Eggcitement- Once again!

Once again our whole school was filled with excitement on November 3, 2010 waiting for our shipment of trout eggs to arrive. Mr. Hart and I were a little concerned when we opened the container to measure the temperature to find the initial reading at 72 degrees. We assumed that we had not let the thermometer in the container long enough to get an accurate reading so he readjusted the thermometer to find the second reading at 68 degrees. We quickly placed the bag in the tank to acclimate then proceeded to separate live and dead eggs and count.

We had received a total of 390 brook trout eggs; 82 were dead upon arrival. We placed 308 in the tank. We removed 8 that had died on Friday. Over the next three days all the eggs had hatched, but they died almost immediately. We had lost a total of 210 more sac fry or alevin leaving only 90 viable sac fry in the tank.

Mr. Hart and I were greatly concerned because we had never lost so many in such a short time span. I contacted our coordinator who sent us another shipment of sac fry which we received yesterday. We placed an additional 236 sac fry in the tank bring our total to 323. Today the students removed seven sac fry leaving our total count at 316 to date. We tested our water quality and all the numbers were within our normal ranges. We believe the temperature of the container upon arrival may have caused the large number of deaths. We can not be sure, but the second shipment is doing fine so it makes us wonder.

The planning process for our trout release day on May 19, 2010 has already begun. I am thankful for the second shipment of sac fry to help ensure that we have something to release on release day. The students are already looking forward to spending the day at Guss Park in Licking Creek. The new tank crew has begun tending the tank, removing dead fry, checking water quality and temperature. They are excited about the program.

Thoughts from the Tank Tenders:
11-3-10
Leda: The trout are cool! Can't wait to release them.
Nadine: I love trout. They are a neat type of fish species.
Alyssa: This is a really neat thing to me. I have never raised trout at my old school and I never
had fish at my school.
MiKayla: I love the trout and I can't wait until we release them!!!!

Welcome to TIC 2010

Can you believe that a new year has begun? Our trout tank is ready for our new batch of eggs scheduled to arrive on November 3rd or 4th by UPS. The poor UPS man does not know what is awaiting him on the day of that delivery! He was mobbed last year as the kids saw the UPS truck pull to the front of the school. Ahh.... memories! Looking forward to another great year with Trout in the Classroom! Check back in November to find out how many viable eggs we place into the tank.

Trout Release Day 2010

We had an awesome release day! We would especially like to thank our new friends from Juniata High School. We look forward to working together next year on our Trout In The Classroom Projects!

Don't Be Sad
Written by Mrs. Winey

As I looked upon our empty tank, my joy filled
heart just sank.

But then my mind began to ponder
all the fun we'll have down yonder.

Thinking of next November filled my heart again with joy.

Remembering all the fun we had along the way...
especially on Trout Release Day!

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.

Smiling Faces :)

Today Mrs. Shelley's second grade class found a worm while digging a hole to place a birdfeeder outside our school. Naturally, the students begged Mrs. Shelley to feed it to our trout so of course we did! I love to watch the students feed the trout! Check out the smiling faces :)

Doesn't it make you

smile?

Evidence of student learning...check it out!

... Thank you Penns Creek TU and PFBC!!

Catch and Release!

The spring rains create a lot of excitement here at Lack because our students quickly learn that rain means worms appear like a gift for us to feed our trout. Our fifth grade students gathered some worms from the blacktop and the first grade class loved to watch as the older students tempted our tiny trout with the huge worms. The worm soon became bait and fishing rod as the students discovered the trout would not let go of the the worm very easily. We knew you would enjoy sharing in this adventure!

Check out some pictures of today's adventure!

Are the worms too big?

Look closely- Can you see the trout?

Trout Journal

3-17-10

Jordan: I think the trout are so cool. I don't want to release them! I am going to misss them a lot.