How the Pacific North West was Formed

I learned a lot about how the area we live in was created.

The movement of tectonic plates formed the land, glaciers and floods carved it out.

The Washington coast range and  ranges down to north California were formed when the Juan de Fuca plate went under the north american plate. Lots of sediments got squished together to form the land and the mountains.

Glaciers are rivers of ice that can be very large. Some miles thick and thousands of miles wide.
Glaciers carved the earth as well as created large lakes that would build and then the dam would break also shaping the land and leaving fertile ground.

Rocks of the Earth

I learned a lot about rocks and how the earth is a great recycler. Basically rocks are always changing in to another type of rock , even if it takes a really long time.

There are three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

Igneous rocks

Igneous rocks are made from magma or lava that has cooled down. This can happen either inside the Earth or out on top of the surface, like when a volcano erupts.

Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are formed when other rocks and coral are eroded into small pieces. Then the small pieces travel down and settle and sit around under heat and pressure they form a sedimentary rock.

Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks  undergo heat, pressure or chemical reactions ...making them into a different rock.

Self Reflection ~ Art

Self Reflection on Art

Zephyre Welfley


Waldorf Art and Celebrations Classes


Please select 3 goals you think were met or progress was
made towards through this piece of work.

1. I feel like my form drawing has gotten better.
2. My water color painting skills got improved.
3. I also loved bees wax and nature modeling, specifically the new things I have created.

Look over the selected piece of work and answer the
following questions thoroughly and thoughtfully (3-5
sentences).


1. Why did you choose this piece of work to share with
us?

I am showing all the work we could gather.
This is so you can see most of what I have done. I hope you like it.


2. What strengths were you able to demonstrate ?
What are some areas for
improvement?

I feel like I am really good at working with the colors . I like making patterns with it.
I think I could improve on the details in my creations.


3. To become a stronger student in this subject, what
skills do you need to work on?


I feel like I can work improving my sills for the rest of my life.
I would like to improve on making details in my art.
I would also like to play a musical instrument.

Self Reflection ~ Science

Self Reflection on a piece of work from Science

Zephyre Welfley

Geology and Geography of the Earth and Pacific North West

Please select 3 goals you think were met or progress was
made towards through this piece of work.

1. I have a greater understanding of how the Earths Cycles.
2. I have learned a lot about how glaciers shaped the earth.
3. Also I have enjoyed my experiments with rock testing.

Look over the selected piece of work and answer the
following questions thoroughly and thoughtfully (3-5
sentences).


1. Why did you choose this piece of work to share with
us?

My mom and I decided to build a model of a watershed in the Pacific Northwest.  I have been learning about how the earth was made and how the area we live in was formed. Building a model of the area was fun and helped me better understand it.


2. What strengths were you able to demonstrate in
this piece of work? What are some areas for
improvement?

I feel strong string at creating a model of our area. I feel like i understand how plates move, how rocks are formed and the islands were carved out by the glacier. I feel like I would  like to learn more about the life that live here and how they came here.

3. To become a stronger student in this subject, what
skills do you need to work on?

I feel like reading, writing and typing will help me in science next year. I also really love more experiments and want to make sure I have more experiments next year.

Self Reflection ~ PE & Getting Physical on Orcas and Beyond......

Self Reflection on a piece of work from Physical Education

Zephyre Welfley

Getting Physical on Orcas and Beyond......

Please select 3 goals you think were met or progress was

made towards through this piece of work.

1. I got to Bike more than I ever have in my life.
2. I got to explore other islands on a bike and by hiking.
3. I got to learn snowboarding.
4. Bonus - I am learning how to skate board too!

Look over the selected piece of work and answer the

following questions thoroughly and thoughtfully (3-5

sentences).

1. Why did you choose this piece of work to share with

us?

I chose to share pictures of the variety of things I have done. I feel like this shows the fun things I have been doing.

2. What strengths were you able to demonstrate in

this piece of work? What are some areas for

improvement?

I expressed my energy, had a great time, and learned new things. Most importantly the courage to learn new things and go places  that are new...not in a car.
I am excited to improve on all of my skills in every sport and activity.

3. To become a stronger student in this subject, what

skills do you need to work on?

I need to learn to do it more often. I also look forward to getting better at everything.

What a FUN physical life!

Snow Boarding Mount Baker!!!

Leaping rocks on Lopez

Biking the Islands..YEE HAW!

Shaw Island Adventure

Many days in the forest and on the beach, exploring and adventuring.

Coast Salish - Native Americans of Western Washington

What I have learned about the Coast Salish People:

Learning about the Coast Salish people has been interesting and fun.
It is inspiring to learn about the people who lived in this region since the last ice age, 12,000 years ago.
They came from Siberia to Alaska on the land bridge exposed by the low waters then.

I value learning about how the ancients would live, hunt, fish and make their art and tools. I think learning about other cultures, especially those who lived in harmony with the Earth is very important.

