Saturday, April 17, 2010

Trout Crew Shares TIC at District Council Meeting




Mr. Hart selected five fifth grade students to attend the District Council meeting held on Thursday, April 15 at Juniata High School. Mrs. Ricedorf and Mrs. Winey also attended the meeting to help the students present our Trout in the Classroom Program to the council members. Megan, Jordan, Karrie, Gaige, and Nathan did a wonderful job representing our school while explaining our TIC Program. We are proud of them! The students presented how the aquarium meets the needs of the trout as well as the daily routine for caring for the trout. They also shared some of the projects completed by our students.


April has been a busy month at Lack with the TIC Program. Mr. Hart's fifth grade students held a Trout Art and Poetry Contest. The students drew pictures of Brook Trout and also wrote poems. The first grade class chose a students' choice award winner. Mr. Hart and Mrs. Winey selected a teacher's choice award winner. The students did an excellent job on the poems making it too difficult to choose one winner. The students were rewarded with an ice cream party on Friday. Check out some of the awesome pictures and poems!!

Students' Choice Award Winner:
Shane

















Teachers' Choice Award Winner:
Gaige



















Fifth Grade Art and Poetry Contest
Trout Poetry:
Trout
by Gaige
Trout are stealthy, trout are wise.
How many birds do they despise?
1,2,3,4, all of them and many more.
Birds eat trout.
They like to eat them when they're stout.
They like to watch the fishes jump.
They like to eat them when they're plump.
This is the end of my poem
Trout don't like birds and they show'em!
Help! Trout Lost!
by Shane
The trout are bigger.
They will grow bigger I figger.
We got some trout from Mountain View
Since our trout numbers began to get few.
Most of us have done some work.
And when we were done they gave us a smirk.
This is my poem about a trout.
They shall be missed without a doubt.
They were kidnapped by the river.
But the river is cold and it makes them shiver.
If found, please return
To Mrs. Winey so her class can learn
All about these wonderful trout.
Tasty Trout Terry
by Megan
There once was a trout named Terry.
Who I was going to put o medium rarey,
Your now probably crying Mrs. Winey,
I'm sorry Mrs. Winey that I like my little trout Terry,
I can not wait till he's a ready,
My yummy, yummy little Terry.
What A Big Trout!
by Jordan
When I feel a big bite
I reel in with all my might.
There's a big trout
I knew I would catch one
without a doubt
It was really big
It made me do the jig
When I catch a big trout
I can't help that I scream and shout.
The Fish In the Dish
by Nathan
There was a fish named Swish
who lived in a dish by the dishwasher.
He was on an island in a house in Beggar Row.
He has three fish friends he swhished around with everyday.
Fishies, Oh Fishies
by Karrie
Fish, Fish
You'll end up in my favorite dish,
I really like your meat,
It is really good to eat,
I like to eat you all the time,
You are like a shiny dime.
And Mrs. Winey-Just kidding!
Little Speckled Trout
by Lauren
Little speckled trout
can't I coax you to come out?
Is it really fun to play
in that tank all day?
For as long as I live
I will have to give
you my life so you can have at least
one friend at a time.
You are as shiny as a silver dime.
Little speckled trout.
Won't you come out?
Please I need your help to swim
in the pond below the limb.
I do not want to sink,
if I do my face will turn pink.
Little speckled trout.
I LOVE YOU a lot so PLEASE COME OUT!

Show and Tell Visitor


April 14, 2010 is a day I will not soon forget! Mr. Hart called me over to see the unusual visitor one student brought in for show and tell. As I approached, the student began to share that he had brought in a native Brook Trout this morning on the bus. I could hardly believe it! At first glance, I was not sure that it was a Brook Trout so I had the student turn the fish so I could see it from the side and low and behold it was definitely a native Brook Trout! We estimated it to be about 9 inches. It had the beautiful vibrant red halo markings Brook Trout are known for.



Part of me was so proud of the student for being excited about our school project and the other part was wondering how in the world we were going to ensure this fish would remain alive for the entire school day. I knew that we could not put the fish in our tank or we would not have any trout for our upcoming release on May 14. Thankfully, I had an insulated bucket with a battery operated aerator. We used this bucket to transport the fingerlings to the stream last year and also to take a few fingerlings to the District Council meeting, but I was unsure if it would keep an adult Brook Trout alive for about 8 hours. I can happily report that it did!


The student reluctantly agreed to allow us to release the trout into the stream that we will release our fingerlings into. I explained to him that we could not allow him to take the fish back on the school bus because I was afraid the extended period of time without aerated water would kill the fish. The student attempted to persuade me by explaining that he had been giving the fish oxygen by swishing the water with his hand. I was very proud that he knew to provide oxygen for the trout, but encouraged him to allow us to release the fish into our local stream.



I enlisted the help of Ms. Gilbert to video the release of our show and tell visitor. It was really neat for the students to see this beautiful Brook Trout! We will never forget his visit.