Tumalo Week 3: Solitude & Reflections

                  Tumalo Week 3: Solitude & Reflections

On week three we had gone to a new location in the valley downstream from our main study site. For reflection we were to use the Bridge Creek Fire and its impact on the valley, learning about the riparian zone, or a little on the importance of the valley for the Bend Community. We were to use these as a backdrop for our writing. Students chose a wide variety of subjects to focus on. We sat away from others in our own space capturing the essence of Tumalo Creek and its importance to us.

Soleil during solitude and reflection

Jessi wrote about the differences between our normal study site and the spot downstream. She quoted “Rather than the fresh pine I smell the perfume of the grass, river and bushes. There is much more grass and a variety vegetation around.”

Tumalo Week 3: Closing Circle

Tumalo Week 3: Closing Circle

Everyone sits together to sum up our day and share our writing and/or art

 

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   It's Week 3 at Tumalo! As our day came to an end we got together for our closing circle to take some time to sum up what we did that day. There was also time to read a part of our writing from solitude & reflection or share the artwork we had done. It was nice to sit down after a long day's work and talk about what we accomplished. It was also nice to hear some of the pieces of writing from student's reflections, and I think it helped us all connect to the place better. 

   We all loaded the group gear into the bus, made sure we “left no trace” and said goodbye to Tumalo for today, eager for the next time we would come out.

All of us sitting together as we shared pieces of work from our Fieldwork Journals

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"I looks up at the branches full of yellow leaves and I can almost see the memories they hold. I close my eyes and rest my head against the trunk of the tree."

  - Soleil

"An area once threatened by fire but never touched."

 - Bella

"The air smells of grass and vegetation, making a bitter sweet smell that you learn to enjoy every waking minute."

 - Van

Tumalo Week 2: Opening Circle

Tumalo Week 2: Opening Circle

On Tumalo week two we where out at our study site we where gathering carbon data  out of the forest above the river. We started off the day with the opening circle. During the opening circle we went over the agenda and we reminded ourselves of scientific notation. (A way of taking really big numbers into a pretty small number) We also went over where we will be working. When we where all done we split into set groups and started collecting carbon data.

Tumalo Week 2: Science

Tumalo Week 2: Science

Students determining the river's health

     Our purpose of the activity was to observe the river to determine if it was healthy for fish to live in or not. One thing we did to see if the river was healthy was seeing if the banks were stabilized or not by checking how much riparian vegetation there was around the river.

Tumalo Week 2: Math

Tumalo Week 2: Math

Students creating a right triangle to help create a 82X82 foot sample plot.

"The Only Way To Learn Mathematics, Is To Do Mathematics". --Paul Halmos 

The purpose of this activity was to collect and track data about carbon storage in individual tress and the forest near the creek over all. We created a 82X82 meter square using right triangles (and the Pythagorean theorem) to create a sample plot. We used 3 4 5 right triangles to find the corners of the plot, we then measured 82 feet out to the next 3 4 5 triangle. 
We then broke into teams and measured tree DBH (Diameter at Breast Height), tree height and Down and Dead wood (wood that is dead and beginning o decay on the forest floor). Now we have the carbon percentages from the sample plot we can estimate the total carbon storage for the whole forest. We can now covert the large numbers into scientific notation that we can compare to other ears of the creek. 

What is Carbon Storage? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_capture_and_storage 

What is the Pythagorean Theorem? http://math.about.com/cs/pythagorean/g/pythagdef.htm

Data sheet/recording form of  measurements (Special Right Triangles For Determining Tree Height)

Tumalo Week 2: Solitude & Reflection

Tumalo Week 2: Solitude & Reflection

Kab sits during solitude & relfection and writes about his experience

   At Tumalo on Week Two it was Math day! In solitude and reflection we made connections between our day and quotes. Such as- How do mathematicians know what they know and how do we know what they know is true?

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A student sits alone & writes about his day next to the river

    At the beginning of the day when we looked at the quotes and most of us didn't know what they meant. After measuring trees, recording data and doing math that was all related to nature I felt I had a better understanding. With all the going and rushing that day it was nice to sit down and think about what we learned and connect our findings with what mathematicians said throughout history.

A great Solitude & Reflection spot at Tumalo

Quote: "Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere."
- Blaise Pascal

"It's hard to determine what each author meant about the quote, as we all have different ideas. The first one made me first think that nature is everywhere, that it has no limited space and it can keep improving. It relates to my day with Tumalo about always improving and it seems as if this (the place) could go on forever. 
- Reflection by Riley

Tumalo Week 2: Closing Circle

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Tumalo Creek Week 2: Closing Circle

^{After a long day of math everyone got in a circle to share our reflections and art. I drew dark rocks and bright leaves, but I didn’t want to share it. Everybody wrote about what we think certain math quotes meant. We were encouraged to share our work. After listening to what other people thought the quotes meant. I knew that other people thought} differently than I did. When I saw other peoples' art, I knew how I could make my  drawing better next time were in the field. All the closing circles give you a better understanding of the learning by seeing other peoples thoughts on one topic and being able to compare them to your own work. I thought the math theme of week 2 really helped the closing circle by giving us a new theme to work with and something new to learn. 

^{(Kab shares his wonderful drawing during our week 2 closing circle)}