I am hopeful that this will help us to connect with all of the amazing educators who are using fishing and boating to engage and inspire their students
WHAT'S A BLOG ANYWAY?
Nationwide Networking at its Best!
Hahn vs.Lapeer Jr.High Tournament
Carpe Diem! This student really seized the day!
Lyman Ward Military Academy
Students practice casting before their fishing trip
Model High School Biology Students
Life Cycle of Caddis + fly fishing = Biology Fun01
Sweet Home Alabama!
Newton Elementary students catch catfish!
Ensign Intermediate School, Newport Beach, CA
A Father Daughter Team enjoys fishing together
Camp E-Tu-Nake, Blakely, GA
Canoeing 101
Van Bokkelen School, Severn, MD
A student practices his spincasting technique
Allamuchy NJ students go fishing
Students get a lesson in fish anatomy
Zemmer Jr. High Loves to Fish!
Students earn A's in Knot Tying
Zemmer Students enjoy hands on learning
Students refine their accuracy with casting practice
Kiel Wisconsin Fall Excursion
Student's from Steve Walsh's Fishing Program test their new skills
Farwell Elementary Hatches Salmon Eggs!
Tammi Lipovsky includes Salmon in the Classroom for her students
Irving School in Bozeman, Montana
Students enjoy a lesson in Fly Tying
Park City High School, Park City Montana
Pat Goldhahn instructs students in sanding cork handles for the fishing rods they are building in class
Fishing the Kenai River in Alaska
Cooper Landing School's first fishing trip
2008/2009 Physh Ed Grantees
Educators attend training at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City
The Foundation
- The Future Fisherman Foundation
- Northern, VA, United States
- The Foundation is a 501 (c)3 tax exempt organization dedicated to working with our partners in the industry, state fish and wildlife agencies and conservation organizations to design and deliver unique, hands-on fishing and boating related experiences for our nation's youth. Our goal is to reconnect America's children with the out of doors and to foster a lifelong interest in fishing and a passion for conservation.
Help F3 earn funds-use Goodsearch & Goodshop. It's easy!
F3 joins the No Child Left Inside Coalition!
68 comments:
I am so enthusiastic about the potential for this program after spending time with the educator/grantees in MI.
It is back to school time! I hope everyone is gearing up for the new school year. We are very excited to hear of all the wonderful activities you have planned for your students!
Physh School is back in session!
Hello Physh Ed Educators!I hope your summer was a nice mix of leisure and preparation for the year ahead!
Many of you have emailed me great press you have already received for your PE program-keep up the great work and share your successes with the group!
Did anyone find any equipment deals they want to share with the group?
Due to the fact that our fly fishing sets are not in stock until the end of September, we have learned that many of you are ordering sets for $15 each from another vendor!!!
We are presently negotiating with a few vendors to get a good beginner fly set for you and thanks to the leads a few of you supplied...it looks like we will end up saving you MONEY!!!
Another fine example of the power of networking!
WEATHER IS GREAT HERE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. TEMPERATURE GETS A LITTLE CHILLY AT NIGHT DROPS TO ABOUT 68 DEGREES. GREAT TIME TO KAYAKFISH FOR BLUEFIN TUNA, ALBACORE, DORADO (MAHI-MAHI), YELLOW TAIL, AND THRESHER SHARK. I'LL SEND SOME PICS LATER.
TAKING A GROUP OF STUDENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE DISABILITIES KAYAKING THIS FRIDAY. WE ARE EXCITED AND LOOK FORWARD TO AN AWESOME TIME. I'LL POST SOME PICS WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.
Greetings all...
Teresa & Ann are showing up in Bozeman, MT Sept 10th to check out the fishing in the area and the Irving Fishing Club.
I just received my spinning rods from Dave Hagengrubur of MT Fish & Wildlife so I'm planning on 9 holes of fishing/golf and Matt W. is going to take 1/2 the group for fly casting in the local park 2 blocks from school.
We've never done any spin casting, it's all been fly casting. I'm thinking it's a good way to start our the year having fun in the sun.
