Salmon in the Classroom

Woodlawn is excited to join the US Fish and Wildlife Services' Salmon in the Classroom program this year.  We have created a salmon snowflake to show the life cycle from egg to fry to adult.

Want to see some happy engineers and scientists?

Looking for some excitement during the holiday break? Watch the SpaceX engineers and scientists celebrate the first launch and successful landing of of a first stage rocket. This milestone will help cut space transport costs and allow rockets to be reused.

Earthquake Slinky Science

Our students were able to demonstrate and collect data on the speed of earthquake compression and side-to-side waves with Slinkies.  By the end of the session they were able to identify which wave would arrive first and what type of damage each wave would inflict on a building.

Bubble of Darkness

This activity was designed by Patricia Cooke as an intro to light waves.  We adapted the lesson for our 5th grade constellation activity.  The students spend time in the Bubble of Darkness (tarps, duct tape, a fan, and pin holes) talking in small groups about what they see in the 'sky'.  Back in the classroom they created their own constellation based on modern heroes.

STEAM in Action

What if stars could dance?

Community Service, Environmental Science, Social Studies, Math, and Art

As part of the Rieke 4th grade class's Native American unit, the students were able to connect their studies of native ethnobotany with a community service activity.  The students were able to participate in an English Ivy pull at Stephen's Creek with the Portland Parks and Recreation SW Steward.  They learned about invasive species in the Park and effect of these plants on the native population.  After the ivy pull, they transported the vines back to the school for a social studies, math, and art activity.

To make a basket from the ivy vines, the students needed to know the math of weaving.  The art is focused on patterns, symmetry, and force.  First we reviewed the pattern of weaving - over, under, over, under.  While baskets and many of the weaving products are extremely symmetrical, there has to be a break from perfect symmetry in the spines of the basket.  If they use an even number, the pattern would be weak.  They would start weaving under, over, under, over around the circle only to end up with a repeat each row, causing some spine to bend out while the alternating spine bend in.  They need an odd number of spines to create a strong basket.  Finally, the students were able to experiment with force - too much pull on the vine caused it to break, too little caused the basket to have large holes.  By the end of the class, each student had a mini basket - a great use of an invasive plant.

Simple Machines

Today Rieke 1st graders were able to practice their engineering skills at the annual Simple Machines event.  They tested different levers with our giant teeter totter and catapults, moved a heavy box with a wedge and basic wheels, lifted a classmate with a pulley chair, and improved the design of paper airplanes and flying cups.  Special thanks to our wonderful parent volunteers who helped lead the students through the stations!