Salado Creek Foundation

The Clubhouse at Salado Creek

A Peaceful Place to Learn and Play

Get your feet wet!

The Salado Creek watershed is a perfect place to get close up looks at all kinds of wiggling, slimy, skittering creatures and plants. See it, hear it, smell it, measure it, write about it, draw it!

For exhilarating learning in every subject area, in every season, at every grade level, you simply won't find a more marvelous multidisciplinary learning place!

Whether you visit the real creek, or enjoy a virtual visit here, you'll find that biology is never boring when your yearn to learn bubbles to the surface of the Salado Creek!

Salado Is Like A Treasure

Nine year old Jamie likes to explore the woods near his home because a peaceful creek flows slowly through the area.

Jamie thinks the Salado Creek is like a treasure because he always finds wonderful things to see and do there.

One fun thing Jamie does at Salado Creek is study the many different kinds of animals that live in the water.

Small minnows swim very fast. Crayfish look like tiny lobsters hiding in the shadows. When Jamie digs at the bottom of the creek he finds a kind of shellfish called Corbicula. Snail eggs that look like blobs of jelly are stuck to the bottom of stones.

In the soft mud on the banks of the Salado, Jamie sometimes finds animal tracks. There are footprints left by deer, raccoons and opossums.

Jamie hears many kinds of birds call to one another as they look for food. As he looks up into the sky there are powerful hawks overhead that soar higher and higher on warm currents of air called thermals.

Some remains of animals Jamie finds in the area are interesting because they have been dead for so many years. Stuck in the sides of a deep ditch, Jamie finds the remains from sea creatures that lived millions of years ago. These remains are called fossils and some of these fossils are bigger than Jamie’s hand and they look like seashells, but over the years they have turned to stone.

To learn the names of trees and plants on the Salado, Jamie and his mom play a game while they walk through the woods. Jamie’s mom gives him a nickel every time he can correctly identify a different type of tree or flower. Jamie thinks he might get rich by saving the money. His mom thinks he might get rich by learning to appreciate all the great things nature has to offer.

When Jamie learned that a Hike and Bike Trail would be built in this special area he felt happy. Jamie thinks sharing the treasure of the Salado with more children will be a lot of fun.

Jamie hopes the new visitors will enjoy and protect the creek like he does so that it will be a good place to learn and play for many, many years.

Which of the following sentences tells what this story is mostly about?

0 A pirate's treasure is hard to find.

0 Salado Creek is a good place to learn and play.

0 You can have fun on a sunny day.

0 It is interesting to watch wild animals.

In the Salado Creek area where can animals be found?

0 in the water

0 on the land

0 in the air

0 all of the above

Jamie has never seen a deer on the Salado but he knows they live nearby because

0 his mother told him

0 he heard them in the brush

0 they have eaten many plants

0 he saw their tracks

How do you think Jamie feels when he is exploring the creek?

0 proud

0 happy

0 scared

0 angry

What does Jamie think snail eggs look like?

0 doughnuts

0 shells

0 blobs of jelly

0 marbles

In this story what does the word thermal mean?

0 to heat by a fire

0 heavy clothing

0 a warm current of air

0 a footprint.

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saladocreek@hotmail.com