School Programs

The Center’s main education focus is elementary and middle school children from second through eighth grades, plus birding classes and a study group for adults.  Thanks to a series of environmental education grants, Center staff has developed curriculum for elementary and middle schools that focus on the wildlife of the Dungeness watershed and how humans affect local watersheds over time.  These programs include:

2nd Grade: Bird of the Month.  River Center volunteers conduct classroom presentations from winter through spring covering different groups of birds every month.  Groups include:  woodpeckers, ducks, hummingbirds, and hawks.  Lessons include reading, writings, and drawing.  Students practice observing and making predictions.

3rd Grade: Mammal of the Month.  Like Bird of the Month, River Center volunteers conduct classroom presentations from winter through spring covering different mammals each month.  Mammals include: coyote, raccoon, river otter, bobcat.  Lessons include reading, writing, and drawing, plus observing and predictions.

4th Grade: Ecological Relationship of the Month.  Each month, students investigate a tree species and other species (insects, birds, & mammals) that spend part of their annual cycle using that particular tree.

4th-5th Grades: Watershed Monitoring.  Students learn how to use scientific methods to answer a specific question –“Is the Dungeness River healthy for salmon?”  Each class participates in a 2-hour field trip to the Dungeness River at Railroad Bridge Park, where they conduct four tasks that indicate the river’s health: 1) mapping and photographing the River, 2) measuring temperature and dissolved oxygen, 3) measuring river flow, and 4) collecting, identifying, and counting aquatic macroinvertebrates.

6th Grade: Park Stewardship Field Trips.  During late May and early June, all 6th graders from Sequim Middle School participate in field trips to Railroad Bridge Park, where they rotate through seven different lessons about park stewardship and management of the river, such as noxious weed removal and habitat succession in the river’s flood plain.

7th Grade: Watershed Weeks.  During early May, Sequim Middle School 7th grade science students carry out four assignments about the Dungeness Watershed, all related to increasing public awareness about bacterial contamination of Dungeness Bay.  Students map watersheds, become “experts” about specific problems in the watershed, design future home sites in watershed-friendly ways, and go on a day-long field trip to four sites.

8th Grade: Living in the Shadow.  During three weeks in October, as part of their social studies classes,  Sequim Middle School 8th graders carry out lessons written by River Center staff members about how humans have used natural resources in the Sequim area over the past 14,000 years.  Starting with the Manis Mastodon archeological dig, through the lives of S’Klallam Indians prior to Euro-American explorations, to 20th century homesteading, logging, farming, and housing developments, the students investigate how resources have shaped people’s lives.  As part of these studies, students participate in half-day field trips to Railroad Bridge Park.

High School and College: Independent research.  Through donated endowments, Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and the River Center Foundation provide two internship programs for up to six students to complete independent projects in environmental studies.