On Friday, we had a special visit from Tracey Moss. She is the Education Coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Our school takes part in their Salmonids in the Classroom Program each year.
Tracey talked to us about lifecycles and then we each had a chance to add two eggs to the tank in the hallway that was set-up by the “Salmon Dream Team”.
Here are some cool things we learned about salmon:
Sophie- I think it is cool that the salmon lifecycle keeps going on and on.
Oceana- The salmon have a little pouch on their tummy to get their food from.
Kennedy- Salmon help lots of things, like trees and animals.
Niall- After salmon die pretty much everything uses them.
Jordan- I think that the salmon are good because they can help people survive.
Karin- I like how a salmon comes back to where it was born to lay its eggs.
Justin- I think it is cool how the salmon know their way back home.
Silkence- Salmon follow the stars to get back home.
Mia-I like how there are lots of cool different salmon names.
Jenny- I think it is cool how the salmon come out of the eggs.
Ana-We saw a video of the salmon coming out of the eggs. It was funny!
Here is the video of the salmon hatching:
Have you ever raised salmon in your school?
Dear Mrs. Watson’s 2/3 class,
I think it is so cool that you will be hatching salmon eggs at your school! I enjoyed watching the PhotoPeach slide show, to see each of you add eggs to the tank. Do you know how long will it take for the salmon to hatch?
From,
Mr. Salsich
Dear Mr. Salsich,
We had to get the “Salmon Dream Team” (a group of students in the intermediate class) to come and help us with your question.
We found out that the salmon will hatch when they reach 475 ATU (accumulated thrmal untis). They are at 384 ATU right now. The dream Team members look at the temperature in the tank each day and add that number to the total ATU. They keep track of the ATU on a special chart. They try to keep the temperature in the tank at about 7 °C. The eggs should hatch in about two weeks.
We also found out that the salmon will be ready to be released when they reach 1200 ATU. By this time they will have absorbed their yolk sacs and will have “buttoned up”. We will have to feed them for about two weeks before they are ready to be released.
We will post updates on our blog once the salmon hatch
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
What a great visit and how exciting to have the tank actually in your school! The family of one of the children at our school own a hatchery but they hatch trout.
My family hatch salmon or trout. I like playing at the back where all the old broken things are. Sometimes the feeders will go off and they are realy loud.
Dear Brydon,
I would love to learn more about what it is like to have a hatchery. We visited a salmon hatchery at the beginning of the year. We have a slideshow of the pictures on our blog. Does our hatchery look anything like the one we visited?
Mrs. W
Dear Mrs. Breyley,
That is so cool that someone at your school has a hatchery! Has your class been to visit it before? We had a great trip to a salmon hatchery at the beginning of the school year.
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
Dear Mrs. Watson,
Your blog is amazing! What a work you and your pupils must put in! I was particularly interested in your “salmon in the classroom” project and was glad that your eggs hatched! I teach in two small island schools in the north of Scotland (the Orkney Islands) and we’ve been running the same project with the local strain of brown trout. Last week, we had one batch of eggs that hatched but in the other school, where the water temperature is colder, there’s no sign of any alevins yet! Shortly hopefully!
Well done to you all and keep up the brilliant work! Best blog I’ve EVER visited!
(You can pay us a visit on our own blog – a lot more basic! – “Troot in the Shed” (“Trout” is pronunced “troot” in Scottish), just follow the link:
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/or/TrootintheShed/2011/01/20/hello-world/
Mr. Pietri