Skunk Hollow Field Study

Today a group of 6 students, Ms. Ackerman, and a visiting teacher from The Philadelphia School(Mrs. Freedmen) went on a field study at Skunk Hollow. This group is the same group of kids that will be attending the Trout Show tonight. They will present the field study results there and explain the process.

Skunk Hollow is one of the release sites we are considering for our trout so we would like to post the results here. Feel free to post comments on what you think about Skunk Hollow as our trout release site!

Chemical Data:
DO= 12ppm
Saturation= 105%
pH= 7.5
Nitrates= <5ppm
Phosphates= 1ppm

Biotic Index Total= 7 (4 class 1 BMI's, and 1 class 2 BMI)

In conclusion, the riparian zone was good but it was filled with invasive species and had slightly eroded banks. There was minimal pollution and many class 1 macro invertabrates.

Trout Show 2009

We are ecstatic to say that we are going to the

Valley Forge Trout Unlimited Trout Show of 2009.

We will be presenting our streamtable and how we educate people about the Trout In The Classroom Program (blog, confrences,etc.).

It is Tuesday, March 31 at Valley Forge Middle School.

Featuring...

Fly Fishing Educator, Author, and Innovator...

GARY BORGER!

Doors open @ 7PM.

Adults $3 and Children Under 16 are FREE!

All proceeds are to be used for:

Enviromental Restoration and Protection of Northern Chester County Trout Streams!

More information at:

http://valleyforgetu.org/

A Great Way to Learn About Trout In The Classroom!

Hope to see you there!

P.S. Look how massive Oscar is!

SHAD in the SHED?

Yesterday Mrs. Agner and Ms. Ackerman took some of the trout team to Easton, PA for a workshop on "Shad in the Classroom". We all crammed in the van at 10:30am. The ride was about an hour and a half. We arrived at the Easton Area Middle School at about 12:00pm. The school was HUGE. All the students wore name tags!

We learned a lot about the upkeep of a Shad tank. Although they are both local fish the care for Shad is a little bit different. Shad like a current, trout like stagnant water. Shad are super important because EVERYTHING eats them. Some raptors have even evolved over time to lay their eggs in time for shad season. We saw pictures of something called a "Shad Bush" a shrub that buds right before the shad start hatching.

They even showed us how to set up the tank. When it was over we were informed that the school would contacts us when we are able to participate.

If you're interested in Shad check this out!!!

http://www.fishtownshadfest.org/

Survivor 2 - Raystown Lake

15 students, 4 parent chaperons, 6 brave trout, Ms. Ackerman, and Mr. Savitch headed out to the middle of Pennsylvania on Friday.

We went to the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators Conference. There we presented the Watershed Philosophy of Learning. The Trout in the Classroom Organization also presented a workshop there. You must be thinking, "ARE THEY CRAZY, JEOPARDIZING 6 TROUTS LIVES!" But do not fret, for they all survived! We brought them in a small tank so that the water would not make to many waves to shake up the trout. We also brought a bubbler, a few lunch pack coolers to keep the trout at a comfortable 50 degree temperature (when they melted we changed them, and put the melted ones in the freezer), and trout food of course. It was a wonderfully successful venture and hopefully, the Trout in the Classroom Organization that presented and our own trout fry inspired many teachers to join the Trout In The Classroom Program!

:)

GREETING FROM COLORADO!

Hey guys! It's your buddy Oscar. I spent this week in Aspen, Colorado! I went snowboarding, skiing and tubing! Here's me skiing with my awesome snow gear! I've got to go! My hot cocoas getting cold! See ya next week!


-gabby and tommy

GREETINGS FROM PARIS!

Hi, my name is Oscar. I live in the watershed classroom. Recently I have decided to travel abroad before my friends and I are released into the Darby watershed. So check back every so often for pictures from my vacations!
-----------------------

Hey guys! It's your buddy Oscar! I spent this week in France. So far I have visited the Louvre, l'Opera, Musee de la Marine and many more sights! Here's a picture of me near the Eiffel Tower. It was my favorite attraction!

-gabby and tommy

What Trout Unlimited said...

