Thanks to all who helped make our release day a success! What a beautiful day we had. We were able to release 38 fingerling into the stream. We tested the water ph which was 7.0 and temperature of the stream was 51 degrees. This made it an easy transition for our trout.
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students participated in a bug study lead by Ms. Stark from the Juniata Conservation District. She brought two faithful assistants who helped the students identify macroinvertebrates gathered from the stream. We also examined a leafpack to identify the bugs which were attracted to this habitat. In addition we created 3 leafpacks which were placed in the stream. We will return to the park to check and log data on the water quality of the stream as indicated by the macroinvertebrates found in the leafpacks in a few weeks.
In the afternoon kindergarten, first, and second grade students joined us to complete a variety of educational activities. Juniata High School's Ag teacher, Ms. Morgan brought several high school students. They assisted Mrs. Winey with the trout release as well as ph and temperature measurements. They also lead a Project Wild Game Station which the students really enjoyed.
East Juniata's Ag teacher, Mrs. Glick brought nine students who lead a scavenger hunt station. Our students really enjoyed working with the older students.
The DCNR crew helped students plant trees in the park. We greatly appreciate their support. They willingly provided facilities for the students to use the restroom and wash their hands at the park.
Our local sponsor Penns Creek TU provided the opportunity for the older students to learn to cast a fly rod and examine fishing gear. They also assisted with the bug study.
Check out the video of the release activities!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Trout in School...So Cool!
Can you believe that the school year is coming to an end? It is amazing to me that on Thursday, we will be heading to Karl B. Guss Park to release our trout! Just wanted to share a picture of my class with their "real" book! What an awesome job they did on our book! They are so proud of their work and so am I! Hopefully, we will have good weather for our release. We have been busy making preparations for our release. Check back soon to see some pictures and a video of the activities of the day.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Trout In School... So Cool!
Time is escaping me...the students here at Lack Tuscarora Elementary have been busy becoming published authors! By the end of January, we hope to ship our book "Trout In School ... So Cool!" to Scholastic for publishing. The students have worked very hard on this project. It has been a great motivation for improving our writing skills. I am very proud of them. I will have a copy of the book available at our curriculum fair in May if anyone is interested please feel free to stop in and check it out.
Our fish are doing well so far. Of course we have lost fish through the process of development, but we seem to have settled in at a tankful of around 70-80 fry. The students really enjoy feeding the fish. However, we have limited our feedings to twice a week to help keep the water quality less troublesome. The more we feed the fish, the more waste they produce which leads to more difficulty in maintaining good parameters for the water quality so in this case less is definitely more. We have lean and healthy trout here at Lack!
As soon as I ship our book off, it will be time to begin the planning process for our release day. It is scheduled for May 17, 2012. Through the writing process, it was evident how much the release day means to the students which fuels my desire to begin the planning. Last summer, I took a course offered by the Leaf Pack Network. I am eager to incorporate some ideas from the workshop into our release. I also look forward to working with the community members from DCNR and the Conservation District to plan another fun filled educational day at Karl B. Gus. Hoping all will go well and we can keep enough trout alive to release again this year.
This year we have Juniata High School again participating in the program. Unfortunately, they are experiencing some of the difficulties we had last year with equipment failure. They lost all of their trout. We may be shipping some of our fish to them for adoption. We look forward to having them share in our release day again. Our elementary students really enjoy sharing the day with the older students. It is also a great opportunity for the older students to share what they have learned throught the program with the younger students.
Thompsontown Elementary School has also had a difficult first year in the program losing most of their fish also due to equipment difficulties. Mrs. Grundon has fallen in love with this program as I have. I do not believe her difficulties will keep her from seeing the benefits especially on the release day.Keep us in your thoughts as we hope to have some trout to relase in May. We have been blessed so far, but have a long way to go until May.
Our fish are doing well so far. Of course we have lost fish through the process of development, but we seem to have settled in at a tankful of around 70-80 fry. The students really enjoy feeding the fish. However, we have limited our feedings to twice a week to help keep the water quality less troublesome. The more we feed the fish, the more waste they produce which leads to more difficulty in maintaining good parameters for the water quality so in this case less is definitely more. We have lean and healthy trout here at Lack!
As soon as I ship our book off, it will be time to begin the planning process for our release day. It is scheduled for May 17, 2012. Through the writing process, it was evident how much the release day means to the students which fuels my desire to begin the planning. Last summer, I took a course offered by the Leaf Pack Network. I am eager to incorporate some ideas from the workshop into our release. I also look forward to working with the community members from DCNR and the Conservation District to plan another fun filled educational day at Karl B. Gus. Hoping all will go well and we can keep enough trout alive to release again this year.
This year we have Juniata High School again participating in the program. Unfortunately, they are experiencing some of the difficulties we had last year with equipment failure. They lost all of their trout. We may be shipping some of our fish to them for adoption. We look forward to having them share in our release day again. Our elementary students really enjoy sharing the day with the older students. It is also a great opportunity for the older students to share what they have learned throught the program with the younger students.
Thompsontown Elementary School has also had a difficult first year in the program losing most of their fish also due to equipment difficulties. Mrs. Grundon has fallen in love with this program as I have. I do not believe her difficulties will keep her from seeing the benefits especially on the release day.Keep us in your thoughts as we hope to have some trout to relase in May. We have been blessed so far, but have a long way to go until May.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Lack TIC 2011-2012
The UPS man has made many deliveries at Lack Tuscarora Elementary school since the beginning of school remaining unknown to the students. But on November 3, 2011, he fulfilled his true purpose here at Lack according to one little girl and received a new identity. From now on, he is known as the fish guy- the man who brought our brook trout eggs.