Then we'll get more serious later.
Mark D/Bozeman, MT
Edgar,
Can you share with us some of the modifications you use when running an inclusive kayaking program? Do you use adapted boats/kayaks? Double kayaks with staff/student together? Sounds like an interesting program. You might want to connect with our Supplemental Grantee Bonnie Mendenhall in Colorado Springs-Falcon School District (check the list I sent last Friday for her contact information). She has run an amazing program with students of all ability levels...knows how to leverage community contacts too. Let us know how your program goes Friday! TRod
All is well in Kansas City, Missouri. Our first outing is October 18th for trout fishing at Bennett Spring State Park. We are also very excited about a visit from childrens author/illustrator Kirk Werner on October 20th. He will be making 6 presentations at our elementary school.
Gone Fishing in NC!
My classes are going great! 5 periods a day of this fishing elective and we have alrady been fishing 2 times! Students have used a cane pole the first week and then cans for can fishing last week! Yes! they are catching fish! We have used live bait as in crickets and the student are lovin it! I have a waiting list of students who want to be in this class! Thank you F3 for this awesome experience!
Anyone know where one could purchase a cane pole? I imagine they are cheap, but it would be nice to add to my program.
Yesterday I had the students (k-4) prepare for our float trip down the Kenai River by bringing a Willie Drift Boat to school and the kids took turns loading up on the boat, moving around in it and casting for Backyard Bass. I would step on the BB to simulate the drag needed and we discussed boat etiquette. My middle school students were preparing our fly rods and spinning rods for our big fishing trip for Dolly Varden (Char) and Rainbows. We also had a fish and game representative teach a class on angler ethics and go over all the regulations for our area. There are quite a few. We also had a State Parks gal come out and give a boat and water safety class. That is all for now.
Greetings from Sunny Seattle (yes a bit unusal)
Things are going great. Fishing is our first unit this year. Our students, teachers and community are very excited! This week I have someone from the local salmon hatchery coming in and then I have some volunteers from local fly fishing clubs coming to assist with fly tying. Then it is off to the lake for some fishing!
We are back to the grind now in Wisconsin. Needless to say I was ready to get back, but only because of this fishing unit. We are starting in 2 weeks so I am getting everything together. The staff has been great by even giving my some "prizes" to add to it (free assignment cards and such).
Hello all!!!
Tommy Boy here in Cali. Was 105 last week and having my 50 students a period on the black top was diffenitely a blast, not. We have been back to school for a month and I already need a vacation. We are not going to start our fishing program until after Christmas break. So I am starting to get everything organized. Teresa and Ann, this is a really great idea. I love reading everybodys blog from all over the country. Makes this world feel a little bit closer. Take care everybody. Have a drink for me :)
I had an exciting e-mail the other day from the magazine Outdoor Illinois. As a result of getting the workshop in the newspaper this magazine would like to run an article on our program next fall. They are doing a youth article scheduled for next fall so I will be giving them information this spring and photo opportunities when we fish and canoe being the area they are most interested in.A totally unexpected occurance but nice for our school and program. Looking forward to reading everyones experiences. Never blogged before...an experience in itself.
Hey Matt, Cane Poles are fairly cheap at cabelas, they are not the traditional cane poles but they are much more compact. they have telescoping poles and are made of fiberglass. they run from 10 - 13dollars each
Wayne
I am not off and running quite like others in the group. I just recieved my spincasting rods and reels from Mark Stephens with Project Fish here in Michigan. I am doing a few on the water trips while a few of our classes doing week long nature lessons at local nature centers. The kids are extremely excited. I will not be doing my full unit with my students until the spring when fishing will pick back up here in Michigan.
Matt, I believe that there were some cain poles on either the Project fish or the estore for a good price. They are pretty inexpensive poles. Sounds like you all are off to an awesome start.
Steve
I walk to school in the morning and carry a full pack. This morning I stopped and went carp fishing in one of our city parks. I had two of the biggest carp I have every gotten before 6:30 am and still had time to walk to school and change clothes.
