Salish sea Heroes: Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma Public Schools

Students from Bryan Johnson’s 2020/2021 5th grade class at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma Public Schools demonstrate a beach clean-up as a Salish Sea Heroes project in their video production: The Salish Sea. See the full video below!

Swan Creek sites 1, 2, and 3 were all candidates Tacoma Public Schools 5th graders chose from for the release of baby coho salmon raised at the Seaport for salmon enhancement. Which site would you choose? Consider all the evidence in the story map.

Last winter and spring, all of Tacoma Public Schools’ 5th grade students explored the Salish Sea with SeaDoc Society’s science curriculum. Thanks to some amazing scientist partners, they were able to engineer model remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) with Ocean Networks Canada, then dive into salmon stream science to determine the safest site in Swan Creek to release their baby coho salmon.

Kids couldn’t meet at the stream due to COVID, so scientists in the community brought the stream surveys to them! The fun folks at Metro Parks Tacoma’s Tacoma Nature Center, Foss Waterway Seaport, and Pierce Conservation District jumped into the stream themselves. They filmed their surveys and delivered them to students for analysis through a super-cool story map. Then students made their science-based recommendations and the salmon babies were set free. You can visit the story map, consider each site for salmon habitat health, and see if you agree with their stream site selection. Warning: it’s a lot of work (but fun)!

Leika Hansen of Pierce Conservation District sets free the last of the coho salmon fry raised at Foss Waterway Seaport in the stream site selected by Tacoma Public Schools 5th grade. The site was chosen based on water quality, macroinvertebrate (salmon food and pollution indicators), riparian plant community (cover and shade), stream flow, and substrate (what the stream bed is made of). Good luck in the wild, little ones! Image from the live video provided by Foss Waterway Seaport, taken by ROV.

This salmon enhancement project made them all Salish Sea Heroes, but some schools went even further. Some planted native plants, thanks to the Conservation District, some planned a schoolyard raingarden with Orcas Love Raingardens, and some displayed salmon-saving art at the Seaport. One school, Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, led by heroic teacher, Bryan Johnson, wanted to share how to become Salish Sea Heroes with the world. Check out their story, not to mention their mad videography skillz, by clicking the video below! Here are a few words from Mr. Johnson about the project:

“Our class made a short documentary film inspired by "Explore the Salish Sea". Students worked in six small groups, with each group choosing a chapter from the book to focus on. Each group member then chose a subtopic to research, leading to an outline, storyboard, and script. Filming was challenging due to Covid rules, but we were able to film lines separately and edit them together using green screen techniques. We also met on a beach one Saturday to get some "on location" shots. All of the students at our school have now seen the film, and our hope is that more people will see it to learn about the Salish Sea and how to be a Salish Sea Hero. Thank you to the SeaDoc Society for the use of images and video footage. Link to film: https://youtu.be/wn61wrn8f-Q

Thank you for all you’ve done to help heal the Salish Sea, Grant Elementary and all of Tacoma Public Schools 5th grade of 2020/2021. You, your teachers, community partners, and science administrators are truly Salish Sea Heroes!