Life was simple and easy for the native peoples because there was plentiful food.






This area was a cornucopia of food and natural materials for living. From what I have learned the most used products that were central to their life were Salmon, Deer, and Red Cedar.

When the salmon come they work hard to catch food and process it so they can keep it for winter. 

Because they work so hard  and gather lots of food they have lots of free time and that is why they became good artistes. They are best know for wood carving and they created the Totem Pole.





The Cedar tree was very important to every day Coast Salish life.
They used it for canoes, Totem Poles, Long Houses, tools, the bark for clothing and rope and  as a medicine.












The tools they used to work with the Cedar, and other materials, were made from antlers, metamorphic stones ( because they are so hard), and wedges.

They could cut a large canoe out of a tree with out killing the tree if they chose to, otherwise they would make a fire at the base of the tree and chop at it till it came down.







 For the Totem poles they  would hollow out the tree so to make it lighter and so it would not crack.

The women had equal status in the community. 

Women were very good at making water tight baskets, blankets and clothes. 

Fabric could be made out of cedar bark, animal skins and ( the most interesting) the wool from the wooly dog.  They would keep a flock of these dogs that are now extinct.   I got to touch the woolly dog fur it was the softest thing I ever felt. It was very cool to touch something so ancient.

Self Reflection ~ Social Studies

Self Reflection on a piece of work from Social Studies

Zephyre Welfley

Coast Salish Peoples

Please select 3 goals you think were met or progress was
made towards through this piece of work.

1. How the peoples, of the Coast Salish speaking region of the North West, lived.
2. I learned how they used the world around them for nourishment, through hunting , gathering and fishing.
3. Also, I learned about their environment and how it changed when white man came.

Look over the selected piece of work and answer the
following questions thoroughly and thoughtfully (3-5
sentences).


1. Why did you choose this piece of work to share with
us?

This work is very interesting to me because Native Americans are very different than the modern person.
They are different in the way they eat, hunt and make community.
I chose the the Coast Salish people because it is very interesting to know about the people who lived here before I did.

2. What strengths were you able to demonstrate in
this piece of work? What are some areas for
improvement?

I think its inspiring to build the world they would live in. It was fun to get the materials from the forest and making the animals.  I can improve on typing on the computer, my reading is improving as well.
I have a lot of fund doing it.

3. To become a stronger student in this subject, what
skills do you need to work on?

I need to improve my typing, my reading and my motivation.
It was fun to learn about ancient civilizations this year.

Coast Salish Peoples - Hunting Fishing

I really like learning about the way the Native  people would hunt and fish because I like to fish too.

The peoples of this area were very rich in food.
Foods of all sorts, was very abundant.

They are hunters and gatherers and  they grew very little food.


They were extremely skill fisherman and hunters.
Fish were caught with nets, rakes, traps, spears harpoons and hooks.
Hooks were made of wood, whale bone or shell.
The rake like tools were used to gather herring in the early spring.





36 kinds of  ocean animals were used by them, some for food others for artificial light, fuel, tools and  decorations.
Salmon was their main abundant food source. The word for salmon was used for all types of fish.
Olachen also know as the candle fish. It was used as a light source by sticking a wick through the drying fish. When needed they just lit  the wick for light. Another funny thing I learned about the
Olachen is that some  people used the abundance of oils in the candle fish to put all over themselves instead of clothing this made them water proof.







They would also hunt a  variety of birds and animals.  Deer was the most useful animal they hunted. They would also eat beaver, otter, bear, elk, and mountain sheep.
Furs and skins were used for clothing and tools.
Seal skin could be made water tight and used in fishing as a floating buoy.

Living on the Juan de Fuca Plate

I live on Orcas Island.  Orcas is sitting on an active plate, called the Juan de Fuca plate. We are slowly moving east, under the North American plate. 


There are three types of boundaries, where plates meet.

1. Divergent boundary, is when two plates move away from each other.
2.  Convergent boundary, is when two plates move toward each other.
3.  Transform boundary, is when two plates slide by each other. 

All 3 boundaries are active on the Juan de Fuca  plate.

Honey Bee Keeping Class

In the bee keeping workshop I took, I learned about bees and hives. I learned that bees live in  a colony that has a queen.  I learned about honeybees and that our common honeybee comes from Europe.  We learned about the Warre hive that was designed by a monk who studied bees in the wild.

In the wild bees would build from the top to the bottom in the hallow of a tree, and the Warre bee hive mimics what bees want naturally in a hive.

The Warre hive is made out of stacking boxes. Each box has eight slats.  When you first prepare your hive you must rub wax on the slats.  The bees will build their honeycomb off of that.  
Once the two boxes are full and they are filling up the thrid, you can harvest the top box. It is important to make sure that you leave enough honey for the bees to make in to spring.