Friday, November 23, 2012

Black Friday Blackout!!

As I was preparing a shopping plan around 10:30 a.m on Black Friday with my sister-in-law, Mr. Berry called to let me know the power had gone at Lack . Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I was so thankful that he called to let me know so that I could attempt to move our alevin to one of our other schools in the county that participates in our TIC Program. I gathered my  2 aerated buckets and had decided that even if I could not connect to move the alevin to another school, I might be able to take them to the stream and rig up some type of basket to keep them in temporarily until the power came back on...

Because our tank still has the foam coverings on and the heat is down in the building due to Thanksgiving vacation, the tank  remained at a cool 54 degrees even with the power off for around 3 hours. All the alevin were alive and well when I got to the school! So much to be thankful for...

I syphoned water from the tank into the buckets and made a make shift basket by wiring two baskets together. Just as I placed the basket in the aerated bucket to transport them, the power came back on! I was so relieved. So I placed them safely back into their normal home and returned home. Every year a new adventure with TIC... I didn't really want to shop on Black Friday anyway!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

And the fun begins...2012

What an exciting day! We received our shipment of brook trout eggs yesterday while I was at a conference. Naturally, I could not wait to get back to the school to make sure they made it safely into our tank that has been patiently awaiting their arrival since the first day of school!

After the tedious process of separating the living and nonliving eggs, I placed 273 eggs into the tank. We have had approximately 10 hatch into alevin already. I removed 5 that did not make the adjustment to the new environment. I had two reliable helpers (Valerie and Karter) place them under our flower garden in front of the school to enrich the soil. We have been learning about how plants and animals provide needs for each other in our science lessons. What a perfect way to make these lessons come to life!

One little boy in my class raised his hand today and said, I just can't wait to see what we are going to do next. We do so many fun things! I hope not to disappoint... days like these really motivate me to find new ways to get the students excited about learning.

From past experience, I know that it will not be all smooth sailing. Check back to see what adventures we get into as we attempt to raise brook trout once again at Lack Tuscarora Elementary!