitL and its partners; 20 years of data from DitL of the Hudson and Harbor events; and more, visit Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory’s Day in the Life of the Hudson & Harbor page. You can even watch a video about the day’s events!
Niagara River/Lake Erie (NRLE) Watershed
For resources about DitL of Niagara River and Lake Erie, and to learn about more Great Lakes Teacher resources, visit DEC’s Reinstein Woods’s NRLE Classrooms site.
Lake Ontario and St Lawrence River
For resources, data, and information about the DitL of Lake Ontario and St Lawerence River, visit the DEC’s page on the event.
Oswego River and Finger Lakes
For resources about the 2024 DitL of the Oswego River and Finger Lakes, visit the DEC’s page on the event.
