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.