Vanguard’s Approach to Learning Across Academic Domains: Creek Studies
“We learned two things — we learned the glide step, which was where you would not lift your boot out of the waters. That way you didn’t splash and cause a lot of waves. Because if you were at a deep part and there’s a big wave that came by, you might get water in the boots and have soggy socks. And then the second call out was “save yourself.” So if you were stuck in the mud or you were falling, you’d grab onto a tree branch to pull yourself out of the water or occasionally another person to try and pull yourself out of the mud or stop yourself from falling into the water. ”
Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog. This is the final installment in our series STEM to STREAM: Vanguard’s Approach to Learning Across Academic Domains. I’m Elizabeth Blaetz, Founder and Head of School at Vanguard Gifted Academy. In this series, we are exploring the subjects and activities that incorporate Vanguard’s use of the elevated STEM approach that we call STREAM. Today, we’ll learn about creek studies with Connor, who has just completed Band 2.
EB: How are you, Connor?
Connor: I’m good. How are you?
EB: I’m fine, thanks! So for what reason were you guys studying creeks?
Connor: So, we were learning about the slow changes of our earth and how slow changes can slowly start getting worse and worse. And the teacher wanted to show us proof of how that worked, so she brought us out to the stream in our boots and we started walking and she showed us all the different parts of how the stream is getting damaged.
EB: Oh, okay. So, what were some of the things that were slowly changing in the creek?
Connor: So, one of the things that were slowly changing, we had some over-sedimentation, which we knew would eventually over-errode, which would leave undercuts in the stream. And we knew that then the trees could fall and cause a blockage, and we had even seen blockages in over-sedimentation, which was why one day we went to the creek and the level there was like all dried up.
EB: Ah! All right. What else did you find that was blocking the creek?
Connor: There was some trash in the creek. There was also a big tire in the creek that we had to remove. Lots of sticks that we removed. Lots of logs and broken trees. In fact, we saw an entire tree that had collapsed in many different areas across both sides of the river. They both came in and they were blocking the entire flow. And so we spent a couple of lessons cleaning that up, and that was, of course, right next to the tire. We spent a lot of time trying to dig out the tire and use our simple machines that we learned earlier in the year.
EB: Great. I heard you also had to contact the city.
Connor: So, the blockage was so bad that our tools that we had at school could not remove it. So we emailed the city and a couple days later, there were City of Batavia trucks in our parking lot before school, checking out the creek and the blockage there.
EB: All right. So, what were some of the hardest parts of working in the creek?
Connor: When you were walking through the creek, you had to know how to not fall into the creek. And if you did, you’d get soggy socks. If you stepped in too deep spots, you’d get soggy socks. And really, if you just fell off of the rocks that you were trying to hop across, you’d get soggy socks. There were a couple incidents where we had these walking sticks with tape on them that marked that if this tape is under the water, your boot will get filled with water and you’ll have soggy socks, and you have to figure out how to fix that. We would walk through the creek, and we would be checking our depths. And a couple of times we didn’t get soggy socks, even when we checked, which I don’t know how that happened, but it did. And there were also a lot of parts where it was very slippery, or it was so deep in the middle, but it was super slippery on the side. There’s some parts where it was just so deep that you had to go and climb on the land to get around it. And one time, it was so deep, there was no way to get onto the land. It’s weird, we were just swinging on tree branches to try to get around it.
EB: Okay. What are some group things that you had to learn when you were going down and studying the creek as a group? What were some strategies that you had to learn?
Connor: We learned two things — we learned the glide step, which was where you would not lift your boot out of the waters. That way you didn’t splash and cause a lot of waves. Because if you were at a deep part and there’s a big wave that came by, you might get water in the boots and have soggy socks. And then the second call out was “save yourself.” So if you were stuck in the mud or you were falling, you’d grab onto a tree branch to pull yourself out of the water or occasionally another person to try and pull yourself out of the mud or stop yourself from falling into the water.
EB: So, what condition did you guys learn that Mahoney Creek is in?
Connor: So, our reach, Reach 11, which borders our property, that’s the worst reach. So, we discovered that there was a big creek. Well, we always knew that there was a creek there, but then we learned that it was called Mahoney Creek and that it’s been bad recently. It’s been in a lot of bad shape with lots of over-erosion, lots of undercuts, lots of blockages, and that it needed help. So, again we were learning about slow changes. And so then we went down there to learn how our reach is the worst after we watched a slideshow from the City of Batavia that showed us what native plants are, what non-native plants are, how they change the creek, how undercuts happen, how erosion happens, how sedimentation happens. It basically showed us what we needed to know before we went into the creek.
EB: So, what was your favorite part about this project?
Connor: I really enjoyed the time when we finally got the tire out. It was also really fun to just go all the way down from the beginning of the creek, all the way down to the end of our property. And I don’t know why, it was just so much fun to go out on it.
EB: What do you think you’ll remember? What do you think you’ll take away?
Connor: I’m definitely going to remember the time when we had to walk through the forest to get out because we were at the end of the creek, and then we had to walk through the prairie because when we were walking through the forest, there was just a big pile of sticks and we all jumped on it, like it was a trampoline. And then I also remember the one time I stepped in what we call the “diamond of doom” because it was like a really deep spot in the middle of a shallow area. And then the person in front of me turned around and said, “Oh, don't step there!”
EB: All right, thank you so much for coming, Connor.
