Fryday...battling to survive!

   Many TIC programs this year are battling a fungus that is decreasing our trout  populations. Despite our best attempts to remove the visible fungus and dead fry...the war rages on! It seems to be a losing battle.
      Our trout tank here at Lack Tuscarora has dwindled to approximately 30 fish fighting to survive.  We continue to lose around 5 fish per day.
    Finding humor in life is my survival technique...I can relate to this little guy as I have struggled to keep my head afloat this week....He just will not give up! Neither will I. I am inspired by his spirit. Hang in there everyone...it's almost Fryday!

Swim-up Fry...

 

 

     Our trout are growing stronger every day. We had several escape the hatching basket which had me a little concerned because it is more difficult to get food down to them when they are on the bottom of the tank.

   Two of my strengths as a first grade teacher are patience and persistence. Both have paid off as we now have several  fry strong enough to swim-up to the top of the tank. This is so exciting to see. They look so tiny now, but they will quickly grow. Take a peek!

 

 

     Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

First Feeding TIC 2017

    We are so excited to share that we have swim-up fry searching for food! We even have a few that have jumped out of our hatching baskets and are on their own in the  BIG tank...we will do our best to get food down to them as they are not yet strong enough to swim to the top of the tank! Stay tuned to see how we make out!

Active Alevin!

 

 

 

 

     To help ease the idea of losing fish as we experience survival of the fittest first-hand, we place our nonliving trout on our classroom plants as fertilizer. We are hoping to have enough trout alive for each student to release one during our school-wide release scheduled for May 19, 2018 at Lost Creek Golf Course.  Above on the left is a container of the trout that died during the shipping process. On the right, two students are fertilizing our plant.

 

 

     Literally overnight our Brook Trout eggs hatched into alevin. The students really enjoy this stage of the life cycle because it is something most have never experienced. Some refer to this stage as sacfry because the trout have a yolk sac that sustains life during this phase, but the official name is alevin.  It takes some convincing for the students to believe that the trout are alive during this phase because mostly they simply lay there contently... as I like to say...fat and happy. Unless there is movement or light near the tank, then they scurry to hide. The students love to see this. Below is a short video of the alevin attempting to hide. As they grow, their bodies will become larger and the yolk sac will absorb. This is referred to as buttoning up. Once it is gone, we will begin to feed them 2-3 times a day at first. It will be a long few weeks waiting until we can feed them. The students are so eager.

 

 

 

    

Halloween Treat!

What a treat...our Brook Trout eggs arrived on Halloween... The students were so excited. We checked the temperature of our tank to determine how long the eggs would need to acclimate.

 Our tank was 54 degrees.

The eggs arrived in a Styrofoam box packed with dry ice. The temperature of the water inside the bag of trout eggs measured 58 degrees. We allowed the bag to float on the top of the tank for 1 hour before separating living and nonliving eggs.           

                This year's shipment contained 349 total eggs. Some of them had already hatched into alevin. There were 82 eggs that did not survive the trip from the hatchery in Bellefonte, PA leaving 267 living eggs to be lovingly place in our trout tank.

             The eggs and alevin below appeared to be struggling so I placed them in a separate basket to prevent any bacteria from harming the other eggs in the even that they did not survive the first night at Lack-Tuscarora. As you can see their color is a little gray. They should be peachy/pink like those above. I just had to give them a chance to survive...Hoping to see them looking better in the morning.

  

I place a sign over the tank to help keep the Brook Trout from being stressed in the busy hallway and to help keep out the light until the trout transition to swim-up fry and begin to eat. This should occur right before Thanksgiving break.

Just for fun, I gave the students a pack of Swedish fish candy. The students were thrilled to have the trout arrive on Halloween...it was definitely a treat!



Trick or Treat...Take a Peek into First Grade at Lack Tuscarora!

 

     Each day we are getting closer to the arrival of our Brook Trout which is scheduled for Oct 31 or November 1. It makes me smile just thinking of the fun the students will have learning through this project. It also means that we will soon begin our Trout Book Project and yes another smile!

     In order to prepare for this, we have been doing a lot of modeling of the writing process together as a class. Then I allow time for independent practice of the skills I have introduced. I model both fiction writing and nonfiction writing and discuss the differences. I often use science to integrate nonfiction writing through our "Foss Science" Journals.
 



 

Shared  Class Writing


 

     Above you will see a fiction writing that the students generated about SpongeBob. They love using the Smart board and I love it  too because it often gets students involved who otherwise may not be willing to try to write. They were so proud of this writing and illustration. I have been encouraging them to add more details to their illustrations so we can see the story in the picture. The students didn't want me to erase it so I told them I would take a picture. I couldn't resist sharing.

 

     We are exploring air in science. We are learning that air takes up space and that compressed air can move things including water. I loved hearing the students giggle when we moved the water from the bottle by compressing air through the syringe. We followed with a nonfiction modeled writing journaling our learning.

