Americorps Voice Christine Smith and Maris Wilson
Spring 2019 Christine Smith
Education at Umpqua Watersheds is flourishing with new connections resulting in more programs and additional youth interactions! Maris and I enjoy working in the office together, collaborating on some projects and working individually on others. I’ve been continuing programs from previous years and expanding on them while finding ways to bring [...]
Soils & Erosion
We did stations on soils and erosion at Hucrest this week! Students observed layers of soil in a jar, felt the different types of soil and used candy to replicate weathering. The weather has been on our side the last few weeks of the program.
Snowstorms in a jar
Students took their lessons in weather and climate and created snowstorms in a jar. This simple experiment creates a glittery, swirling mess in a jar. If you want to try it at home, all you need is: white paint, glitter, baby oil, water and alka seltzer. The alka seltzer creates a reaction that separates the [...]
Plants galore!
Fremont students are experimenting from plant starts! Hopefully we’ll see some produce & flowers sprouting in due time.
Food Chains with Hucrest
Science Wednesday at Hucrest has a full class of excited students, eager to jump into hands-on activities in science. We are going on our third week of lessons. Last week we focused on food chains and food webs in the forest. Students showed us their artistic side and drew their forest creatures after playing a [...]
Fishing with Fremont
After learning rules, regulations, fish anatomy, fish identification, and knot tying with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fremont Middle School students were ready to try their hand at fishing! We traveled to Cooper Creek where students worked together to practice baiting hooks and casting lines. We didn’t get any bites, but everyone had [...]
Food Webs and Tree Rings with Fullerton!
Fifth grade students at Fullerton Elementary have had the chance to do some hands on science in their classroom in addition to their Science Wednesday program.
At the beginning of November, students in Mrs. Cunningham’s and Mr. Lofton’s classes learned more about food webs. We talked about how everything in the environment is interconnected, including [...]
Science Wednesday with Fullerton Elementary
This marks week four of working with Fullerton 5th graders at Science Wednesday! Our group of 20 students have been getting hands on and learning about the environment. We have learned about the water cycle and water chemistry, discovered the difference between weather and climate, and discussed the importance of the carbon cycle. We only [...]
Getting Messy with the BGCUV Garden Club!
We have been partnering with the garden club at the Boys and Girls Club to teach lessons that connect the environment to their usual gardening activities. A few weeks ago, students learned about the different components of soil and got to see a soil layer profile. Then they used a mortar and pestle to grind [...]
Can you knot?
Fremont middle schoolers test their knot capability for their fishing unit. ODFW is coming in for the next few weeks to get them ready for a fishing field trip in December! Stay tuned for fish ID and sweet catches.