A PEEK INSIDE

Early in the new year, our Grade 4 students will welcome some new additions to their classes – salmonids! Raising them from Eyed-Eggs to Alevin to Fry, students will care for (and learn about) the salmonids before releasing them into local streams.

Through this active and engaging experience, students will make connections and inquiry into two Units of Inquiry: ‘Sharing the Planet’ and ‘Who We Are’. Raising their salmon, students will learn about the interconnectedness of all living things. Raising their salmon and releasing them into the streams, students will learn about human rights – clean water, in this instance – and their own responsibility in keeping our streams and lakes and oceans clean. 

To prepare students for this learning adventure, our Grade 4 classes headed off to the Alouette River Management Society (ARMS) for a tour. By visiting the watershed, students get to see the life cycle of a salmon firsthand “We work at it backwards,” the teachers explain; “the field trip frontloads them with learning and potential action.” With a tour of the watershed, watching a salmon dissection, and learning about ARMS, students learn a lot in a short while. Returning back from the trip, students can now take action and make environmentally friendly decisions to protect our water sources. And when they raise their salmonids, they have an experience to reflect back on and make inferences from. 

Here’s what our students learned and observed.

Alouette River Management Society (ARMS) is a society that takes care of the Alouette River. They do things such as hatching salmon (they have a hatchery there), taking care of the Alouette River and teaching visitors about how to care for the stream and many more things.  ARMS has a mission to proactively protect and improve the Alouette Watershed and the surrounding areas. Darsh

There’s one amazing event in nature that many animals depend on: the salmon run. Many animals like the bear spend months waiting for the return of the salmon. ARMS helps salmon that might not make it back to their spawning grounds to spawn. If the salmon don’t make it, the number of salmon decrease every year and one day, we may not have any salmon left. Mia

We went out to see a fish dissection. It was interesting to see that fish had a small brain but a big memory. I knew they had a big memory because our instructor said that fish go to the ocean for two to six years then come back to the spot they were born. Enzo

At Alouette River Management Society, we saw them cut a fish open. That’s when I got excited! Yes, a fish was cut open! When we got there, there were 2 fish, 1 male and 1 female. Sophie cut a little bit from the female. From the male we saw his stomach and airbladder. It was super cool, but it smelled bad. She even cut his head off and we saw his brain. We got to see his heart, too. I was amazed. I wanted them to do it again, but it was finished. Musa

Facts about fish: The female salmon scoops gravel with her tail to create a nest called a redd. She lays about 3500 eggs. Zoe

Fact Time: The smallest part of a salmon is the brain.
Fact Time: Some countries believed that the salmon were the king of the fish. Arlen

We learned not to put anything down the storm drain. You need to use a funnel to recycle oil and check your septic tanks for leaks. Lastly, you don’t want to put pesticides down the drain. This is all to help you and the salmon. Amelia

At ARMS, I learned that you should direct your gutter over your grass because it acts like a filter and you should sweep fertilizer off your driveway or else dirty water will down the storm drain. Frederic

If you think you can pour anything down the storm drain, then you are wrong. The storm drain goes to the salmon’s home and the salmon have to live in that, not you. If you didn’t now this and you dump stuff down the storm drains, then you have been polluting all the time without you even knowing it. James