salmon science

~ salmon science unit ~ provided a home for some salmon eggs in a tank on science counter ~ ate snack made with graham crackers, peanut butter, chocolate rocks and blueberries, that looked suspiciously like our tank bottom ~ played return to the redd board game and “great anadromous fish game” (for 4-5 grade practice with fractions, long division) ~ group art project and puzzle making a large salmon poster from individual coloring sheets ~

~ found our way home using our noses (each stream had its own characteristic essential oil fragrance in a packet clothes-pinned to each fork in the stream ~ watched eggs hatch out alevins ~ recorded observations ~

 ~ science counter with tank full of eggs, and finished poster ~ we also sculpted and embossed fish in art class ~

~ large floor diagram of internal salmon anatomy ~ adding the heart ~ all parts taped on and labeled ~

~ filling in their internal anatomy diagrams ~

~ dissection of an adult salmon (provided by fish and wildlife, who had some leftover from a trap survey ~ thousands of eggs! this was a female, and we got to see a male, too ~ one egg ~ the lens removed from the eye ~ there is an ipad app of a fish dissection that can be used a an alternate lesson for kids who want to opt out of dissections ~

~ fry growing rapidly in science counter tank ~ returning carcasses of dissected fish to the stream ~

~ group project: stop-motion animation of the entire life cycle of a salmon ~

~ setting up insect prey and making salmon eat them ~

~ the finished film ~

~ returning a week later with our ready-to-release fry, we observed the way the ecosystem was utilizing the salmon carcasses; all but one had been “utilized” completely, and this one remained, covered in snails ~ each student got to release individual fry, carefully netting it and setting it free in the stream, along with a “wish for a fish” for health and survival prospects and optional naming of the fish ~ a fun frog was found on release day as well, lots of exploring to do at big creek park ~

~ quinn released swimmy and sammy ~

~ the free fry, swimming in the stream ~

additional options… game making – have them make their own games to help others learn about salmon, salmon data math for various skill levels, stream water quality testing… can expand rather limitlessly!