What a great way to start the day, and what a great way to get kids excited about fishing. We are lining up the next field trip for my fishing spot. Maybe a little contest to see who catches the biggest or most fish.
Vance-That would be great to be able to stop and throw a couple lines out in the morning!
How has the response been from other teachers in your schools? Mine just kind of laugh about it and can't believe I am doing fishing with my classes. I tell them they just wish it was them! Another example of why people wish they were PE teachers! We have such a great profession!
Steve,
I have been fishing or at least chumming the waters every day since school started, usually before school. My wife is a bus driver and leaves for work hours before I have to be to school, so I ride part way in with her then walk 2-5 miles before school. For years I have been stopping and cooking breakfast with an alcohol burning stove made from pop cans (something I have the outdoor ed students make as a project). Lately, I have been skipping breakfast and fishing. The experience is like being off somewhere for the weekend. It makes it a lot easier for me to deal with 7th graders when I start the day relaxed.
During the winter I often carry snowshoes strapped to my pack for the areas where I cross fields and unplowed parks. It would be nice to ice fish on the morning walks, but the ice spud is pretty heavy to carry any distance.
Vance-
You have got it going on my brother! Now that's leadership!!!!
Great to read all of these posts!
Keep them coming and we will relight the question at the bottom concerning attendance.
Happy educating Happy fishing!
stu
Stu,
I took students on a hiking field trip last week. They were going to see the areas that I had been chumming (preparing for their fishing experience) for them. It was kind of a trial run to judge the time needed for travel with a classroom size group.
Anyway, two of my students were being forced to drop my class to get into a class that offers extra help. One refused to drop unless she got to go on my field trip, even if she was no longer in my class. The other student stalled the drop until after the field trip. His mother (one of my former students) come in to tell me how upset her son was to have to drop my class. If his grades stay up she has promised him that she will do everything she can to get him in my class another term.
Then there was the girl that showed up with our school secretary and the girl had a thumb that might be broken. She elected to ice down the thumb and go on the field trip before calling Mom to go to ER. I ended up making a sling for her during the field trip to support her hand. (garbage bags come in handy for almost anything). By the way, the field trip was a rain or shine thing, and it was raining. No one dropped out. How is that for good attendance.
It is good to hear that most of you are starting your fishing curriculum. We won't be going fishing until the spring but have started working on some conservation talks with the students. Have been looking at buying some rods and reels but am having a hard time finding the grant money. The money was "lost" in the mail in June and haven't seen the reissued check yet. I guess that is what happens when the school is in a rural area. Hopefully it will come soon!
Wayne thanks for the info on the cane poles. Hope the year is going well for you. I am looking forward to starting the Salmon in the Classroom program. I am working on getting some waders and fly tying equipment for the kids as well. I also got these bug boards from the following website www.flygirls.ws they explain the life cycles of a stonefly, mayfly and caddisfly. Along with pictures insect life cycles are flies tied to simulate each stage.
Another thing, I had a student come back and see me this week. He was always getting into trouble when I had him last year. He brought me a book called "Joe and me" by James Prosek. You can only find it on Amazon, it is not in book stores. It is a true story about a kid who develops a friendship with an officer through fishing. Haven't read it yet, but it looks good.
Alabama here! We have been in school for a month now and have missed some school due to the wonderful hurricanes so we are just happy that our school is still standing. We are going to start our program in the spring when things cool down a bit also! I hope everyone is having a good school year so far!
Hi Vance,
Would love to hear more about your pop can stoves. Could you email me at pam@mail.lemont.k12.il.us or blog it on how you make and use the stoves. Sounds like a good project for my Outdoor Ed. classes this spring. thanks, Pam
Vance-
Let me know about stoves too! I know that our 7th graders got "camp" to start the year and they are always looking for different things to try. swalsh@kiel.k12.wi.us
Thanks!
Steve
The alcohol stove project requires more caution than a lot of classroom activities. We are dealing with fire here, and in sunlight the fire is hard, nearly impossible to see.
