Look What's Happening at Alice Ott Middle School
Fish to fry project enhances learning
A DDEF Spring 2022 Grant request was awarded to the Alice Ott Middle School Science and Math teachers to support the purchase of supplies for a “fish to fry” project in their classrooms. The grant supported a project which introduces approximately 100 students per year to the salmon and steelhead life cycles, from eggs, to hatching, to release into their native environment.
Equipment was set up in the classroom in September 2022. Equipment included an aquarium, pump, filter, chiller, and gravel that can be shared and used twice a year by the 6th and 7th grade math and science staff at Alice Ott Middle School.
Fish eggs, from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, were delivered to the classroom in the Fall and the eggs were placed in the new aquarium. Students were able to view the changes in the fish eggs from hatching to fish growth (fry stage) and then to the disappearance of the yolk sac which signals the time to release the small fish into the local Sandy River.
The culmination of the “salmon to fry” project came in December 2022. A late afternoon field trip transported students, staff, and salmon fry to Lewis and Clark Park. When they arrived, they unpacked the buckets of salmon fry. Staff demonstrated the release of the fish into the river and then each student dipped a cup of fry from the bucket and carefully released their cup of fry into the flow of the Sandy River near Troutdale. (This story continues below the pictures.)
Last year this project was introduced and conducted with borrowed equipment. What is truly rewarding is that prior students came back every morning to see how this year's fish were doing. That means 7th/8th graders were coming in before school to observe the changes in the fish. This year’s 6th graders also brought friends from other classes to show them what was happening with the fish.
After the field trip, the fish aquarium was then cleaned so it would be ready to raise steelhead eggs during winter 2023. During both hatchings, students make observations and learn about the fish, their ecosystems, survival rates, etc. The project also ties into classroom lessons about indigenous people on estuaries and science coursework on ecosystems and living organisms.
We’re looking forward to the Spring 2023 steelhead fry release and introducing this project to students in the years to come!