Carmel, NY - The Release Trip

Last Wednesday, our trout journey came to a close as we traveled to the Clearpool Education Center in Carmel, NY to release the fifty brown trout that we have cared for over the past six months.  Each child had a chance to release a fingerling trout into the stream at the Center before participating in a discovery hike around a beautiful lake and a pond study where we identified a variety of macroinvertebrates and other pond creatures such as frogs, turtles and salamanders.  We all got a little wet, but overall it was a wonderful day.

Marnie and I want to thank all of you for your support on this six-month adventure.  We look forward to working with a new group of children next year!

We Are At It Again - Skyping with Second Graders at Reed Elementary School

Before the February Break, the Trout Club Skyped with second graders at Reed Elementary School in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The second graders and their teacher, Mr. Modlin, recently received their rainbow trout, and we were able to view them in the alevin stage.  It reminded us of what our trout looked like in November!  Prior to the Skype, Mr. Modlin forwarded us about 20 questions that his children had about our trout and we answered them over Skype.  They asked us questions about our aquarium, our release trip, how fast our trout can swim, what they eat and the similarities and differences between a trout's habitat in New York and California.  Enjoy the pictures from our Skype!

   

Studying Watersheds

It has been awhile since we last updated the blog, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been hard at work in the lab.  Over the past two weeks, we studied watersheds and discussed the impact that humans can have on our watersheds.  The pictures below are from an activity where the children created their own watersheds out of crumpled paper.  The blue lines represent streams and rivers and the red, brown and black markings represent various pollutants and soil runoff that can cause harm to their watershed.  When it rained (a spray bottle mist) on our watersheds, we watched the polluntants and soil run into the rivers and streams.  The children wrote reflections in their trout journals about their reactions to the activity.     

Skyping with Amber from Glacier High School



On Monday morning we Skyped with Amber and Ms. Streeter in Kalispell, MT.  We hope that you enjoy the pics and video clips from our session. 

Special thanks goes out to Amber and Ms. Streeter for taking the time to chat with us!







Showing Amber and Ms. Streeter Our Brown Trout



Steven Observing



Zach



Robert



The Club



Amber



Fiona



Ava



Mr. Havlik Showing Amber the Chiller



Saying Goodbye!

A Visit to Newtown Creek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown_Creek

This morning we took a Skype trip to Newtown Creek!  Newtown Creek is the body of water that separates Brooklyn from Queens.   Look down next time you are on the BQE going over the Kosciuszko Bridge and you will see it.  Leading us on our journey was Lillit Genovesi, who talked about her work at the Creek.  She answered the children's questions and we determined that Newtown Creek, due to its high concentration of pollution and lack of dissolved oxygen, is not a habitat that could meet the needs of our trout.

 

Sketching and Skyping

This morning we spent some time sketching in our trout journals.  The first thing that we noticed is that our fish had grown over the weekend!  Most of our trout are in the 2 to 5 inch range and have entered into the fingerling stage of their life cycle.  As we sketched we noticed changes in size, color, markings and other parts of the external anatomy such as the growth of new fins.

While the club was observing and sketching, students were called up individually to practice Skyping!  The students were given the chance to ask Ms. Hanson any questions that they had thought to ask our partner club in Montana.  They did a wonderful job and each received individual feedback from Ms. Hanson as to how they could be a better Skyper!