Lack Tuscarora First Grade Shares TIC Lessons on Brook Trout!

 Today as preparation for beginning to write our nonfiction stories on Trout, I asked my students to share what they have learned  from our TIC program so far. It is amazing what first graders can learn and retain about something that sparks their interest. As you can see, they have a natural enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge on trout! I must admit I am proud of every one of them! Hope this makes you smile...

Lack Tuscarora First Grade 2015 Loves Trout!

Tough Transitions

     Watching our trout transition from sac fry to swim up fry is a first hand reminder that change in life can be difficult.  Unfortunately, our twins did not survive this transition. As the yolk sac was absorbed they could not coordinate their efforts to search for food. My daughter and a few of her friends at Lycoming College named our twins Pascalleon and Arosco. We all were rooting for them to survive...a real life lesson that things do not always work out the way we hope.
     We do still have two other fry that seem to be fighters so I have named them Katniss and Peeta. They can not swim straight due to deformities, but I do not have the heart to take them out of the tank. I have been patiently trying to put food in front of them as they swim in circles...the odds are not in their favor for survival. However, I always root for the underdog!
                                         -- "May the odds be ever in your favor"--

  Above  you will find a video of our swim up fry...they have been eating food since Thanksgiving which seems fitting...The students loved feeding them for the first time this week...it made their transition of returning to school after a little break a little more enjoyable.  I am reminded that we all go through transitions in life. Look closely, you can see Katniss and Peeta!                                                            

Trout Twins!

     The little sac fry are growing and beginning to scamper around when we come to check on them...they try to hide as  a natural instinct to keep from being eaten. The students enjoy this because it reassures them that the trout are alive. Today we discovered there were two trout sharing one yolk sac...twins so to speak. I cannot wait to show the students tomorrow...Take a peek below...the sad truth is that it will not likely survive...it will be interesting to see how it develops.

 

Also a video of the trout scurrying to hide when I lift the lid to take a peek...

Colorful Chemistry!

The students were eager to help test the water to make sure it keeps our trout safe and healthy. We monitor the water quality two times a week. The students help by counting the drops of each test solution and assisting in determining which color matches the test card indicating the level. The students really enjoy seeing the color of the water change during the testing process.

 

These were the results we found today... ph 7.6, nitrites 0 ppm, ammonia .25 ppm, and nitrates 0 ppm. Looks great so far!  It is natural to have a little rise in ammonia right after all the eggs hatch. As the trout grow, we can expect to see some  more changes. They mostly learn that trout need clean water through this  testing process and that we can help to keep the water clean for them both in our tank and in the streams!

We also talked about how our tank is a closed system unlike the stream so we need to sometimes add some fresh water to help keep the water chemistry able to meet the needs of the trout in the tank.  So we added 2 gallons of spring water. Then we cut the top off  of the gallon jug filling it with tap water. We placed these containers on our window sill to allow the chlorine that is in our water to dissipate into the air before we add the water to the tank. This process takes 2 days.  Next we smelled the difference between water from the tank and water from the tap. Believe it or not you can smell the chlorine in tap water. We also measured the temperature of both containers of water learning to read a thermometer. We also measured the air temperature of the room just to give the students an idea of what the temperature feels like relative to them.

The students are so eager to learn and care for our trout. We think raising trout in school is so cool...below is our best cool dude look to share our excitement for the program!

Eggstra Eggstra...Read All About It!

     A large focus of first grade is to get students excited about learning to read and write because it provides so much of the needed foundation for future learning. Our TIC Program is a tremendous aide in making it easy to get students excited about both! My class is ready to share what we are learning through our TIC Program through writing.  We are working toward writing a book about our program while writing nonfiction and fiction stories about Brook Trout. We are eager to begin!

Yesterday we talked about how to have fun and play with words as seen in the title of our post. We have also discussed punctuation and how to express our feelings with our writing. Our challenge for this post was expressing our excitement about the arrival of our trout eggs through a sign that we could hang on our tank while the cover is on the front helping to set a dark calming environment for our eggs to hatch and the tiny alevin to gently enter their new environment.

We also discussed reading with expression as we took turns reading the sign in different ways. We built the sentence word by word choosing the correct punctuation. Imagine these smiling faces reading these words with expression...makes me smile...I can still hear them saying...Oh Yeah!

Let the Eggcitement Begin!

The trout eggs arrived at Lack Tuscarora Elementary today! We received a shipment of 230 eggs some of which hatched while I was sorting them. There were 37 dead eggs and 3 dead alevin. This year was a first... there was one egg that was completely red...I counted it in the dead count. I tucked 190 safely in the tank before leaving for the night.  Below you will see the box the eggs are shipped in...it may not look like much, but it sure made me smile when I saw it knowing the fun that is contained inside.  First order of business is to acclimate the eggs to the tank temp...the shipping box temp was 50.4 and my tank temp was 48.9 so this did not take too long... then begins the process of counting and separating living from nonliving eggs as each year there are some that die through the shipment journey.

        
Shipping box and separating tools...   

        

Watch a video of how the eggs are sorted...

 

              Living and nonliving eggs...



eggs and alevin tucked ...snug as a bug in a rug!

Great Surprise!

Today, I received the best surprise! We were happily doing reading groups when my principal came to the door  to tell me that my class was needed in the cafeteria. I was sure I missed an email about an event which could easily happen this time of year. Nonetheless off to the cafeteria we went. When we got there, they called me to the front of the whole school at which time my heart stopped. I know being a teacher I should feel comfortable in front of people, but this is not something I enjoy. I was awarded a $5,000 grant from CenturyLink to purchase a smartboard and tablets for my classroom to make it easier to complete our troutbook project. I cannot tell you how happy this made me! Just wanted to share a  big thank you to CenturyLink for supporting our little school and helping me integrate technology into my classroom.

 

 

Fish Tales 2014-2015

 

Hard to believe January has come and gone! We are very busy writing our trout book. The students have been so excited about this project. It makes it worth the extra effort! I can't wait  to see their  faces when I hand them the finished book.

I am almost afraid to report how well our trout are doing...I do not want to jinx myself! We have not lost any trout since Christmas! We have 112 healthy fry growing their way to fingerlings in our tank. The students have mixed emotions. They are looking forward to releasing them, but not wanting to let go! As a mother of two college aged students, I completely understand the feeling.