STRAW
2005-2006
Mary
Collins School at Cherry Valley
Petaluma
City Schools
Ms.
Shelley’s Sixth Grade
Study
Site: San Pablo Bay National
Wildlife Refuge
Project:
Coastal wetlands restoration
Activity:
Invasive plant eradication, mapping extent of Lepidium latifolium
San
Pablo Bay
We walked on a levee, drew mountains, and used a GPS.
It was really cool to see the tide change, it went from so shallow that
birds could walk in it to high. I
even identified the wild radish plant. Of
course there was mud that we got to mess around in.
We learned about the origin of San Pablo Bay and endangered species. The sad part was all the trash!
We need to take care of the EARTH but the main reason we were there was
to track Lepidium to save San Pablo Bay.
-Sarah
G.
Water
Samples
Our
class did a project about collecting water samples. We had to get at least one sample from a river or any other
flowing water. I got my sample from
the Petaluma River. We had to write
on the jar with our sample in it. We
wrote where we got it, when we got it, what time we got it, and how long it had
been raining. The river was flowing
really fast. I also got a sample
from a river that ran into the Petaluma River, it was running fast too.
Drew
M.
Lepidium
Mapping
This is a picture of a couple of students using a GPS tracking device to
map Lepidium. We had a partner read
us instructions while we listed the location, plant, etc.
Then, the GPS device would send a signal to a satellite way up in the
sky. Next, we would slowly walk around the patch of Lepidium so
that the GPS device would add that patch to the map.
Cecilia
P.
We mapped Lepidium (perennial pepperweed).
A GPS is like a palm pilot that has a section for mapping where plants
are. You have to use the stick and choose which plant you are
going to map. After you are done
mapping, you have to click the time and all this other data abut Lepidium.
You hold the GPS in your hand and walk the space around the plant that
you choose to map. While you are
walking the space, the GPS draws a line on the screen where you are walking.
Kiana
G.
Investigating
Maps
What
is “As the crow flies?” -Jessica
H. and others
Some new ideas for me are gullied land and mapping and finding the lowest
point of valleys and the highest point of mountains.
Sophia
R.
I noticed that there are many differences between maps and there are many
marshes. Also there are many
changes that happen between years.
Olivia
M.
I want to learn more about old maps.
Calvin
B.
I have noticed that as the years go by that the farmers had to take out
some of the waters that drained into San Pablo Bay to have more land to build
crops.
I
never knew that Petaluma was closer to San Pablo Bay than to the Pacific.
Kiana
G.
Watercolor
Watersheds
Meghan
G.
Sarah G.
Elijah
K.
Deva B.
Creative
Writing
Surroundings
By
Tyler M.
I sit and watch the water. It
lays still, and silent, except the small occasion of a fish moving violently
under the water. My surroundings are green and fresh, with redwoods twenty to
forty feet tall. The ground I sit
on is one of those sandy-rocky feelings. I
take a stick in hand and make my own geography carving rivers and mountains.
I get up, dust myself off, and set off through the redwoods.
I sit and watch the field, full of three or four inch grass, fresh and
green. It moves with the littlest
breeze, sending a wave through the field. Bending
whichever way the wind blows. The
sky pieced with cumulus clouds, shaped by the wind, in shapes indescribable.
The ground I sit on is rocky but smoothed with dirt and cool.
Grass sprouts near where I am. A
family of brown mice moves through
he grass. I look up and watch the
clouds move. They move slowly and
yet fast. Time goes on.
I take a stick. I write one
word. A word that makes everything
grow…”time”.
It is silent, the night air fresh, cool, and crisp except for the
occasion of a warm breeze. It is a crescent moon, white and a hint of orange.
The sky is a very dark blue, with glistening stars.
A streak of light violently moves across the night sky, vibrant and
bright. The ground is wet with des.
Grass and trees slightly shake the dew off with the breeze.
The slight sound of water can be heard from where I sit.
A light comes from the distance. I
get up and set off for that distant light in search for…life.
Student
Comments
Why is there so much trash? It
really shocks me! What I always
want to remember is when I was trudging through the mud, I loved the squishing!
Mariela
R.
I
want to remember to do community service and go out there and get all the trash
and also get all the tennis balls. I
want to know why all the tennis balls and trash ended up there.
Next time I want to go and clean it up.
Lee C.