Once there was a field ...

The Rieke Outdoor Classroom 

- Before and After

Special thanks to our sponsors:


SW Neighborhood Inc
West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Wells Fargo
Portland Parks and Recreation
PGE and Clackamas Community College
Food Front
Brandon Bonas, A.I.A 
Henderson Family
Missio Church
Holt Woodworking
Holst Architecture
Hillsdale Starbucks
Columbia Land Trust
Tigard Sand and Gravel
A-boy
Woolly Pockets
and the Rieke Community!

A weed is a plant out of place 

What is a weed? The students came up with several very interesting definitions: 
   something that is not pretty 
   a plant that you didn't put there 
   a plant that just goes crazy if you leave it there 
   something that needs a new home 

We  discussed how some plant that we consider weeds may be useful in other ways - dandelion salads, stinging nettle tea, clover for soil enrichments. But in most cases, weeds are outcompeting the garden plants for water, nutrients, sunlight, and space.   

The club members were given a tour of the parking lot garden at the school and were quick to pick out what should be there and what shouldn't. They then helped 'save' the spring buds by removing bindweed, dandelions, and thistle from the garden. Their favorite was the 'wild grass' since it was easy to pull up and was a perfect example of 'a weed is a plant out of place' - grass in the lawn = ok, grass in the flower garden = not ok.

The Outdoor Classroom is almost ready!

Make sure to sign up to help us reach the final phase of the Outdoor Classroom.  We will have work parties on April 20 and 27 to install the seating logs and ADA gravel path.

Outdoor Classroom work parties sign up

International Plastic Quilt

The EcoAction team created squares today with plastics both from the school and home.  Look for the finished quilt on display during Earth Week!

2013 Rieke Tree Planting

On March 22, the 1st-5th grade students helped plant 15 trees on the campus.  These trees were donated as part of the Portland Tree Migation Program through Portland Parks and Recreation. Each class and their buddies met with Wilson Ecology students for an interactive lesson about tree before heading outdoors.  We luckily missed the sleet and snow that day and had wonderful blue skies and lots of smiles.

Thank you Portland Parks and Recreation, Wilson High School, and the Rieke students, staff, and volunteers for this fun experience!  If you have any pictures from the event that you would like to share, please email them to jamie.repasky@gmail.com

Rieke Spring Garden

Before spring break the classes headed out to plant in the new hanging gardens.  Here is what they planted:

Kindergarten - 'Give Peas a Chance' with a side of strawberries

1st and 5th grades - 'The Nose Knows' - a olfactory garden of cilantro, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon verbena, purple sage, onion, dill, curled parsley, tarragon, Italian parsley.

3rd grade - 'Growing Things' - spring science standard with carrots, peas, strawberries

2nd and 4th grades - 'Roots, leaves, and flowers - where does food come from?' with radish, lettuce, broccoli, garlic, spinach, and nasturtiums.