Connecting students and salmon...
(continued)
applied math and science skills for real-world purposes such as
observing macro-invertebrates using a jeweler’s loop, reading a
thermometer, testing the pH level of a water sample, and record-
ing water quality test data on tables and graphs.
Salmon Release Day
On salmon release day my students rotated in small groups
through a variety of learning stations which I had set up along the
banks of a 100-yard stretch of Clear Creek. The stretch of creek is
on private property which we were invited to use for educational
use by a Kiwanis member. Here, Clear Creek meanders beneath a
dense canopy of alder, big leaf maple, Douglas Fir, Western Hem-
lock, and Western Red Cedar trees. Whereas in some sections of
Kiwanis member, Terry Sonnabend, explains his salmon rearing pond to a
group of third graders.
clear creek the water is slow moving and deep over a muddy bot-
tom, at this particular section of Clear Creek the shady and cool
water runs clear and fast over a gravelly bed. There are numerous forming a water quality analysis and stream study.
tree branches, logs, and rocks in the stream forming dark deep The water quality analysis consisted of a series of tests taken
pools every so often. These are all indicators that the stream in this at various stations along the stream. The tests included search-
location is truly an ideal habitat for salmon fry... or is it? That’s ing for and identifying macro-invertebrates (such as stone fly
the question my students were challenged to investigate by per- and caddis fly nymphs), and testing the water for its pH, nitrate,
phosphate, dissolved oxygen levels, and turbidity levels. Addi-
tionally, students also measured the water temperature and rated
the riparian zone for how much shade it provided the stream, and
observed the stream to determine if it had an appropriate amount
of woody debris (such as fallen logs and sticks), rocks, gravel,
riffles, pools, and undercuts. Each of these was rated on a Likert
scale to give an overall value of the health of the stream. Though
over the years there were differences in the number and type of
macro-invertebrates found, the other tests and measures remained
fairly consistent over the years and the section of the creek was
concluded year after year to be a “healthy” and ideal location to
release to release our Chum salmon.
Besides the Clear Creek check-up, the students participated
in a variety of other hands-on learning stations along the creek to
include mapping the Chum Salmon migration route, exploring
the effects of storm water run-off and erosion, planting trees, ob-
serving the soil of the forest, searching for and identifying plants
and trees in a scavenger hunt, and listening to Northwest Native
American folktales. Further, students were involved in simula-
tions such as Survival in the Forest, in which students played the
role of various animals and had to survive by finding appropriate
amounts of food, water, and shelter (depending on their species)
and by avoiding certain dangers such as hunters and forest fires.
Another simulation, Build a Tree, involved students role-playing
various components of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, and leaves)
and the different seasons of the year. However, by far the favor-
ite simulation was the Salmon Salmon game in which students
played either a salmon or a predator such as an otter, seal, bear,
or orca. The salmon had to travel from one section of a field, the
“stream”, through an “estuary,” then through “Dye’s Inlet,” “the
Puget Sound,” the “Straight of Juan de Fuca,” and finally, into the
“Pacific Ocean” and then back to the stream without being eaten
by a predator. This was the culminating activity of every salmon
release day and proved a very realistic illustration of how only a
small percentage of salmon actually make it back to the stream of
Third graders testing the nitrate level of Clear Creek.
their birth to spawn.
Page 16 http://www.clearingmagazine.org Clearing - 2009 Compendium Edition
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