      We ended this week with our PBIS reward of bird watching...we even saw a stray Monarch Butterfly. Some of the students insisted it was our butterfly B. Before we went outside to explore...we took a peek at our trout tank to notice the compressed air we add to the tank so our Trout will survive. Tricking the students into learning by making connections...I love it!

   

 

 

Check back to see if we receive our treat on Halloween or are tricked into waiting until November 1!

B is for Butterfly!

On September 14, 2017 our Butterfly named B emerged from the chrysalis. The students were thrilled to release her on the day of our school bug fair. B did not want to fly free from the jar that had been her home in our classroom. It took some encouragement, but she eventually flew to a nearby bush in front of the school. Hopefully, by now she has made it to Mexico for migration.

We predicted that our butterfly would fly to the flowers behind us. However, B flew to a  taller bush.

Life Cycles....Cycles of life...

     As I begin preparing for another fun year of
learning in our first grade classroom, I naturally reflect over the previous year. The highs, the lows, the ups and the downs of last year led me to remembering that on my son's birthday we lost our entire tank of beautiful Brook Trout. Definitely a low for all of us here at Lack Tuscarora! But in the true spirit of our school, we planted our trout in our school garden seeking to help the students see that life truly goes on in cycles.  We must endure them all...

    Mr. Hart's flowers benefited from the burial of our trout. The trout were planted in a line where the marigolds are growing. The Indians were on to something for sure! Last week on the first day of school we planted alfalfa and grass seeds. The alfalfa sprouted first with the grass following. Again this year we will fertilize our plants with our brook trout that do not survive. However, I am truly hoping never to have to hold a burial of our entire tank of trout 11 days before our release date.

    

  The students were so excited to see the seeds sprout.

    At the foundation of learning about life cycles, is the concept of change... Learning to accept change can be difficult for us all, but the results can be something truly amazing. Mr. Mitchell, our new principal, brought us this jar containing a caterpillar and some milk weed. I brought it home over the holiday weekend expecting to replenish the milk weed. However, that was unnecessary as it began to build its chrysalis on Saturday. I cannot wait to show the students on Tuesday! This year we will not only release trout, but hopefully a monarch butterfly that we have yet to name.

     Our trout tank is eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Brook Trout eggs due the first week of November. Another year of adventures in learning await as we learn how to navigate the cycles of life while learning first hand about life cycles! Check back to share our journey.

Thank You Penns Creek TU Chapter 119 AND Lost Creek Trout Club

 

Penns Creek TU donated T-shirts to my first grade class. They truly are wonderful sponsors!

It will be hard to convince the students to release fingerlings next year after releasing these beauties! Thanks for saving the day Lost Creek Trout Club...

May 13, 2017 Trout Release at Lost Creek

What an awesome day we had at the Lost Creek Golf Course and stream releasing the trout donated by Lost Creek Trout Club! Thanks goes to our wonderful community for making this day happen for the students of Lack Tuscarora Elementary School and Juniata High School...my heart is full!


This was our ninth trout release participating in Trout in the Classroom through our sponsors Penns Creek Trout Unlimited. They have been a wonderful group to work with over the years and have had a tremendous impact on the streams of Mifflin and Juniata Counties. This program would not exist today in our school without this group of anglers!


 Thank you parents and students of Lack Tuscarora Elementary for braving the weather which held out better than expected and for embracing our efforts! I greatly appreciate the help and support of Mrs. Jessica Morgan and the students of Juniata High School who taught a valuable lesson on stream conservation and assisted Penns Creek Trout Unlimited with our release, fly-casting, and macro-invertebrate study. Shout-outs to Michelle Lauver from Cocolamus Creek Disposal for our lesson on recycling and Mr. Lucas Book for his lesson on the importance of trees to the health of a stream.


 It is my hope that the students will realize the precious natural and human resources we have in our community and that they will be inspired to protect them for the future. A final word of thanks to the members of Juniata Watershed Alliance  and the Juniata Conservation District for their vision to make stream conservation a priority for our community beginning with the efforts at the Lost Creek Golf Course. Here are a few pictures of the day...

  these smiles....

are the reason I love this program!

and a link to a video...

https://youtu.be/Yaeav5OBL-c

If this looks like fun to you... Juniata Watershed Alliance would love to have you be a part of our efforts to enact our vision for Lost Creek providing for our students authentic opportunities for stream conservation within our community. Please feel free to reach out to us through our Facebook page to see how you can be a part of local efforts.


https://www.facebook.com/pg/juniatawatershedalliance/posts/

Our Vision Statement:

We envision a healthy and beautiful stream that enhances and reflects the spirit of our rural community and its carefully stewarded landscape.

May 2, 2017

May 2 is usually an exciting day for me as it is my son's birthday. However, last Tuesday, May 2, was a disheartening day at Lack Tuscarora Elementary. We had 119 beautiful fish as you can see from the pictures below in other posts but a 2 hour power outage on Tuesday was more than they could endure...we lost the entire tank of Brook Trout.


