Watershed Classes
Adopt-a-Watershed
Classes at Wilder Elementary

“Must we always teach our
children with books?
Let them look at the mountains
and the stars above.
Let them look at the beauty of
the waters and the trees and the flowers on earth.
They will then begin to think,
and to think is the beginning of real education.”
Rachel Carsen
Grade
K - What is a watershed? Learn
what a watershed is and then take a tour to observe the
watershed including Colin Creek & Big Bear creek Wetlands
#26 near Wilder.
Grade K
- Colors and Shapes in Nature: To
support the learning of colors and shapes in the classroom,
in the watershed the students observe the colors and shapes
in nature.
Grade K
– Living/Nonliving: in the spring,
tour the watershed to observe and discuss what is living and
nonliving.
Grade 1
- Spider Hunt: To support
classroom study of spiders, the students with parent
volunteers observe spiders and their webs in our watershed
by going on a spider hunt.
Grade 1
- Temperature: In the
winter students test the water and air temperatures at 7 of
the watershed sites. Parent volunteers help the students to
take the temperature, read and record the information. They
learn the importance of cool water to salmon and other
stream life.
Grade 1
- Seed Hunt: In the spring
the students go on a seed hunt in the watershed after
learning about how many plants grow from seeds and the
different ways a plant may spread it’s seeds so new plants
can grow.
Grade 2
- Wildlife Inventory: The students
go to different sites in the watershed to observe and
document what kind of wildlife may be living there.
Grade 2
- Photo Documentation: The
students at different times of the year visit the watershed
sites to take a photo documentation of that site from
different vantage points. This documents the changes over
the years and the seasons.
Grade 2
- Water Cycle & Terrarium.
The students have an indoor lesson in the winter presented
by Nature Vision and Woodinville Water. They are introduced
to the water cycle through a song and a slide show. Then
they make a terrarium to take home to observe the water
cycle first hand.
Grade 3
- Native Plant Studies: The
students learn how to identify native plants and the
importance of these plants to the watershed and the wildlife
there. In the fall they participate in a plant scavenger
hunt after learning how to identify native plants. In the
winter they learn to identify plants by their twigs and then
visit the watershed to practice this skill. During spring
watershed the students do a plant inventory of the different
sites by choosing, identifying then pressing a specimen for
the site plant book.
Grade 4
- Salmon Studies: The fourth grade
students spend the year in the study of the lifecycle of the
salmon. We start in the fall with a stream survey/salmon
spawning field trip. The students take a stream survey of
Cottage Lake Creek to evaluate the health of the stream
while observing wild King and Sockeye Salmon spawning.
In November
we get Coho eggs from the hatchery and fertilize them with
the students. The whole school follows the development of
the salmon from egg to fry. The fourth grade students feed
and clean the tank. In April, they release the salmon fry
with the kindergarten classes into nearby Colin Creek.
Grade 4
- pH & Wetland Survey: In
the spring the students take a walk out to Big Bear Creek
Wetlands #26 to test the pH of the water and to perform a
visual wetland survey. They learn about the pH of water and
it’s importance to wildlife as well as a visual evaluation
of the wetland. Both these tests help determine the health
of the wetland.
Grade 5 - Macroinvertebrate testing:
In the fall and the spring the students learn about
macroinvertebrates (stream bugs) and their tolerance or
intolerance to pollution and their importance to stream
life. They then sample the stream bugs and identify them to
determine the health of the stream.
Grade 5 - Enviroscape Model:
in the winter the students participate in a hands on
demonstration presented by Nature Vision and Woodinville
Water. They learn how communities contribute to water
pollution and the changes that can be made to lessen the
pollution to the waterways.
Grade 6 - Dissolved
Oxygen:
in the fall
the students learn about the importance of dissolved oxygen
to life in the stream. Sampling different site on Colin
Creek they perform a test to determine the level of oxygen
at their site. They then determine the health of the stream
by the level of oxygen present as well as learn the
importance of good scientific method.
Grade 6 - Flow and
Velocity: In the spring the
students learn how the flow (how much) and the velocity (how
fast) of a stream can determine the health of that stream
and it’s ability to sustain aquatic life. They take flow and
velocity measurements on 5 different sites on Colin Creek to
determine the health of the stream at these sites.
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