A journey, bridge, adventure, the place to be for restoration and reflection: Tumalo Creek: Week 3 Social Science

What REALMS is about

What is REALMS

REALMS is a Hands On Learning Charter School in Central Oregon. We are very different from most schools because we normally do not believe in learning by textbooks and homework (though we do have some). Our purpose is to foster scholarship, strengthen community, and inspire stewardship through active learning.

Here we have a mission, a mission to challenge each other to investigate, understand, and become stewards of the human and natural world around us.

Our Mission

Our Mission

Our mission is to help the process of restoration for Tumalo Creek. Meaning what we did to help restore Tumalo after the Bridge Creek fire. Since the fire was so devastating loggers came and took all of the trees away including the trees that were in the banks. After that there was nothing left. People finally realized that what we are doing to the creek is wrong so they started to fix it. They thought that it would be nice for the schools to get involved and that’s where we come in.

The 8^th grade classes started to get really involved. We replanted trees and most of the riparian vegetation along the side of the creek along with a couple other schools.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Week 3 Social Science

Page 1 (above) Page 2 (below)

Hanna's social science form where she captures what is most important
in terms of human interactions with Tumalo.

Social science is a realm all of it’s own, mainly, it is all about human interactions with nature. We where striving to understand why people did what they did pertaining to Tumalo creek, like the intake. We read articles by past 8^th graders and also articles by the Source, and the Bulletin about the history of Tumalo Irrigation district and the Surface Water Improvement Project project as well as the history of water rights. Then we determined importance and shared in our Ethnographer groups, and then, in the group we shared with the class. To help clarify the geographical side of the problem Mr. Beck drew a splendid map in the sand. In the end everybody left knowing the motives of people and their actions toward Tumalo creek, that way we could better understand why people did what they did and helped us see their perspective.