Students learn from 'Trout in the Classroom' experience

New visitors are making a splash at four Campbell County schools this year.

The visitors are smell yet mighty, not impacting schools by their size or strength, but rather the excitement and curiosity that’s piqued inside the walls of Hillcrest, Meadowlark, Rozet and Stocktrail elementary schools.

What’s the cause? Newfound finny friends at each school – trout eggs dropped off by volunteers from the Dubois Fish Hatchery. Free of charge thanks to grants and a partnership between Trout Unlimited and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the kits for each Trout in the Classroom program have brewed excitement in everyone from kindergarteners to school principals.

“We had kindergarteners coming into the classroom saying that we had ‘thousands of fish,’” said Anita Tope, Rozet Elementary’s technology facilitator, with a chuckle.

New to most students, the 150 fish eggs were also a novelty to some teachers who consistently stop in to check out the fishes’ daily happenings. Both Tope and Lila Scantling, a Meadowlark Elementary sixth-grade teacher, spoke to the involvement they’ve seen throughout each of their schools.

At Meadowlark Elementary, one of Scantling’s favorite parts is watching a new regular come in and out of her classroom – a third-grade student who avidly checks on the fish every morning before school and each afternoon once the final bell has rung.

"To see that excitement, that makes all of the hard work worth it," Scantling said.

Interactive classrooms

The program gives instructors a way to teach environmental education in unique and creative ways.

Students learn about a fish’s lifecycle but in this case, they also watch it come to fruition in real life.

Last month at Rozet, the eggs were still merely eggs with eyes. But the next week, students at Meadowlark saw those eggs transition to their next stage of life – the alevin, also known as sac fry. In that stage, students said the young alevin don’t need feeding because they simply receive food from their attached egg sack.

Once the fish grow bigger and begin to swim around, the students will then be tasked with taking over the daily feedings.

Along with rattling off a trout’s lifecycle, students also learn about the nitrogen cycle and what pH is, how important regulating water temperature is for the troutlings and water chemistry. But the lessons also expand outside the realm of science.

In Rozet, younger students observe and update journals, working on their writing skills, to reflect what’s going on in the water cycle. Older students complete more hands-on work, testing the water and completing in-depth reflections.

The students also learn about why the game and fish department has different regulations. And, after caring for the trout at school so carefully, some have even determined where they went wrong when caring for their own fish at home.  

In Scantling’s classroom, trout became the focal point for an English lesson. Students were tasked with creating humorous comic strips based on a trout's lifecycle, making sure grammar and spelling were on point. They also delineated the anatomy of the fish and colored them in to replicate what their rainbow trout will eventually grow into.

For many, their favorite part was watching the eggs hatch. Students described it as a “happy” moment and a way for them to know they’re caring for the young fish well. Students will continue to watch their young compatriots grow, until they’re released as fingerlings into Gillette’s Fishing Lake in May.

Some students were also excited about the chance to catch the very fish they'd raised! 🎣