That said, I've helped kids make several hundred stoves over the last few years and we haven't had any problems at school. I don't allow my students to use their stoves outside of school until we have used them in class (outdoors of course) several times. When I first started the project several parents helped their kids by using fuel other than alcohol, which caused real problems. (i.e. fire and burns)
The good news is that there are lots of websites that show how to build the stoves. I don't do the penny stove because it requires beer cans. Google pepsi can stoves, or alcohol burning stoves and you will have more information than you can use. Also, for videos on their use, look up Tinny's website, Minibull designs. Checking out Tinny's website is almost an addiction once you start. By the way, Tinny sells stoves and they are better than anything that you will be able to make in class. Just use caution when you use any of them.
Thanks Vance! I will be passing on to our 7th grade teachers for sure!
Hello! I took all of my students on a twelve mile float in drift boats down the Upper Kenai River in Cooper Landing, Alaska, and we hooked into many nice rainbows and Dolly Varden over 20 inches long. It was quite the trip. We saw a brown bear snag a red salmon out of the water and another hanging out on a beach. We cooked a great lunch of burgers and hot dogs on the beach and the kids finished their lunch and started casting from shore to hook into some more big fish. I knew right then and there that my lessons with had meant something to them because they all wanted to catch more fish. I had some rods and reels donated to our program and were able to give each student one to go home with. That was the cool part. Each student was given an opportunity to row the boats and the trip was great. It felt really good o be fishing in September instead of being in the classroom. Parents who went on the trip said they want to do another float in the spring and spend the night. They figured we could teach them survival skills. Maybe we will bring pepsi cans and make those burners.
My students are really getting excited about fishing. We have a TV show on Sunshine Network called the Florida Fishing Report. Last night I told them that if they watched part of the show and could come in with the themed fish of the week and the name of one of the commentators, I would give them extra credit.
They mentioned our school on the show!
alaska tommy g you sure have it made, with everything right there at your back door. If I weren't so established here I would be looking for a job up there. That "no sunlight for months thing," might be a little long though.
You might need check out how the alcohol stoves work in your area, before you have students make them. Alcohol doesn't burn well at all when it is cold. I don't try to use them with kids here in Michigan in the winter. I do use them myself throughout the winter, but I have a few tricks for keeping the alcohol from getting too cold. It is kind of like working with kids to fish, you want them to be successful first time out and the alcohol stoves are real hard to deal with when it is cold. Winds are bad too, the stoves generally don't burn for more than 10 minutes or so without refueling, and winds really cut the heat down during that time.
Thanks for the advice Vance. We do get a lot of wind out here since we are in the middle of mountains and on the river. That daylight that we have now is disappearing at 5 minutes and 39 seconds per day until December 21 when we will have our shortest day. If it is a decent day in December we try to hike/snowshoe up a mountain to catch a glimpse of the sun on our faces.
Vance is the A+ blogger for September since he has provided a lot of great information to the group and I think we all are excited to try his pop can stoves! You all are doing a wonderful job sharing your resources and activities! Keep up the great blogging!
Hi everyone. I am really sorry that I didn't get to meet all of you this summer due to emergency eye surgery, but I love everything I am reading on these blogs. We aren't starting fishing until January but my kids are already excited. Our kids are doing a unit on the Indian River Lagoon called Lagoon Quest during science and I am coordinating my fishing with what they learn in science. We are going to the lagoon t o seine and then identify all the critters as well as taking water samples and analyzing when we get back. Keep up the great blogs.
HEY! Thanks for the gifts, they will make great prizes for my kids! I am keeping the brief case for myself, a person cannot ever have enough bags you know.
Seriously, everyone, tell us what is happening in your world, maybe you will get a package in the mail too.
Started my unit today. Kids moaned and groaned when we told them what we were starting. 7th grade took a little longer with the knots, but 8th grade got into some underhand casting. Kids really enjoyed it. Backyard Bass tomorrow. Should be interesting. I was able to get some teachers to give me some prizes for Backyard Bass (free assignements, no homework, etc) that I have on the fish like Pete suggested. They really have supported me on this. I feel sorry that there are not more teachers that can fish for a week like we are! Physh On!
