Teachers Workshop on Watersheds

Kids at Deer Creek collect samples of macroinvertebrates

Paul Brown

On Thursday and Friday, March 11-12, 2010, a free Teachers Workshop is being held for 5th – 8th grade school teachers by the staffs of Oregon Caves National Monument (OCNM) and Siskiyou Field Institute’s Deer Creek Center (DCC). The workshop is for all area teachers who are interested in bringing their students to study the dynamic watersheds found at both OCNM and DCC. This cross-curriculum earth science unit is called Watersheds: through the Mountain to the Valley and is designed to help students discover the importance of watersheds and compare and contrast a watershed at high and low elevations. The unit studies Cave Creek, flowing from the mouth of Oregon Caves, as a headwater tributary to the Wild and Scenic Illinois River; and Deer Creek, which joins the Illinois River near DCC and provides habitat for anadromous fish and a variety of macro-invertebrates.

The workshop will introduce teachers to the logistics of the unit, the materials, lesson plans and its ranger-led activities. Its cross-curriculum activities will take teachers to both sites and convey earth science concepts through hands-on activities both above and below ground. It is aligned with both Oregon State and National Science Standards.

This new watershed program is in its pilot year and teacher input and feedback is invaluable! The workshop will include time for teacher contribution and suggestions to further integrate this program into classroom lesson plans.

Workshop participants will also get to spend a night at Deer Creek Center. One can choose to either camp under the clear night sky, stay in a cozy yurt, bunk in the dormitory or treat themselves to one of the center’s private rooms. During your stay, you can easily become immersed in the natural world.

Find out why Oregon Caves NM and Deer Creek Center, both nestled in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains where unique geology, endemic wildlife, and rivers and streams are abundant, are ideal classrooms for your students. Water has shaped the land around us for eons, and it is key to the survival of the life that lives upon and underneath the land. This unit will help students understand that at a hands-on level.

The cost of the workshop is free and includes curriculum materials. Funding can be provided for substitute fees. Lodging fees are separate. For further details and reservations, call [phone].