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Trout in the Classroom teaches city students about nature

Posted by: Maven on March 9, 2009 at 3:41 pm

From the Los Angeles Times:

When they’re first born, they’re scared of their mom and dad.

No sooner had those words left Jim Solomon’s mouth than the horrified cries of 35 third-graders crescendoed in unison:

“Whaaaat?”

“It’s because they might eat them,” he explained.

Parents gobbling up their young was all but unthinkable to 8- and 9-year-olds that February morning. But Solomon, of the Santa Monica Wilderness Fly Fishers, spoke their language. Trout in the Classroom, a nationwide program that brings the art of raising trout to city classrooms, resonates with students by translating trout terms into kid-speak: A fly is the trout’s steak sandwich. Pectoral fins are their car brakes. Ants are their chocolate cake.

The program gives third-graders at Linwood E. Howe Elementary in Culver City a lesson in trout anatomy and life cycle, from the time the trout are eggs fresh from the San Joaquin hatchery until their release into the wild. During the three-month journey, the students keep trout journals documenting the fish’s size and appearance and take turns taking home and caring for a trout plush toy named Rainbow.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

March 9, 2009 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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