We hope you have enjoyed our blog series on STEM to STREAM, and like me, will have a little giggle from now on whenever you have soggy socks. We hope that Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog will remain a resource for you. If you have missed previous blog installments in this STEM to STREAM series, check out Blog 1 that explores Vanguard’s approach to learning across academic domains on our website.
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog. This is the final installment in our series STEM to STREAM: Vanguard’s Approach to Learning Across Academic Domains. I’m Elizabeth Blaetz, Founder and Head of School at Vanguard Gifted Academy. In this series, we are exploring the subjects and activities that incorporate Vanguard’s use of the elevated STEM approach that we call STREAM. Today, we’ll learn about creek studies with Connor, who has just completed Band 2.
EB: How are you, Connor?
Connor: I’m good. How are you?
EB: I’m fine, thanks! So for what reason were you guys studying creeks?
Connor: So, we were learning about the slow changes of our earth and how slow changes can slowly start getting worse and worse. And the teacher wanted to show us proof of how that worked, so she brought us out to the stream in our boots and we started walking and she showed us all the different parts of how the stream is getting damaged.
EB: Oh, okay. So, what were some of the things that were slowly changing in the creek?
Connor: So, one of the things that were slowly changing, we had some over-sedimentation, which we knew would eventually over-errode, which would leave undercuts in the stream. And we knew that then the trees could fall and cause a blockage, and we had even seen blockages in over-sedimentation, which was why one day we went to the creek and the level there was like all dried up.
EB: Ah! All right. What else did you find that was blocking the creek?
Connor: There was some trash in the creek. There was also a big tire in the creek that we had to remove. Lots of sticks that we removed. Lots of logs and broken trees. In fact, we saw an entire tree that had collapsed in many different areas across both sides of the river. They both came in and they were blocking the entire flow. And so we spent a couple of lessons cleaning that up, and that was, of course, right next to the tire. We spent a lot of time trying to dig out the tire and use our simple machines that we learned earlier in the year.
EB: Great. I heard you also had to contact the city.
Connor: So, the blockage was so bad that our tools that we had at school could not remove it. So we emailed the city and a couple days later, there were City of Batavia trucks in our parking lot before school, checking out the creek and the blockage there.
EB: All right. So, what were some of the hardest parts of working in the creek?
Connor: When you were walking through the creek, you had to know how to not fall into the creek. And if you did, you’d get soggy socks. If you stepped in too deep spots, you’d get soggy socks. And really, if you just fell off of the rocks that you were trying to hop across, you’d get soggy socks. There were a couple incidents where we had these walking sticks with tape on them that marked that if this tape is under the water, your boot will get filled with water and you’ll have soggy socks, and you have to figure out how to fix that. We would walk through the creek, and we would be checking our depths. And a couple of times we didn’t get soggy socks, even when we checked, which I don’t know how that happened, but it did. And there were also a lot of parts where it was very slippery, or it was so deep in the middle, but it was super slippery on the side. There’s some parts where it was just so deep that you had to go and climb on the land to get around it. And one time, it was so deep, there was no way to get onto the land. It’s weird, we were just swinging on tree branches to try to get around it.
EB: Okay. What are some group things that you had to learn when you were going down and studying the creek as a group? What were some strategies that you had to learn?
Connor: We learned two things — we learned the glide step, which was where you would not lift your boot out of the waters. That way you didn’t splash and cause a lot of waves. Because if you were at a deep part and there’s a big wave that came by, you might get water in the boots and have soggy socks. And then the second call out was “save yourself.” So if you were stuck in the mud or you were falling, you’d grab onto a tree branch to pull yourself out of the water or occasionally another person to try and pull yourself out of the mud or stop yourself from falling into the water.
EB: So, what condition did you guys learn that Mahoney Creek is in?
Connor: So, our reach, Reach 11, which borders our property, that’s the worst reach. So, we discovered that there was a big creek. Well, we always knew that there was a creek there, but then we learned that it was called Mahoney Creek and that it’s been bad recently. It’s been in a lot of bad shape with lots of over-erosion, lots of undercuts, lots of blockages, and that it needed help. So, again we were learning about slow changes. And so then we went down there to learn how our reach is the worst after we watched a slideshow from the City of Batavia that showed us what native plants are, what non-native plants are, how they change the creek, how undercuts happen, how erosion happens, how sedimentation happens. It basically showed us what we needed to know before we went into the creek.
EB: So, what was your favorite part about this project?
Connor: I really enjoyed the time when we finally got the tire out. It was also really fun to just go all the way down from the beginning of the creek, all the way down to the end of our property. And I don’t know why, it was just so much fun to go out on it.
EB: What do you think you’ll remember? What do you think you’ll take away?
Connor: I’m definitely going to remember the time when we had to walk through the forest to get out because we were at the end of the creek, and then we had to walk through the prairie because when we were walking through the forest, there was just a big pile of sticks and we all jumped on it, like it was a trampoline. And then I also remember the one time I stepped in what we call the “diamond of doom” because it was like a really deep spot in the middle of a shallow area. And then the person in front of me turned around and said, “Oh, don't step there!”
EB: All right, thank you so much for coming, Connor.
We hope you have enjoyed our blog series on STEM to STREAM, and like me, will have a little giggle from now on whenever you have soggy socks. We hope that Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog will remain a resource for you. If you have missed previous blog installments in this STEM to STREAM series, check out Blog 1 that explores Vanguard’s approach to learning across academic domains on our website.