River Room

What's Happening

Explore the Willamette River! Here you will be introduced to the plants and animals of the Willamette River. Explore the ecosystem. Learn about how the river was used by the Native Americans and early settlers of the Willamette Valley. See what its impact is on our lives today.

Discovery Questions & Experiments

Try This

Look at the mural on the wall of the room. How many different plants and animals can you identify?

Try This

What are some ways the river makes a difference in our lives today? How are the ways we use the river different from 150 years ago? How are they the same?

Try This

Look at all the ways the river is used and by whom it is used. Whose river is it? Why? What can you do to help take care of the Willamette River?

A River of Ideas

At Home

Make a colorful fish!

Materials:
Construction paper, scrap paper or aluminum foil, glue, scissors, stapler, hole punch, markers or crayons, streamers, string or yarn.

How to:

1. Draw a fish on a large piece of paper. Cut it out and then use it to draw another fish on a second piece of paper. (These will be the left and right sides of the fish)

2. Cut out circles of paper or foil to use as scales on the fish. Glue these onto the sides of the fish.

3. Decorate the head, fins, and tail with markers or crayons.

4. Staple the two sides of the fish together, stapling the ends of the streamers inside the tail of the fish.

5. Punch two holes in the face of the fish and tie yarn in the holes to hang the fish from the ceiling!

At School

Lesson: Students create a river diorama showing life above or below the Willamette River.

Materials:
A large shoe box for each student, blue construction paper, construction paper in various colors, tape, thread, scissors, small pebbles, glue, pipe cleaners.

How to:

1. Discuss with the class some of the life found in and around the Willamette River. Discuss what else may be found around the river.

2. Give students the supplies needed for the project. Instruct them to decorate the inside of the box by gluing construction paper. They may wish to decorate the upper half like the sky and the lower half like the river. Have them draw some rocks and animals as a backdrop. Let them create plants and animals with the materials provided. Use thread to hang pictures of fish from the top of the box and attach other creatures or plants with tape. Pipe cleaners can be used to create plants.

3. Have students share their dioramas with the rest of the class. Discuss why they chose the plants or animals that they included.

Academic Concepts:

Science - Life Science
The Arts - Create, Present, Perform