As we said in a recent post, the Trout Unlimited people visited the Watershed classroom.

They said that our trout project has been one of the most successful yet! We are flattered that on our first attempt at this activity we got such a delightful comment! We are also proud to say that our survival rates are off the charts and that we have not had to remove a deceased trout buddy in weeks! A graph demonstrating the trout survival rates in several different environments is coming soon. This is a graph we used to estimate the survival rates for a grant a few months ago.

Also, there is a Pennsylvania Assosiation of Enviromental Educators (PAEE) Conference Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that Mr. Savitch, Mrs. Ackerman, and 16 Watershed students will be attending. We are excited to say that we will have our own workshop there, so if you are going to the conference, be sure to see us there! A thorough explanation and pictures will be coming soon!

Another Day in the Life of the Watershed Trout...

Our biggest fish is now measuring in at 3 and 1/2 inches (at least!!) This afternoon Lauren and Michelle did a ten gallon water change.

Trout Unlimited stopped by to check out our progress and seemed very impressed with the quality of life we have provided for our trout. We have the cleanest tank they've seen!

We're starting to narrow down our release sites. We have to keep in mind water temperature, the class of the stream(A,B,C,etc), and the benefits our trout will bring to the Eco-system.

The trout team is delighted to announce we have close to 100 trout in our tank alive and thriving!

Girls or Boys!?

Latley the watershed kids have been wondering if our trout are male or female. Mrs. Agner and the trout team looked up how you you can tell... and it turns out that we can only tell when they are sexually mature OR, if we where to dissect them all which we are NOT about to do.

We have noticed all our trout have under bites maybe we should call the orthodontist!

-gabby

Mr. Hoover's Class Visits

Mr. Hoover's second grade class came to visit our trout on Thursday. They first saw the trout when they were just eggs. They were amazed on how much they grew from they time they saw them to now. The trout team and the whole class would like to thank Mr. Hoover for going to the trout convention and bringing the information back to us. Without him we could not have participated in this wonderful project! For all his work we would like to award Mr. Hoover and his class a Tank Hugger Award!

Test Results!!!!!!!!!

Temp: 50

pH: 6.6

High pH: 7.4

Ammonia: 0

Nitrate: 0

Nitrites: 0

WE GOT WATER!!!!!!!!! :-)

Yesterday we got 32 gallons of water for our lovely trout. We celebrated the water by doing a 15 gallon change. We got most of the debris out of the bottom of the tank. Even though it smells terrible the tank is squeaky clean. All of the test are fine and they look good.

We will be taking more pictures soon and putting them on the blog A.S.A.P.

We Need Water!

Today we did about a 2 gallon water change. We would have liked to done more but we had no more water. Our trout are getting bigger, even the pin heads. No trout have died in a long time!

COME BACK WATER FAIRY!!!

We need water desperately!

P.S. we have a new blog about our newly acquired Tortoises called http://watershedrussiantortoise.blogspot.com/

Tortoise In The Classroom

Yesterday, Watershed recieved two Russian Tortoises from a former student who will be going to college next fall.
Their names are Rocky and Wise. Rocky has a roughed up shell, a big appetite, and likes to sleep. Wise likes to be independent and move around a lot. His shell is cleaner and darker than Wise's.
As Mrs. Agner was researching them she was astonished to find that their current living circumstances could possibly make them unhealthy. We need to move them to a larger tank with a lid so we are cleaning out our terrarium for our little buddies. We will also need a UV light and 50/50 substrate with play sand (the kind in sand boxes) and topsoil.


(Pictures coming soon)

Sushi! (but not trout sushi!)

Watch Mrs. Agner's favorite author on her favorite show this week!!!!!


Trevor Corson is judging this week's episode of Iron Chef America, battle "Cora vs. Lahlou," in which he demands that Cat Cora feeds him an eyeball! You can catch the episode at the times listed below!!!!

Iron Chef America, battle "Cora vs. Lahlou" will air:

Mar 05, 20099:00 PM ET/PT

Mar 06, 200912:00 AM ET/PT

Mar 07, 20095:00 PM ET/PT

Be there or be square!!