2020-21 Classroom Calendar

September-October

Theme: What is a Watershed? Read “What is a Watershed?” section in Circles & Cycles.

Topics and Activities Involving Salmon

  • Role of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Fish and Wildlife, water cycle, watershed definition and concepts (surface, water, groundwater, where water flows, delineating watersheds, stream order, how water connects people, wildlife and mountains to the sea)
  • SITE VISIT #1 or speaker to classroom or video on watershed. Salmon spawning usually begins mid-late October after pulse flows from Mokelumne to signal salmon downstream. 

Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • Sandhill cranes as a fall/winter visitor to CA Delta.  What is migration?  Two species of Sandhill cranes, greater and lesser.  Which lives closer to Lodi? How can we go see them?  Where do they live?
  • Role of CAFW to “flood up” fields for cranes to overwinter in as night roost, forage fields by day.
  • Artist in the classroom: Sandhill Crane Art for November art show sponsored by Lodi Sandhill Crane Association
  • SITE VISIT # 1: Go see the birds! Greater and lesser Sandhill cranes usually begin returning to the Isenberg Crane Preserve on Woodbridge Road in mid-September.  Lessers stop over and refuel, heading further south for winter. Greaters will stay in area until February.

Other Topics Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

November

Theme: What else is in a watershed?

Topics and Activities Involving Salmon

  • Introduction to hatcheries; living things depend on water; watery habitats (uplands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, riparian zones); river forms (geomorphology, parts of a river, instream habitats)
  • SITE VISIT #2: Students visit a salmon hatchery or other location for spawning demonstration.

Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • Families site visit to Isenberg for fly-in: 1.5 hours before sundown. Sandhill cranes mate for life, young birds stay with parents the first year of life to learn the round trip migration path.
  • After fly-in: Write reflective essay for Mokelumne Current newspaper: “What did I notice?”
  • Sandhill Crane Art Show: Display student art.

December

Theme: Aquatic ecosystems

Topics

  • Energy sources; food chains and webs; predator-prey relationships; biodiversity and stability; survival strategies; examples of aquatic organisms

Activities Involving Salmon

  • Who eats salmon?
  • Spawning process.
  • Dams and mitigation.
  • Set up salmon fish tank with chilled water before break.

Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • What do Sandhill cranes eat?
  • Life cycle of cranes.
  • Loss of wetlands and mitigation for cranes.

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • Be thinking of student stories for Mokelumne Current, including energy sources, food chains, predator-prey, etc.
  • Talk to school janitor regarding disinfectants used in room.

January

Theme: Pacific salmon natural history; Incubation of a “salmon family.”

Topics and Activities Involving Salmon

  • Pacific salmon characteristics (physical, behavioral, natural history); anadromous fish life cycles; incubator as temporary/artificial habitat; incubator operation.
  • Presentation about Pacific salmon life cycle and incubator operation: salmon egg delivery.
  • Eggs to arrive in classroom during first week in January.

Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • Sandhill crane characteristics: Physical, behavioral, natural history.

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • San Joaquin County Historical Museum tours available for SJC ag.

February

Theme: Rivers: For people too.

Topics

  • Settlement patterns.
  • Historical uses in California (pre-European settlement, industrialization).
  • Present day uses (drinking water, hydropower, industry waste disposal, irrigation, recreation, nature study).

Activities Involving Salmon

  • Anglers pay a tax with their license that helps support the oceans fisheries.

Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • What happened to the wetland habitat that Sandhill cranes depend on? Why do people have to “flood up” for the birds?

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • San Joaquin County Historical Museum tours available for SJC ag.

March

Theme: Human threats and impacts on a watershed.

Topics

  • Sources of pollution: non-point vs. point (siltation, run-off, septic, agricultural, acid rain, etc.) altering flow, temperature, and composition of stream bed.
  • Impacts on salmon (dams, over fishing, and pollution).
  • Other threats, including ENDANGERED SPECIES.

Activities Involving Salmon

  • FRY STOCKING FIELD TRIP: Student visit local stream to release their salmon family.

Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

  • Greater Sandhill Cranes return to Northern California; Lessers return to Alaska. How long is their journey?

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • Study trips to Cal-Waste or Waste Management: Trash in waterways issue.

April

Theme: Water quality monitoring.

Topics

  • Finding out about water by looking at physical characteristics (temp, depth, width, flow, turbidity); chemical characteristics (DO, pH); bio-indicators of water quality (macro invertebrates, mussels, salmon).

Activities Involving Salmon

  • Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery releases salmon to Delta and Pacific Ocean at several spots. 2020 salmon release was approximately 6 million fish from Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery!

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • Student work for the Mokelumne Current newspaper is due the last week of April.

May

Theme: Taking action.

Topics

  • Citizen stewardship actions (kids AND adults), and professional stewards (environmental careers).
  • Role of government such as legislation (ESA, etc.), habitat acquisition protection (refuges), recovery efforts, environmental cleanup.
  • Values/benefits of a healthy environment (ecological, recreation, economic, aesthetic philosophical).

Activities Involving Salmon

  • SITE VISIT #3: Sport fishing demonstration.

Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

  • Mokelumne Current newspaper goes to print mid-May.