We had a burial for them on Wednesday in our school garden and then I began frantically trying to find a way to make sunshine from our rainy day...Thankfully Lost Creek Trout Club has come to our rescue providing adult trout for our students to put in the stream on our release day which is scheduled to be this Saturday, May 13. What a whirlwind of emotions the last week has been. I am thankful for the willingness of Lost Creek Trout Club to come to our rescue. I am always amazed at how our community rallies together to make this event a success...

   We have moved our event this year to the Lost Creek Golf Course to highlight real-life conservation efforts in our community brought about by our newly formed watershed group Juniata Watershed Alliance of which I am the President. I believe our students this year had a first hand lesson on how fragile the balance of life can be.

    On a positive note...we will have our book on display! Hoping that we get all the rain out of our system this week and praying for a sunny day next Saturday! Check back to see some pictures from the day!

Final Countdown!

With only 11 days left until...

our trout release at Lost Creek Golf Course on

Saturday, May 13, 2017 ....

we are all getting so excited to take our trout to the stream.

Today for nearly 2 hours...we went without power at our school due to high winds...thankfully, power was restored quickly and everything worked out fine! Hoping for no more power outages...it will be a huge relief to put our trout in the stream...we have worked so hard to keep them all healthy and alive!

A Teacher's Treasures!

     A plastic coffee lid, three earth worms, one lilac flower, and seven rocks ... at first glance these items may not seem to hold any value. However, to this teacher they are priceless gems of learning.

    Each day over the last week a different student handed me a precious gift representing something learned in our classroom...it was not planned...it happened innocently enough...it has inspired me to continue to connect the learning of our classroom to the larger picture of life. Thanking my students for helping me to realize true treasures!

      

Juniata Watershed Alliance...

JWA Logo

     We are in the process of forming our county's first watershed organization!  This has been an evolving process that began almost 3 years ago when I was approached by a parent of former students to become involved in local water conservation efforts. These students collaborated in creating the logo for our organization! Makes me smile every time I see it.

    We have had tremendous support through the Juniata Conservation District guiding us through the process providing direction and purpose to our cause. This year we will release our trout at Sis and Brent Robinson's residence in the Lost Creek and hold the other release activities at the Lost Creek Golf Course to highlight our local conservation efforts through our newly formed watershed group!

     It is my desire to connect our Trout in the Classroom Program with real life conservation efforts in our community! We share our release with the Juniata High School's TIC Program to allow the older students an opportunity to connect with our younger students around a common goal. Counting the days until our release...and praying everything continues to go well! Take a peek at our Brook Trout!

Worm Wednesday! March 8, 2017

     Our science lessons have been focusing on the interconnections between plants, animals, and humans as we strive to meet our needs for survival sharing the world we live in. We have been discussing how worms enrich the soil for our plants as they inhabit the same space in the ground. We have also discussed how worms are forced to the surface after prolonged rain to seek air as the ground becomes saturated. Several of the students shared how they gather worms for fishing which eventually lead to...I bet our trout would love some worms!
     One day last week after it rained all morning, we took a walk around the playground in search of worms. We were unsuccessful as the ground had not yet become saturated enough to force them to the surface. One morning this week as I woke up to the sound of the rain hitting my roof, I smiled. I knew we would soon have a worm day. Today was our lucky day...Worm Wednesday!
     Year after year the students are eager to make predictions about what will happen as we present our trout with their first sampling of a worm. Once again this year, we made some accurate predictions. However, as typical with this program, no one predicted that one of the trout would engulf  the worm so quickly that it would protrude from its gill causing it to become the target for attack by the other trout in the tank. I decided to intervene. Below are some pictures of the worm removal process...TIC always an adventure!

 

Rain, rain

Let it pour...

'Cause our fishies

Want some more...

WORMS!

 

Every wish

Yields a delicious dish

For our fish!

 

     Feeling grateful...even silly wishes can come true! Take a peek at our Worm Wednesday!

 



https://youtu.be/51M3EOL52W4 

Happy Fry-day 2-28-17, On Tuesday!

     We all look forward to Fry-days! We are eager to share that our Brook Trout are growing! They are now big enough to sample some worms...looking forward to some good soaking rain to bring the worms up out of the ground because we so love to feed them to the trout. Hopefully soon we will be able to post a video of their first worm feeding of the year!

 

     We are 81 days away from our trout release which has me a little worried because so many things can happen in that length of time...hoping everything continues to go well! Here's a peek at our school of fry... hope we brightened your Tuesday!



Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

     They say time flies when you are having fun...well we must be having a blast because I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone in a blink and so has the month of January! Thankfully, we received another shipment of trout eggs prior to Thanksgiving. This shipment looked much healthier and we have only lost a few as they either did not learn to swim to look for food or were deformed. To help the students adjust to this difficult reality, we used them to fertilize our plants.



     My students have been busy as authors and illustrators of our trout book with our publishing date quickly approaching. We are so eager to share our finished product, but for now we will give you a peek of some of the things we have been learning through our Trout in the Classroom Program! Enjoy!