Classes are beginning to prepare for spring trout releases, and we'll be visiting to help out. Today, Mariah visited Newfield Middle School 7th graders in Lauren Hamilton's science class, and helped students learn how to evaluate the health of a stream using insects.  We'll be visiting all 17 schools, and over 30 classrooms this month!

 
Our session starts with some review- insect life cycles, stream foodwebs, and
what trout need to survive.

Then, its time to pick through some live stream samples, collected by Bill and Mariah before class...

Students use dichotomous keys to identify as many insects and other invertebrates as they can in their sample

. 
This Izaak Walton League Stream Assessment Rubric creates a score for our stream, based on the insects we find.  (Scores for Lick Brook ranged from 17-23.)

Finally, we verify that these insects and our trout are part of the same food chain.  Always ask for verification! 

Trout Feeding Advice From the Experts!

 

An Oldie, but a favorite!
Our Brown Trout alevins are not quite as big as seen in this video, but it won't be long.  They're finishing off their yolk sacks and we have reports of strong swimmers at most schools, now - right on schedule.  Mariah reports a successful first feeding by Groton's 6th graders! 

Alevins are here!

Brook trout eggs have been delivered to Lansing, Dryden, Northeast and Caroline elementary schools, and should be hatching this week.  

 "Eyed" egg, nearly ready to hatch.

 

Meanwhile, our brown trout alevins are hatched and growing nicely at other schools.  

  A newly hatched trout "alevin" with it's yolk sack. 

Trout in the Classroom 2016 is Underway!

Whew! 
After a crazy two weeks, we have retrieved eggs from the DEC's Bath fish hatchery, and from SUNY Morrisville, and Trout in the Classroom is underway for the 2016-2017 school year.  In each of the following schools, we are working with the entire grade level!   Here is a list of participating schools, and we are excited to welcome Liz McCheyne's 5th grade, at South Seneca Elementary!

Belle Sherman 5th Grade

Beverly J. Martin 4th grade

Caroline 4th grade

Cayuga Heights 4th grade

Enfield 4th grade 

Fall Creek 4th grade

Northeast 4th grade

South Hill 4th grade

 

Lansing 4th and 10th grades

Dryden 5th grade

Groton 6th grade

Union Springs 6th grade

Newfield 7th grade

South Seneca 5th grade

Students from Beverly J. Martin Elementary accompanied us to the hatchery this year- stay tuned for pictures!

Trout Releases Going Full Steam!

Good times releasing trout this week with Belle Sherman 5th grade, Enfield 4th and Union Springs 6th. “I think that we should keep on having trout because it is fun and very exciting to watch the fish grow up. 'Jaws' is 14 cm long now. He is the biggest trout that Mr. O has ever had in his class.” -Ethan Z. AJ Smith Elementary

More Results from Dryden Elementary, Groton Middle School, and Newfield Middle School!

For one of the classes at Groton we did a little side experiment and compared the amount of daphnia eaten by smaller trout compared to the larger trout and the preliminary results did indicate that the smaller trout ate more.

Groton Middle Schoolers posing for a post experiment photo-op

Two-Headed Alevin!

Students at Caroline Elementary discovered a rare two-headed trout alevin today.  We occasionally see these Siamese twins... we'll see how long this little one survives.

"If the two-headed trout becomes a fingerling,
I call carrying it out to the creek."
- Everett, from Mrs. Beigel's 4th grade. 

Flow Charting at Caroline Elementary

One of the great things about Trout in the Classroom is the broad range of day-to-day applications it can support.   Anna Chapman, at Caroline Elementary, recently took advantage of her students' aquarium monitoring responsibilities to practice creating a flow chart with her class.  Very cool!

Aquaponics at Cayuga Heights

They're growing some giant trout at Cayuga Heights Elementary this year, but all that eating means the trout are creating quite a bit of waste.  Over the past few weeks, the water have been getting cloudy, and waste has been starting to build up.  Regular water tests by the students indicates high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and increasingly acidic water! 

Of course, in a natural system, there is no unused waste, and nitrogen compounds are normally used by plants.  As luck would have it, the 4th grades at CHES are just completing their "Structures of Life" unit, which involves growing and studying seeds.  So, on Friday, April 17, we started an aquaponics project on the Cayuga Heights Elementary trout aquarium with help form Planted Earth Hydroponics of Ithaca!  The waste produced by our trout will feed a small garden on top of the tank!



Students plant beans and peas sprouted during "Structures of Life"
into ceramic growing medium.

 

April 20 - After three days, the filtering action of the hydroponics media
(in the black tray) seems to be clarifying the water.  Sprouts are taking off,
also! 

April 23 (day 6) - Water continues to clear.  Ammonia and Nitrite have decreased
from 10ppm to nearly zero.  Be amazed; we are!

 Stay tuned for updates!



Cannibalism Strikes Across the Region!

Zombies sited??  Not so much- just natural selection (whew!)   2015 is starting to look like a particularly gruesome year in the annals of Trout in the Classroom, though, as several schools have reported incidents sibling-consumption already. 

This is Union Springs' top predator, JAWS, running nearly 3.5 inches at four months of age.  Stay tuned for images of "Big Burger Boy", terrorizing more timid trout at South Hill Elementary.