This is Mr. Suarez from Longwood High School. Thank you for reading our blog. This is a very exciting year for me. This is my 6th year in the Trout in the Classroom Program, but what makes it so exciting is that we have expanded the program into our Middle
School and the Junior High School. We now have 7 classrooms of students, ranging from 5th grade to 12th grade participating in the program. That's about 140 students gaining experience learning about the habitat of Brook trout and raising fish in the classroom!
Although this trout blog is a bit late, considering the high school picked up their Brook trout eggs in November from Cold Spring Harbor, and the middle school and junior high schools received their eyed-eggs on December 10th (delivered by George Costa of the Art Flick Chapter of Trout Unlimited), I will give you a brief synopsis of what has happened thus far.
Students have been checking water chemistry, completing water changes, removing unfertilized eggs and monitoring egg development. Students have been journaling their work while monitoring the tanks, therefore we have a chronological record of development of the trout.
We had an unusual turn of events this December's winter break. I was notified by the Principal that the high school and middle school would have the electrical power shut off for approximately 8-12 hours on December 28th. In fear that the tanks would become to warm for the trout, and the oxygen might be depleted during this time, we had to come up with a plan. The middle school teacher (Ms. Garofolo) transported her fish to the junior high school for the break since their power there would be maintained over break. However, the trout in the 5 fish tanks at the high school were all transported to my house so I can trout-sit over the break. All 2200 or so trout seem to be doing well thus far in my 90 gallon tank. All the trout are hatched and swimming as alevins, absorbing nutrients from the yolk sacs. We are fortunate that we had another tank to transport them to and that we had a backup chiller, otherwise I am not sure what our plan would have been.
We will transport the trout back to the high school during the first week of January. After that time, I hope that my students will take over the blog and report the developments they see for the rest of the school year until we release the trout. We'll keep you updated. - Mr. Suarez
School and the Junior High School. We now have 7 classrooms of students, ranging from 5th grade to 12th grade participating in the program. That's about 140 students gaining experience learning about the habitat of Brook trout and raising fish in the classroom!
Although this trout blog is a bit late, considering the high school picked up their Brook trout eggs in November from Cold Spring Harbor, and the middle school and junior high schools received their eyed-eggs on December 10th (delivered by George Costa of the Art Flick Chapter of Trout Unlimited), I will give you a brief synopsis of what has happened thus far.
Students have been checking water chemistry, completing water changes, removing unfertilized eggs and monitoring egg development. Students have been journaling their work while monitoring the tanks, therefore we have a chronological record of development of the trout.
We had an unusual turn of events this December's winter break. I was notified by the Principal that the high school and middle school would have the electrical power shut off for approximately 8-12 hours on December 28th. In fear that the tanks would become to warm for the trout, and the oxygen might be depleted during this time, we had to come up with a plan. The middle school teacher (Ms. Garofolo) transported her fish to the junior high school for the break since their power there would be maintained over break. However, the trout in the 5 fish tanks at the high school were all transported to my house so I can trout-sit over the break. All 2200 or so trout seem to be doing well thus far in my 90 gallon tank. All the trout are hatched and swimming as alevins, absorbing nutrients from the yolk sacs. We are fortunate that we had another tank to transport them to and that we had a backup chiller, otherwise I am not sure what our plan would have been.
We will transport the trout back to the high school during the first week of January. After that time, I hope that my students will take over the blog and report the developments they see for the rest of the school year until we release the trout. We'll keep you updated. - Mr. Suarez