Kids in the Creek, again

Students at French Gulch-Whiskeytown School have been involved in planting native plants, observing wildlife, and learning about their watershed. They are involved with their local environment as stewards of the land that backs up to their community. Students have ownership of what they are doing and will be able to see their efforts for many years to come. It benefits the kids, the community, and the watershed when everyone is working together, making a positive difference, and helping to ensure a healthier environment in the future. The other benefit is that students learn and do science, writing, reading, math, arts, and social studies all as part of their participation in their learning and environment. Education and understanding of the environment is critical to the future health of our natural resources.

Kids in the Creek is Back!

The kids will be planting native plants and learning about fire ecology as they analyze the recovery from the French Fire. They have been exploring the life and health of the Clear Creek Watershed by looking at indicator species, pH, temperature, and biodiversity. We are excited to get out and explore the creek more.

Native and Nonnative Plants by Michaela

After the fire in French Gulch all of the native were taken over by the nonnative plants. The nonnative plants that had taken over the native were called the; Himalayan Blackberry bush, and Tree of Heaven. The native plants we have planted are the native willow, wild grape, redbud, California Blackberry, and other species.

The watershed by Kyle (6th Grade)

Dear Blogger, our watershed project includes WSRCD and three schools: NAWA, CCS and FGWS. At our watershed, we volunteer to work. Then we take out non-natives such as: Himalayan black berries, tree of heaven and other non-natives. Also, we planted native grasses, trees, and other native plant. It has been fun working on the watershed and I hope this effort continues.

The Watershed by Breanna (5th Grade)

We have been planting and kick netting. We have been putting in natives and taking out non-natives. For example, we have been taking out Himalayan black berries and tree of heaven. We have also been looking at water temperature, pH, and more.

OUR WATERSHED by Natalie (6th Grade)

One beautiful sunny afternoon, my class went to our watershed. Mr.Heims, my teacher, was giving us some things to write like a poem, story, and more. I was sitting on a log with my friends. The wind was blowing in my face and through the trees. Mr.Heims called us all over to tell us about poison oak, because a shovel was in it. Then we went back to what we were doing. After we were done, we went back to school, but before we went back to school, the kids went in the creek because it was hot out.
Last Friday my class went to our watershed to see how it was doing. It looks a lot better now compared to after the fire had come and destroyed it. Since the fire, our watershed looks like there was no fire. Other schools came to help make the watershed perfect once again. NAWA, Chrysalis, and French Gulch came to the watershed to make it beautiful with trees, flowers, and other things. Animals came back to the watershed because of our help.

The Watershed by Heidi (7th Grade)

In our Watershed, we are working on helping this area from a disastrous fire that occured on August 14, 2004. What we do in the Watershed is test water quality, cut down the non- native plants (invasive plants), and planting native plants. We use kick nets to catch aquatic invertebrates for study, and we set down tracking plates to see what animals have gone by. We have done a lot, but we still have a lot to do.

The River by Jamie (4th Grade)

My class is going to the River. When we got to the other side, birds were singing, plants were growing. My Teacher said, “Grab a shovel and some plants.” When he was giving directions, I saw a caterpillar on a leaf. It is hard to pay attention with all this cool stuff happing.

The NAWA, Chrysalis, and French Gulch - Whiskey town School by cyndi

The NAWA, Chrysalis, and French Gulch - Whiskey town School students have worked on Clear Creek, but before they did any thing they had to learn what non-native and native plants were. The non-native plants were Himalayan black berry, tree of heaven, ect… The native plants are oak, native black berry and big leaf maple, ect…
The students have made the watershed healthier.

FGWS David's Poetry

The creek was churning
The kids were learning

People were walking
Others were talking

No one seemed to care
That the creek was there

But then the fire started
And some of us departed

But the creek was left alone
To defend itself and its home

And then three schools stood up
To help it along its way

Because if we don’t do something
The creek might be gone some day

Poem by FGWS Kaitlyn

Everything around me,
As I could see,
In the blink of an eye,
Everything was growing,
More beautifully

Watershed blog F.G.W.S Gracey Hodges

Right know I am sitting on a hill and looking at the water. The water is gushing down the rocks. The rocks are soaked. Earlier today my friends and I were accidentally sitting in poison oak. Every Friday, French Gulch - Whiskeytown School goes to Clear creek and we help on what the French fire destroyed. While we are at the watershed we take pictures of all types of things, and when we get back to school we try to identify what it was that we took.

Our Watershed by FGWS Kaitlyn

French Gulch was destroyed by the 2004 fire known as the French Fire. Our mission is to restore what the fire took out.
What we do is we catch series of insects to what aquatic invertebrate live in our water. We also plant native plants. Last, but not least, we take out the non-native plants. Thank you for reading about our watershed. Come volunteer today to help French Gulch and other schools rebuild our community watershed.

F.G.W.S Miura and Gracey

The wind was blowing, the

Water was flowing,
The sun was glowing,
The fish were rowing,
All the time I was knowing,
The grass is growing.

Photo's

What type of tracks are these?
Students collecting with kick nets
Dragonfly nymph
Some photo's from French Creek...

Kids in the Creek

Kids in the Creek
This will hopefully act as an interactive discussion and log of observations, insights, and more.