Thanks for all of the information. we have not started our program yet but we are starting the worm beds to have the bait we need. If you are from Florida you may want to check with the license tag agency to see if they will buy your reels and rods for you. If you are not, maybe your state has the same service.
I got any e-mail from Pat Volkmar this morning. Seems to me like Pat and I are on the same page. Pat sent me a copy of the thank you letter he sends out after a field trip. He didn't leave out the names of anyone who helped. Mentioned too, that the kids cleaned up the area and how much fun they had. Good job Pat!
I went fishing this morning myself. Actually, I didn't wet a line, but I checked out a local lake, in the local diner. I just "happened" to sit right next to the table where a local fisherman sits. He lives on a private lake and knows it well. The electronics on his boat are handy too. Anyway, he keeps me filled in lake activities.
I have been invited to fish on the lake every Thursday night, by a friend of a friend. They wait for me and have an extra boat waiting for me to use.
I should mention here that it isn't all hard work. The Lady bus driver who helped get me the fishing access is always there on the nights we fish. She doesn't go out fishing, she cooks. I especially like the shrimp wrapped in bacon, that is always waiting when we come back from fishing.
By the way, I am always out directing bus activities at our school. The Lady bus driver is usually the last bus in in the morning. I always radio her to make sure she is in and that I have let the transfer buses roll without her kids. And, I just "happen" to know that she has very little time between runs, and she usually needs to use a bathroom. I hand her my keys so that she can use the locked bathroom across the hall from my room, that way she doesn't have to wait in a bathroom full of 7th graders. Seems to work well for everyone, you might try it.
Oh, one last thing. My host at the lake, he is trying to talk the manager of the camp that owns half the lake, to allow my kids to come out for a field trip. Funny how things just "happen" to work out.
Our district had an exciting spring with our new equipment purchased with the grant money. For the first time our special students were able to cast without assistance thanks to the adapted rod and reel. Students are excited about using equipment in the coming months.
3 weeks into the start of school and I finally have kayaks. I was able to pick up a pretty good deal and bought 6 kayaks for our swimming pool. There will also be a trip to plan in the Spring. I still am shopping around for a good deal on paddles and pfd's. I have contacted some places looking for donations of pfd's that were used this past summer in rental programs. All in all, I hope to get kids in the pool in the next couple of weeks. They are excited about this new opportunity!
Bonnie-
That is great news! Can you provide any photos of your students using the adapted equipment?
Someone asked about cane poles? There happens to be a huge distributor in our small town in Mississippi. Call or e-mail them, and I am sure they will ship. They were cheap, I thought, about $2.25 each, already rigged. http://www.bnmpoles.com
We have been on a field trip to Mississippi State University Wildlife & Fisheries to view their "dry pond" - which gave all the students the insight into what goes on underneath the dark water! I am writing for Pam Pearson (our school has a firewall that won't let her post from school.)
what weight line are you purchasing for your classes? I am thinking 10#
Let me know what you think?
do you think stick bobbers are easier than slide bobbers?
wayne
Hey Wayne, I plan to use #10 for better results. One idea for bobbers is to use a bead on the line and a sliding bobber so that the students are not trying to cast a 6 foot or so rig, which is quite difficult. Good luck
Wayne,
You cannot go very wrong with line anywhere from 6-10 lbs in strength. I've been checking around and K-Mart and Wal-Mart are selling there fishing stuff at very good clearance prices. I purchased some real high end line at Wal-mart last night for $3.00 a roll. Wal-Mart also has things like bobbers on sale, and air pumps to keep minnows alive in the pails while fishing.
Don't feel under equiped with cane poles. That was the only equipment I had as a kid and a cane pole can really get the job done on sunfish and bass.
Last night I took my 16 year old son fishing. We had short rods with reels. Someone with electronic equipment told us to get in the middle of the lake, and fish 18 feet deep. I don't know how deep the lake is but we didn't have enough anchor rope to touch bottom.