I can not believe we are beginning our fourth year with the Trout in the Classroom Program! Each year something new challenges us to keep enough trout alive to release in the spring. I wonder what it will be this year...I am thankful for the success we have experience so far and remain hopeful that all will go well again this year.
Our shipment this year contained 402 eggs. After sorting the eggs (dead/living), I placed 319 eggs in the tank. Since that time all the eggs have hatched into alevin, however some did not withstand the process. Some were deformed. Others were stillborn. Some never hatched. Over the course of the week, I removed a total of 32 egg/alevin from the tank. Leaving 287 living alevin in the tank. Alevin have a yolk sac that feeds them until early December at which time it is absorbed and they become fry.
The students are enjoying learning about the lifecycle of a brook trout as they witness it first hand. Our current reading series stories are about fish and the lifecycle of a frog. What a great way to compare the two lifecycles.
Check back soon to keep informed on the adventures of raising brook trout at Lack Tuscarora Elementary as witness by the eyes of my first grade class.
I can not believe we are beginning our fourth year with the Trout in the Classroom Program! Each year something new challenges us to keep enough trout alive to release in the spring. I wonder what it will be this year...I am thankful for the success we have experience so far and remain hopeful that all will go well again this year.
Our shipment this year contained 402 eggs. After sorting the eggs (dead/living), I placed 319 eggs in the tank. Since that time all the eggs have hatched into alevin, however some did not withstand the process. Some were deformed. Others were stillborn. Some never hatched. Over the course of the week, I removed a total of 32 egg/alevin from the tank. Leaving 287 living alevin in the tank. Alevin have a yolk sac that feeds them until early December at which time it is absorbed and they become fry.
The students are enjoying learning about the lifecycle of a brook trout as they witness it first hand. Our current reading series stories are about fish and the lifecycle of a frog. What a great way to compare the two lifecycles.
Check back soon to keep informed on the adventures of raising brook trout at Lack Tuscarora Elementary as witness by the eyes of my first grade class.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Trout Release 2011
Karl B. Guss Park
Thankfully we had a mostly rainfree day for our trout release at Karl B. Guss Park on Thursday May 19, 2011. We did end the day with a brief shower just to make things interesting. We released 216 trout total between Juniata High School and Lack Tuscarora Elementary. East Juniata lost over 100 trout on April 29, 2011 due to the power outage during a storm. Check out the video of all the fun activities the students participated in! Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make this day a success!
http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d1728207k6319076o1/lack-tuscarora-elementary-trout-release-2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Modern Day Pen Pals
Modern Day Pen Pals
Mrs. Winey and Mrs. Glock can hardly wait to get our schools together. We wanted to have the students get know each other a little before the trout release. We will be blogging back and forth to get to know each other. Modern day pen pals-what fun!
Hello from Mrs. Winey's first grade class! My students are so excited to interact with you! We were sorry to hear about your "jumper"( the fish that jumped out of the tank to his untimely dealth). We experienced the same thing last year. We watched some fish jump up at flies that flew over the tank. So we assumed that when we found some beside the tank that they must have seen something to entice them to jump out. We lost several until we decided to lower the water level some.It helps if you do not fill the tank as high. 
Comments from Mrs. Winey's First Grade:
Aiddan: I am really looking forward to seeing you.
Hunter: I can't wait to see your trout.
Marissa: I was wondering how big your trout are and how many you have alive?
Nate: I wanted to thank you for the trout that you gave us even thought many of them have
died.
Cameron: I am excited to see you because I did not get to go to the release last year because I
was at a different school.
Duane: I was wondering what you look like. Maybe you could take a picture and post it so we can
see you...
Joceline: I want to know how you are doing?
Dyllan: I wonder what your trout look like?
Heaven: I want you to know I miss you from last year.
Cheyenne: I can't wait to see you this year at the trout release.
Bethany: I want to thank you for the trout you gave us because I love to feed the trout.
Gabby: I want to see your trout on the day of the trout release.
Jordan: I wonder how your fish are doing?
Leah: I want you to know that we have about 30 fish alive. Many have been dying.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Trout Crew
Wow-it seems amazing to me that the month of February has escaped me without posting an update on the trout. Forgive me!
We received a shipment of about 30 trout in January bringing our total count to around 50 until yesterday when we experienced a failure of one of the small pumps intended to help the water circulate from the bottom of the tank. The trout crew found about 10 dead trout yesterday. I attempted to clean out the pump and sponge. I was able to get it moving some water, but I fear we will need to replace the pump.
On a happier note, I have begun the planning process for our release! We are coordinating our release with Juniata High School's release which will make the day that much more fun! This week I plan to adopt some trout from the high school because they have too many for their aquarium to maintain good water quality so we are more than glad to help them out by taking some fish.
The students are eager for the spring rains because they remember in years past how much fun it is to feed the fish fresh earthworms.
We received a shipment of about 30 trout in January bringing our total count to around 50 until yesterday when we experienced a failure of one of the small pumps intended to help the water circulate from the bottom of the tank. The trout crew found about 10 dead trout yesterday. I attempted to clean out the pump and sponge. I was able to get it moving some water, but I fear we will need to replace the pump.
On a happier note, I have begun the planning process for our release! We are coordinating our release with Juniata High School's release which will make the day that much more fun! This week I plan to adopt some trout from the high school because they have too many for their aquarium to maintain good water quality so we are more than glad to help them out by taking some fish.
The students are eager for the spring rains because they remember in years past how much fun it is to feed the fish fresh earthworms.
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