May Late Start Lounge

This week we met down at Stephen's Creek Natural Area to learn about invasive plants.  West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District loaned us some plastic examples of Purple Loosestrift and Garlic Mustard to help the students become 'Weed Watchers' and they took on the task of learning what to look for and how to report their findings.  Down at the creek the students conducted their own survey with a PVC survey square and water-proof boards.  Their favorite part was designing the symbols to represent the plants in their square.  Each team also had a chance to test the pH of the stream water.  They discovered that running creek water had a lower pH than stagnant water - true scientists in training!

Pictures from the May EcoThink class

Coming soon - hike recommendations for summer adventures!

Recycling Success!

On Tuesday April 24, the Rieke community collected 40 BIG bags of plastics at the second annual Rieke Plastic Drive. That's 40 bags less to the landfill, 40 bags less to be a choking hazard for animals. Special thanks to the Tryon Creek Rangers for transporting the plastics to Farwest Fibers and to all of the student and parent volunteers who help sort before and after school. Go Rieke!

Rieke Plastic Quilt

The EcoThink Late Start Lounge added 14 new squares to our quilt for the International Plastic Quilt Project.  It will be on display at Rieke this week!

April Late Start Lounge

This month we focused on Recycling and Reuse. We started with a recycling relay outside; the students worked as a team to sort different plastics, metals, and other objects into the correct bins - curbside recycling, Farwest Fibers/Recology, and trash/reuse. Once we came back in the classroom they were able to reuse plastics to create squares for the International Plastic Quilt Project. Their quilt squares will be displayed at Rieke next week. For more recycling activities, check out these websites with your child:

Try going to ‘Recycle City’, a website from the EPA
http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/mainmap.htm

This site has several recycling games and activities for rainy weekends or summer projects:
http://www.accesskent.com/YourGovernment/PublicWorks/pdfs/Reduce-Reuse-Recycle_Activities.pdf

Cut down on your junk mail at
http://www.catalogchoice.org
Have your child find the catalogs that you don’t want and located the customer numbers on the labels to help you opt-out of mailings.

Take the ‘Trash and Climate Change’ challenge
http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/k00-001.pdf

Rieke/Wilson Arboretum Photos

Rieke/Wilson Arboretum

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But for trees, it's just delightful
Boots and jackets ready to go
Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!

Join us tomorrow for the Rieke/Wilson Arboretum planting. We have 15 trees and 400 students who would love your support.

Special thanks to Karl Dawson from Portland Parks & Recreation, Stephanie Pringle and her ecology students from Wilson High School, and Andrea Porter, teachers, and students from Mary Rieke Elementary.

February Late Start Lounge

Today we talked about tracking. The students were able to test their observations skills in the classroom with two game that you can play at home. First, they had a minute to look around the room and then closed their eyes. I asked them questions about the room and they answered by raising their arms to vote on list of answers. We also played an observation/memorization game with plastic farm animals. You can play this at dinner by having one person close their eyes while everyone else remove one object from the table. The object is to list what is missing.

Outside we practiced different tracking techniques. Ask your child to demonstrate the fox walk, weasel walk, scatter vision (good for looking for motion), and the benefits of using both peripheral vision and looking side to side (the playground/fabric game). We also worked on telling stories through tracks. The students had a great time drawing animals tracks on the playground with chalk. Here is a pdf of the animals tracks that we used if you would like to try this at home:

Animals Tracks

Late Start Lounge Photos