Anyway, we had to tight line the rods because we were fishing too deep for even slip bobbers. (the bobber stops mess up the reels). Anyway, I would have traded those rods and reels for a cane pole last night. It sure makes fishing deep easier, especially with worms.
By the way, fishing deep got us the biggest sized Bluegills we have ever caught. It would have been a lot easier with cane poles.
Hi everyone. Well we have been in school for about a month and everything is going good. Two of the kindergarten classes went on a nature hike to a local nature center this last week and collected numerous items. The third, fourth, and sixth graders attended WOW camp were they fished, canoed, did some archery, and made their own fishing hooks out of deer bones. It was awesome since I am not starting my fishing program until after Christmas. I am doing an elective with the middle school kids that involve one of our art teachers. He and I are so excited about it. One other thing that is going on is that my seventh graders are going on a float trip on October 17.
This is going to be so much fun.
Kris Charles
I enjoy reading and learning new ideas from all of you. I start my angling unit Oct.6th I have the DNR conservation warden coming in and gives a 45 min. rules and regs presentation. He brings tons of freebees for the students: fish rulers, bobbers, regulation books, stickers,etc. He does a nice job touching on items not legal and whaqt the fines are. After casting and backyard bass instruction each group will spend 5 days on the water. It's nice because our lake is a quarter mile from the school. We take a field trip to a local Cranberry resivoir towards the end the day before on Friday Fish Fry scheduled for Oct.24th this is about 4 weeks later than last year. I hope the weather and fishing hold for us in Wisconsin it is starting to get cold out.
We start our first fishing unit on Monday - spincasting. We can't wait and neither can the students!
Hello from Alaska! We are losing 5 ½ minutes of daylight each day and the mountains have already been getting covered up in termination dust as we get ready for our cold winter. The leaves outside are a beautiful combination of yellow and reds and when the sun sets over the mountain it really makes the place glow. I had my middle school students write an article for our Peninsula newspaper about our fishing trip and it was published with pictures of the kids catching fish and having a good time. The students were really excited to see their pictures and article in the paper. We also started our watershed studies of Quartz Creek, which is a spawning area for sockeye salmon that connects with Kenai Lake which is the beginning of the Kenai River. We were able to net some macro invertebrates which consisted of: caddis flies, mayflies, stoneflies, crane flies and for fish got some sculpins. Our stream chemistry consisted of finding water temperature, air temperature, conductivity, turbidity, ph, and dissolved oxygen. It was a great time for all.
Hi all, I went to Michigan for a workshop, met Matt from Montana and learned about fly fishing, took the resource he gave me, checked into it and found out what a small world we live in.The resource led me back to one of our secretary's husband who is the president of one of the local fly fishing organizations. So we are set to be introduced in April to fly fishing, fly tying, and hopefully a fly fishing experience. They are supplying everything including bringing several instructors on the hands on day. We are really excited about this connection so Thanks Matt!!!for the initial help. Also thanks Vance for the information on the stoves. We don't start until Jan. but we definitely have some new adventures ahead of us.
Hello from Cooper Landing, Alaska where we just had our first snowfall of the year yesterday and have almost six inches on the ground. And no, school was not canceled; we have never had a snow day off from school that anyone can recall. So I drove all the students to Soldotna, Alaska for some water safety/ swimming lessons at the local high school pool and today a parent and I drove all the students to Seward, Alaska to grab some coho salmon out of Bear Creek so we could extract eggs from a female fish and milked milt from a male and mixed them all up until we had milt shake. Hahaha fish humor Added some water and sang happy birthday and we brought the fertilized eggs back to school and now we are taking care of our couple hundred eggs until they hatch so we can release them in the spring. catch you later.
