Salmon in Schools Comes to CIS

When Allison Godbout learned about the Salmon in Schools program she envisioned it as the perfect addition to Canton Intermediate School’s fourth-grade ecology unit.

“I really wanted to bring this curriculum to life,” she said. Her fellow teachers and administrators agreed it was a great idea. 

The program, sponsored by the Connecticut River Salmon Association, is part of the organization’s salmon restoration project. Under the program, eggs are delivered to a school and students take care of the salmon from the “eyed” egg stage to the “alevin” stage, during which a yolk sack provides nutrition to the hatched salmon. Once the sack disappears and the salmon enter the fry stage, they are released.

In Canton, 200 eggs arrived in Godbout’s classroom last Thursday.

“I’ve never seen the kids so excited,” she said.

The eggs are located in a tank in Godbout’s classroom. However, all the fourth graders will get to participate in the program. If it's successful, Godbout hopes the school will be able to have more tanks in the future.

On Friday, Godbout picked a handful of students to initiate an experiment all their classmates will soon a chance to try. Godbout used a turkey baster to draw a handful of eggs into Petri dishes and the students studied them up close, measured them, documented the data and discussed and drew pictures of what they thought the salmon would look like at the next stage.

“It’s just getting them to see what can possibly be in that egg,” she said.

Not every day will bring such experiments but the students will have the chance to monitor water temperature and growth each morning and learn how the two are intertwined.

There will also be some more experiments before students release the fry in the Farmington River at People’s State Forest in May. It’s at that stage, the fish must live off the ecosystem. 

Godbout said the program is a great way to teach ecology. With so many salmon populations decimated by dams and pollution, the fish highlight environmental issues. With high mortality rates, students will get a sense of the harsh realities of the natural world. They will also learn about the life cycles of anadromous, or migratory fish. 

And through all of it the kids are excited to watch the growth of living creatures.

“I think it’s really cool we can do it,” fourth-grader Ana Bartkiewicz said.