Trout in the Classroom at Nichols Middle School
During the 2010-2011 school year, Nichols Middle School will again be participating in Trout Unlimited’s “Trout in the Classroom” program. This program, generously funded at Nichols by the McCarthy Family Fund, will allow students to raise trout from eggs to fry, with our efforts culminating in the release of the trout into a state-approved stream within our watershed. Over the course of the school year, this project will provide many opportunities for interdisciplinary as well as multi-grade level involvement.
The goal of this project is to further connect the students, faculty, and staff of Nichols Middle School to their environment and specifically to local watersheds. It will teach the community about watershed health and reinforce topics such as water quality, ecosystems, and conservation of resources. This program also provides an opportunity for field work and stream habitat studies related to the release of the trout in the spring. In addition, this project gives Nichols and its urban campus the opportunity to reconnect with the system of streams, rivers, and watersheds that sustain us in the Great Lakes Basin.
The “Trout in the Classroom” program provides a clear curricular link to the Big Green Initiative. In addition, the potential lesson plans associated with this program dovetail well with the Nichols core competencies in many ways, providing experiential learning, challenging students to think and discern in complex ways, fostering interdisciplinary and multi-grade level communication, as well as furthering the Nichols community’s environmental and civic engagement.
The basic timeline for this project is as follows:
- early fall: set up aquarium and get all equipment up and running
- late fall: get eggs from NYS DEC
- winter: raise trout
- spring: release trout into NYS DEC approved stream
Last year's project was a success, culminating with the release of approximately 45 brown trout into Ellicott Creek in Williamsville. You can watch the video of the release by clicking on the link at the left titled "Trout Release Video."
The journal entries and photos from the past wo year's project can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate links at the left.
AND INFORMATION!
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