Sisters students teach and learn

Freshmen and sophomores of Sisters High School started training from the first day of school for an event that took place last Tuesday in the Trout Creek Conservation Area (TCCA) behind Sisters High School: they had their first formal experience at teaching.

Rima Givot and Glenn Herron, biology teachers at SHS, with the help of Peyton Griffin, who operates a non-profit research group called Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, took all general-biology freshman and sophomore students out into the TCCA. After a discussion about field biology, they began teaching them natural science field investigation techniques: how to establish study plots, field investigation procedures, plant identification, bird and mammal ID and how to recognize a variety of animal signs.

The studies not only acquainted Rima and Glenn's students with knowledge of the natural world of the TCCA, but prepared them for the day when they would pass along their knowledge to fourth-graders from Sisters Elementary School. And at 8:30 a.m. the first bus pulled in behind the high school with several classes from SES and unloaded students from Julie Holden, Clay Warburton, David Hewett, Lori Small, and Kathy Few's classes.

The high school students prepared all the field journals the fourth-graders used to keep notes of the day of "Fun In the Field." Haley Zadow personalized the field journals she assembled with sketches of wildlife of the TCCA; one, a cottontail rabbit, looked like it would jump right off the cover.

The SHS "teachers" and the fourth-graders slowly meandered into the TCCA, and as they went, there were comments like: "Boy, did you see that rodent burrow? I wonder what kind it is?" From sophomore Josh Ward came the suggestion, "You have to watch for feathers of birds, be quiet and listen for their calls, and there's a good chance you'll see it, and be on the lookout for fur, tracks and scat..." A fourth-grader raised his hand, and anticipating the question, Josh said, "Scat is poop," which produced the usual giggles.

Watching the interaction of the students, Peyton Griffin said, "I sure wish I had something like this when I was going through the Yale School of Forestry."

"Did you find any seeds?" Katy Bell, one of Givot's students, asked a very curious fourth-grader who was digging around an old stump. Katy's companion Crystal Reifschneider then introduced their eager students to antelope bitterbrush, juniper, and talked about the role and relationship of these native plants with wildlife.

After about 40 minutes, the first group had returned to the athletic field near the TCCA to sum up their experiences and play a little frisbee. Then another biology class of student teachers taught the fourth graders about the native plants of TCCA. After that, a third class focused on teaching their young students how to set up a forest ecology vegetation plot study.

The students measured the diameter of trees using special tapes, and used clinometers - fancy forestry equipment - to estimate the height of trees. After lunch in the forest, the bus transported them back to SES.