Oregon Coast Field Study

It’s been over a week since I came back from our field study and it was an amazing experience. We got to do so much stuff that most people don’t get to do. Also it was so much fun and I really got to know my class mates much better. I’m sharing with you my highlights from this Oregon Coast field study.

Day 1, we had to be at the front of our school at 6:00 AM! It was a hassle to get on the bus with all of our bags, since there’s no under compartment. We managed to fit everything and were on the road at 6:15. I was super excited about the trip. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fun it would be. At about 4pm we stopped at the Astoria column. The column had amazing art wrapped around it about historical events that happened in America. Our teachers told us to look for wooden planes that people throw off the top of the column. I had to manage my impulses not to run and look for planes instead of listening to the guide. We finally got to our yurts in Fort Stevens park where we settled down so we could fall asleep.

Day 2, even though I was exhausted from the first day of the Oregon coast field study, I persisted through the day and tried my best. We visited the Fort Stevens military fort and learned about the civil war and WWII, and how the Japanese attacked that fort. while we were on this tour I had to pose lots of questions to know what data I needed. I also had to control impulsivity when the guide was showing us around and pay attention. Then after the guide we went on a quest throughout the fort looking for clues that lead up to a final phrase. I had to work interdependently with my group to find out the clues. Then we had to write a paragraph explaining what was our favourite thing that we learned, and give some facts about it. After the fort we went to High Life Adventures. High Life has 8 zip-lines that you can go on and our tour guides were a lot of fun. My favourite zip line was the one where you got dipped in the water (I forgot the name of it). After we went zip lining we went to Nisa’s Thai kitchen. Personally I’m not a big Thai food fan. but I loved the flaming beef. It was amazing! Then we headed back to our yurts to get a good night’s rest.

Day 3, we went to the Columbia Maritime Museum. We did a workshop here about how the Coast Guard’s train and work to save people’s lives at sea. Then we explored the museum, because we had to write a paragraph about the first peoples and Chinookan people. I had to be aware of my thoughts here because I could write it down and ask questions about it. We had to make a video of me standing in front of something and explaining it. I did a board with all the shipwrecks that have happened in Columbia River. After we had finished our tasks and looked around we went to a light ship. While we were on the ship we were challenged, who could make the most creative photo. My friends and I worked independently to make a photo that looks like we are eating in the gallery. Then after we visited the Maritime Museum we went to Cannon Beach. When we got there it was really rainy and windy, so when you walked against the wind it felt like little pellets hitting our face. We also saw Haystack Rock. It was much bigger than expected. We went back to our bus quick though, because of the bad weather. Then at the end of the day we visited Tillamook Creamery. We saw how the cheese is made. We even got to have samples. Then for dinner we went to Izzy’s which is an all you can eat buffet. It even had all you can eat steak. Then after dinner we started heading to South Beach state park for our first night there.

Day 4, this was the first of two days at the Hatfield Marine Science Centre. We did two workshops. First we learned about some intertidal life and examined them. Then we raced crabs. We made notes on each crab’s time and how big they were. My group’s question was, are smaller crabs faster than bigger crabs? This task really made us have to pose questions about the crabs. -After our experimenting stage we concluded that small crabs are faster than big crabs. Then in the second workshop of the day we learned about different kinds of whales. Then at the end of the workshop we built a whale out of real bones. Our whole class really had to work interdependently to make sure that the whale looked good. We also learned about the difference between a Baleen whale and a Toothed whale.

Day 5, this was the 2nd of the two days we were at the Hatfield Marine Centre. On this day we built a remotely operated vehicle or ROV. I was super excited but I controlled my impulses to start right away, and instead I listened intently to instructions. I worked interdependently with my group to make our ROV made out of PVC pipes. Once we assembled it, we put floats on it then drove it around a big tub of water. Once we finished with our ROV we went to the visitor’s centre and checked out all the cool exhibits. There was a sand box with a topography map. When you made a pile of sand it made a mountain on the projector. There was also a tsunami machine that you would build a lego creation and if it could withstand a tsunami. In the visitors centre there was also multiple living creatures. They had an octopus, little fish, sea anemones and sea urchins. Then after we explored the visitors centre, we went to Yaquina Head. There is a visitors centre there too but the main excitement for me was going to their tide pools. When we got down to the beach there were tons of tide pools to see with star fish, sea anemones and urchins. I really had to control my impulses. Too see the seals up close. I couldn’t get up close because of the boundaries in place for the animals. I took some pretty cool photos there as well. Overall day 5 was a really fun day.

Day 6, we went to Depoe Bay, it also has the smallest harbour in the world. I went to a sock shop while I was there and got myself some “ I love bacon” socks. Then after Depoe Bay we went to John’s Incredible Pizza Co. for lunch. John’s is an all you can eat buffet with and arcade with full size rides! I stuffed myself with food then went to play at the arcade. I played a  game were you had to drop a ball in cups that spin and you got tickets for each cup. My friend got the jackpot on that one. At the end I went on the twister. It made me feel sick, but I still persisted throughout the rest of the day. Then after John’s we said goodbye to Oregon and headed to Silver Creek, WA. We settled down in cabins, instead of yurts for. Our last night on the field study.

Day 7, was our last day on the Oregon coast field study. We went on the Northwest Trek and saw tons of animals. The first thing we did was go on a tram that took us around a massive habitat of deer, elk, bisons, trumpeter swans and goats. It was so beautiful and a great sight, it also made for some pretty good photos. Then we went on a self-guided tour around the park and saw beavers, otters, a cougar, a lynx and many more cool animals. The cool thing about this park is that it doesn’t have any animals that don’t live in the Pacific Northwest. Then after the trek we went to Golden Corral, another all you can eat place with a chocolate fountain and cotton candy.  After lunch we headed home and finished the Oregon Coast Field Study.

You might think that we didn’t do a lot of work on this trip, but you would be surprised what out teachers had us do. I learned pretty quickly that this was not going to be a vacation. We had multiple workshops that extended our learning to help us understand what we were learning about. We did do many fun things like zip-lining, and that was amazing, so I’m very grateful for my teachers in giving us an amazing Oregon Coast Field Study.