Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project

S.T.E.P APPRECIATION AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING
By Christel Morley

Every year for the past seven years I have taught my students about salmon and trout as it was taught to me through the STEP program. This year I teach first grade. Last year I taught second grade. My students stay with me for two years, a process called 'looping'. The advantage of looping is the relationship that forms between my students and me during those two years together. As we become better acquainted, daily expectations become founded in a routine of mutual respect.

Among each other, the students develop a special friendship that is a product of learning and working together six hours each day for two years. When it is finally time for them to leave me at the end of second grade, everyone is sad - students, parents and me, the teacher! So we agree that there will be a reunion the following year.

Last week the class that is now in third grade came for their first annual pizza lunch and ice cream sundaes reunion. We shared many fond memories of good times. Without a doubt, however, the topic of conversation that dominated our reunion was about the two years we spent each spring studying salmon and trout. The already excitable third graders couldn't wait to ask me when the eggs were coming. I reminded them that it was now only November. The eggs would come in April. This led to a lively discussion of 'Do you remember when?'
"Do you remember the day in first grade when the eggs came and we began writing in our Salmon to Fry journals?" asked Jessica.
"We had been waiting for a whole month. I was so excited! I wrote about how Mrs. Morley put the eggs in the fish tank with a turkey baster."
"Do you remember the story about little Herby, the salmon fry who had to learn about insects so he could find his own food?" asked Rodrigo.
"His mom left him alone in the stream because she had to travel to the ocean," added Ashley.
When it came time to teach my students about mayflies, caddis flies and stoneflies, I had created a story using my Salmon and Trout bulletin board. The story was so popular, that it was the first thing my students asked me to retell when we started our salmon unit in second grade.
It also became the basis of a play the students wrote and presented to their parents and peers in other classes.
"I played Herby in the play we created at the end of the year," remembered Diana.
"Yeah, and you died at the end of the play when you swam back up the river, because you were a Sockeye salmon!" another student reminded her.
"Hey, do you remember going to the stream at Henry Cowell State Park to release the salmon fry?" asked someone else.
"We found so many bugs in the water in Mr. Nash's group. He called my rock the caddis fly hotel."
"I liked using the aqua viewers to see the stream bottom," said Emmanuel. "Those were the best field trips!"
"I still have both of the fish t-shirts we painted, but one of them got pink in the wash," interjected Kevin.
"Who remembers what we did for Open House?" I asked the group.
"The stream!" shouted out Beau.
We had made a replica of a stream complete with riparian area in the middle of our classroom floor.
"I made this weird looking insect and camouflaged it so well, that I couldn't find it again," he added.
The lively chatter continued, amidst the devouring of three large pizzas and ice cream sundaes spilling over with whipped cream. After a group picture and promises to repeat the reunion the following year, lunch was over and a smiling group of third graders went back to their own classes.
"Oh, and don't forget to let us know when the eggs come, Mrs. Morley!" shouted Luis on his way out the door.

I know many of these former students will return to watch a new batch of eggs grow and hatch into fry next spring. It is very satisfying knowing the difference that the STEP program has made in the lives of these children. As they grow older, they may not remember many of the specific facts about raising salmon and trout, but they left second grade with a deeper appreciation and a conceptual understanding of their environment and the role they play in helping to protect our rivers and streams and the creatures that inhabit them.

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