Pam,
I am working with my kids on stove now. So, while it is fresh on my mind, let me give you a few tips. Knowing how to use scissors seems to be a lost art, and a needed one, if students are making pop can stoves. Kids will be cutting pop cans apart then putting two that are the same size back, one inside the other. If the kids close the scissors all the way to the ends while cutting the edges will catch each other and make assembling the stove near impossible. That is when the kids will turn to you to fix it. Take my word for it, teach them to use scissors on some other project before cutting the cans. I am in the process of "fixing" the millionth can right now.
Also, a really simple stove can be made with an (1) empty cat food can (small, about 40 cents full.) (This is a good project to start right after you have shown kids how to make tuna fish sandwiches for a field trip. Hey, it gives them something to think about. Probably best not to try inless you have tenture, (just another little tip there).
Basically, you reach into a clean can with a notebook hole punch ($1-2 anywhere) and punch holes part way down the size of the can. (Maybe, 9 holes or so, experiment.) The stove is pretty much complete at this point. Add HEET up to the bottom of the holes. Light the stove with a match, wait for flame to come from the size punched holes, set a small pot on the top open end and watch her cook. You will need a windscreen made from foil. In January, take a small piece of foil and make a shallow pan out of it an inch or so wider than the stove. Sit the stove on the foil, put a few drops of HEET (yellow bottle only, not the red Iso-HEET) on the foil. (The stove should also be full to the holes.) Light the alcohol (HEET) that is on the foil and it will preheat the stove and light it for you. If you want more information, Google, Super Cat Stove on the web.
Oops, I have another tip, read over what you have typed before pushing the buttons to send your comment. If I had done that, I would have spelled a thing or two differently. Sorry about that, those of us that live close to the earth don't use a dictionary much.
Well we have been taking care of our coho eggs and it is like watching paint dry. not much happening so far but we are taking pictures of the eggs everyday and are accumulating materials so we can start painting beads to match what the eggs look like. nail polish is a great thing to use to add texture and to make the color look realistic when we fish in the river.
Here is another tip for you. Take the rig (hook, lure, weigh, etc) off your rod between fishing trips. Or, put that rig into a plastic bag so that it stays together.
I carry a fishing outfit with me most of the time, just in case I have a chance to fish for a few minutes. But I've gotten lazy and just wrapped the end of the line around the rod that has been divided in the middle. I paid for that laziness Sunday.
First, I got the hook caught in my net when I was moving the equipment from vehicle to vehicle. I didn't have a good pair of wire cutters with me, so I bent the barb on the hook to get it free from the net.
Later that morning, as I was removing the rod and reel from the trunk, the 2 oz lead dropped, pulling the hook with it. The hook entered my right ring finger just short of the bone. As luck would have it, the parking lot I was in, was empty. That allowed me to freely express my thoughts on the subject. After that, the question was what to do. Normal procedure would be to push the point of the hook the rest of the way through the finger and then cut the hook off. I would then back the remaining hook out of the finger. Which brings up the next tip, carry side cutters, or wire cutters with you in your fishing kit. Of course, I had none. Then I remembered that I had already bent the barb back. I then, with a lot more force that I thought would have been necessary, pulled the hook back out of my finger.
Which brings up the next tip. Carry a first aid kit. I wouldn't have thought such a small hole could leak that much blood, but it did.
If I had remembered our first fly tying lesson, I might have thought to break the barb off in the beginning. Oh well, I hope that you can gain something from my experience, if not you may be able to offer some tips of your own.
Vance sounds like this weekend was a great learning experience, not only for yourself, but to include in your teaching! Sorry to hear about the blood though.
Steve,
I've told my kids about my weekend experiences in hopes to save them from having it happen to them.
I do seriously, see the need for a good set of tools, and first aid kit on field trips. Years ago, when I taught agriculture, I always had a good first aid kit with me because we often operated heavy equipment, and the dangers there-with. Over the years I have patched up my share of kids.
One of my early experience was when I had the kids cutting up a steer. It was a weekend and we were in a basement of a farmers house, cutting and packaging a 1200 lb steer. One of my boys cut his finger and wanted to know what to do? I told him to get a bandaid out of my first aid kit and get back to business.
