Sunnyside Ecosystem Study

Vital Stats

Sunnyside, WA

  • people helped900
  • People Doing It760

The Problem

All of Chief Kamiakin's fourth grade students are involved in a restoration project of the Sunnyside Wildlife Area. The Sunnyside Wildlife Area is a place that allows animals to keep their habitat in a growing community that is changing the size and type of environment. Through this project, students participate in classroom activities and field experiences that focus on habitats and the native wildlife of our area. This project is designed to increase student awareness and appreciation for our surroundings and an understanding of our impact on the environment.

Plan of Action

Students are involved in nature mapping to track the animals in the habitat, nest-box maintenance, and restoration of native plants. Students learn about components of habitats and specifc habitat types to understand why certain animals live there and what is needed to sustain them. Students also learn about interrelationships of wildlife and plants species. To further student knowledge and connect learning, students also participate in Salmon in the classroom, an Electricity and a Land and Water Science kit, and a field trip to an area dam. These experiences interrelate and allow students to apply knowledge across fields of study and further understanding of human impact on the environment.

Project Updates

At the end of the last school year, we had about 150 students take one more field trip to the Wildlife area to plant Ponderosa Pines and a few other native plants to the area. They learned about why they were planting these species and what it would do for the area. We also took a field trip to the local fish hatchery, where the students got to put their knowledge to use about salmon and learn even more, and another to an area dam. Here the students connected our science kits, wildlife work, and salmon studies together and made their knowledge more powerful.

This year we are taking a new group of 4th graders through the same experiences and are very excited about the new topics they will be studying. The are preparing in class presently for our first field trip the Wildlife Area at the end of this month.

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Animals
Environment

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