Slough School is Kicking Off Strong This Year!
Slough School is kicking off the 2025 - 2026 school year! So far, we’ve hosted 38 programs, making 815 K-12 student contacts and 129 adult contacts with partner classrooms at Sitton, Scott, Chief Joseph, Prescott, Davis, Glenfair, and Woodland Elementary Schools, as well as Reynolds High School, Reynolds Learning Academy, and Portland Community College. We have led 14 field trips across the watershed at Whitaker Ponds, Columbia Children's Arboretum, and Southwest Park in Gresham, introducing students to parks and natural areas close to their schools. Our goal is to provide free environmental education programs and field trips for students, especially those who face barriers to outdoor field trip opportunities.
Slough School serves primarily low-income students by focusing on Title 1 Schools in the watershed. Each year, we partner with over 20 schools, bringing fun activities that include our interactive watershed, flooding, and groundwater models, maps, animal information cards, plant identification cards, pelts and skulls, native bee specimens, water quality testing tools, and more. Our goal is for low-income students who participate in Slough School programs to understand the quality of the water in the Slough and the biodiversity of the living communities in and along the creeks, lakes, ponds, rivers, and the Slough that connect across our watershed.
In the 2024 - 2025 school year, Slough School provided 243 programs to 5,120 student contacts! This year we expect to again make over 5,000 student contacts through Slough School programs. This program is one-of-a-kind, offering comprehensive environmental learning through a combination of in-class lessons and field trip experiences.
All Slough School programs are 100% free of cost thanks to the Gray Family Foundation, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Portland BES, City of Gresham, City of Fairview, Portland Water Bureau, UFSWQD, and the Hillman Foundation. We are so grateful for their support!
Slough School field trips and paddles are always better because of magical support from partners and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has shown up to help students have a positive experience in our natural areas!
Macro Viewers for getting a close up look at a freshwater mussel, one of many aquatic macroinvertebrates students find at the Slough on field programs.
Mapping waterways: Glenfair 4th graders created maps of the different bodies of freshwater in relation to their school on NE 153rd & Glisan, including the Columbia River, Fairview Creek, Blue Lake, Fairview Lake, Salish Ponds, Whitaker Ponds, and the Slough.
Multnomah Youth Cooperative crew members at Reynolds Learning Academy teach Davis 5th graders about beavers at Whitaker Ponds
Multnomah Youth Cooperative crew members at Reynolds Learning Academy teach Davis 5th graders about birding with binoculars and a spotting scope
Reynolds Learning Academy student using SandMud Sieve and nets to find benthic macroinvertebrates.