# Salmon in the Classroom



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

This is just one story of the successful "Salmon in the Classroom" projects promoted in several schools throughout the state. This is a great DNR fishery educational tool as well as great tool for watershed education, science, biology, and related subjects.

Something fishy at R-P Intermediate

http://www.whitelakebeacon.com/news.php?story_id=7260

Drew Morris, technology teacher at Reeths-Puffer Intermediate School, provided a unique opportunity for his fifth and sixth grade students to get some real world experience - planting Chinook salmon in the Muskegon River. 
Morris, who operates a charter fishing service in the summer, said it seemed a natural fit to raise salmon in a computer classroom where students could focus on much more than technology. 

This is the third year weve done this project, he said from the Muskegon Nature Center where fifth students were gathered last Wednesday to release salmon fry, fish and enjoy an outdoor experience. 

Morris said a field trip to Manistee started the technology project. Students visited the Little Manistee Weir, an egg-take and salmon harvest facility. 

They learn how the eggs are gathered, said Morris. The salmon are tested to make certain they dont have the kidney disease that decimated our Chinook population in the mid-1980s, said Morris. Some of the eggs taken from those fish who are healthy are available to us and we raise them in the classroom. 

He said rearing the chinook, also known as king salmon, in the classroom is an experience all middle school students can share, as a web camera is set to record the eggs as they mature into fry and smolts. 

We make the web camera available to students and the public on our school website, said Morris. He said students use aspects of all their core subjects in tracking the growth of the salmon eggs. Our students become so engrossed in their research, they dont even realize how much technology is involved with this project. 

Students have been learning how to create spreadsheets to keep track of water quality and they wrote formulas predicting hatching dates. They used the internet to learn about the life cycle of the salmon and factors that impact survival rates for the fry. 

Desiree Gee, Chondra Herman and Eryn Hinkley said rearing salmon in the classroom was an experience they enjoyed. 

It was cool. We saw them growing in our classroom, 

said Herman. 

Students formed three-person teams at the nature center along the river bank. Students were directed to evaluate conditions where the fish were to be released. 

Jennifer Dyer, Andrew Moore and Jasmyn Smith worked together to test the water temperature, observe water quality and determine whether the fish entrusted to their care was a fry or a smolt. Based on information they learned in technology class, they determined their fish had advanced beyond the fry stage. 

It is bigger and it is changing color, said Moore, explaining the difference between a fry and smolt. 

They named their smolt Tweetie Pepper Chum and wished it well as they released it into the river. In all, more than 300 young salmon were to be released into the river by Reeths-Puffer Intermediate students. Morris told students research has indicated within two or more years, the surviving salmon are likely to be found within six feet of the exact location where students let them go. 

The salmon imprint on this spot, he said. Scientists dont know exactly how it is done. But, we do have evidence that when these salmon mature, they will return to this spot to spawn. 

Morris said as an educator he has learned more about Chinook salmon each year of the project. There is more and more information available when I do my research every year. I always learn something new. It is a great project. The kids are doing something positive. It is good for them to learn about and interact with their environment. We study the impact of pollution on our lakes and streams and how that pollution impacts species like the Chinook salmon. It also is good for their community because it can also help provide an economic benefit to the entire area.


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## FlyDaddy (Dec 29, 2002)

Thanks for sharing that. This is great stuff for the kids in my opininion. I think DryFly at one point in time was telling me about a similar project in the Wellston area the kids were doing. Very cool.

FD


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Fishy lessons
Students raise, release salmon

http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3345

By SCOTT SWANSON, Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE  Gathered at the shore of the Dead River Friday morning, several students from the Marquette and Gwinn school systems patiently recited a creed of learning, before finally completing a task they started months ago.

In part, the creed was as follows:

We are gathered here today to give to our community.

We believe in the wonder of nature,

And try to understand by learning.

We have learned respect for what nature has given us,

And we accept the responsibility to maintain what it provides.

Finally, teacher Pat Jerry gave the command they had been waiting for: You may now release your fish, she said.

With that, 17 fourth- and fifth-grade special education students from Graveraet Intermediate School in Marquette and 48 sixth-graders from K.I. Sawyer and Gilbert elementary schools in the Gwinn district raced to the edge of the river and released hundreds of tiny salmon, each transported in Ziploc bags filled with water.

This is the fifth year of the salmon release program, which the schools put on with assistance from the local Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

In the fall, the students receive 500 eggs from the DNR and follow the fish throughout the early stages of their lives, from hatching until they reach about four months old. According to Jerry, typically about half of the fish survive to the time of their release.

Trout Unlimited sponsors the project and pays for all of the equipment used by the students, such as aquariums and coolers.

Jerry said its a project that the children enjoy immensely.

They watch the eggs hatch, they watch the fish grow, she said. We talk about their characteristics, their life-cycle, their habitat ... they learn so much and they talk so much, its like listening to people at the water cooler. Its so fun. They get really into it.

Jerry said she approached Trout Unlimited about the project after reading about it on the Internet. On Friday, Doug Miller, the former president of the Fred Waara Chapter, peered into the river as the salmon circled.

Its a pretty good learning experience for the kids, I think, to watch them go through this cycle, he said.

Following the release, the students climbed back onto their busses. However, their hands-on learning wasnt done for the day: after a short break they were scheduled to go out to Harlow Lake, where Trout Unlimited and the MooseWood Nature Center had seven learning stations set up for the students to visit, where they were to be taught outdoor arts such as fly-fishing, Jerry said.


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## Big Nic (Apr 23, 2004)

The Board of Directors of the DETROIT AREA STEELHEADERS has just approved a 1500.00 $$ donation to a teacher at Sterling Hts. HS to set up this excellent program in his classroom ( sorry - cannot remember teachers name and don't have minutes of BOD mtg. yet).

We asked that he start a blog which we will link to our website , to keep us updated on the progress of this program. Very proud to have been able to help start another "Salmon in the Classroom " program locally and hope that it will get some teenageers " hooked " ( no pun intended ) on the great
outdoors that we have here in Michigan.

This is a fabulous program for young people and hope other fishing clubs will get involved to help introduce our youth to the science of fisheries. Good Luck to "Salmon in the Classroom " at Sterling Hieghts High School.


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