The student come into class the following Monday, finger wrapped and sewn up. Dad had taken him to the ER. The boy said that the doctor told him he would need his finger sewn up. He said, "my teacher told me to put a bandaid on it." The doctor said, "who is your teacher?"
I have been more careful since then.
That was one thing that I prepared as well for our fishing unit. I had a first aid kit ready to go and took it with me. All the needed things along with my cellphone, just in case. You never know what kids will do. In PE, there are times that we become doctors more than teachers you know!
Well Alaska Tommy,
I'm ready to go skiing but Oct. 8is a bit early for snow for me! I prefer the 77 degree day we had yesterday. It does sound like you are having fun fishing. I thought I'd share a website with you about your coho eggs. The Michigan salmon in the classroom is creating a forum to help people who are hatching salmon in the classroom. I thought you might have valuable information to add for new SIC http://www.salmonintheclassroom.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
I will check out that site Tammi. thanks for the info. right now we are calculating the Accumulative Thermal Units (ATU’s) and you can monitor the salmon development and forecast important developmental stages.
Yesterday I had a fisheries expert come in and describe how salmon know where to go when they come back into rivers to spawn. she used perfuem, peppermint, and worchistire (sp?) in old film cansiter with cotton balls and the students ahd to use their nose to follow the smells and to get to their home. it was fun for my middle school students as well as the kindergartners.
Well with almost 2 months already since the start of the school year, it has been crazy for us in Lake Geneva! I just got home from a 2-day camping trip (an overnighter) from taking 21 students and 2 other teachers up to Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin! I arranged for our group to do rockclimbing, geocaching, camping, caving, and canoeing...all within 2 days! We had an absolute blast, and now the kids want to go again in Spring. Next time, I hope to have everything ordered (supplies, etc) for incorporating fishing with our canoeing experience in spring. Just didn't want to bite off more than I could chew for this first time around though! :)
Kelly,
Do you have any tips for us on how to set up a field trip like you just had? How do you cover the expenses and how much manpower does it take (adults) to keep track of the kids?
In our district, we have to have the approval of the school board for any over night trips (they only meet a couple times per month, so we need to plan way ahead).
Anyway, it sounds like you really had a trip that the students would enjoy and learn from, good for you!
Kelly:
Great trip! I wish that I had more time with my students to try and plan something like that. But only having them for 35-37 days at at time, we have a lot to cover,and not a lot of time! Did you contact UWL about maybe having their students helping out? Just a thought. They might be pretty interested in that. Remember ESS 402???? And what exactly is geocaching? IS that like orientiering? I was actually thinking about doing something like that into our fishing unit in the future.
Here is a mini lesson plan for you. Start by making a handout sheet showing how to make a fishing knot (start with a simple one). (There are lots of websites and books that will help you come up with this instruction sheet.)
Give each student a short (foot or so) piece of light weigh fishing line. Then give them a paper clip. Have scissors available for students to share. Tape will be needed also.
Bring up http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.html on your computer. (If you have a way to connect your computer to a tv, do that also.)
Show the students the knot being tied on the computer (or tv) screen, several times (it goes fast).
Now, having the student use the handout as a guide, have them tie the knot to one end of the paper clip (using paper clips instead of hooks in safer and cheaper, for demonstration purposes). At this point the teacher needs to help and observe. When a student has completed a good knot, have him cut off the knot an inch or so up the main line.
With the main line that remains have the student tie the same type of knot to the other end of the paper clip.
When both knots appear correct, put tape across the middle of the paper clip and attach it to the instruction handout. Have student names on papers and collect for grading, or at least inspection by the teacher.
A fun activity for kids, would be to put the properly tied knots (attached to the instruction sheet) into a box or pail. Have someone reach in and draw out a few and give those who were drawn a prize.
This might be an activity to use when there is a little time left at the end of an hour and you want to keep the students busy. (There are lots of good knots, so the activity would be different, each time you did it.)
[Our fourth graders went on a field trip to the Indian River Lagoon(Brevard County, Fl., the Kennedy Space Center was in view) on a Lagoonie quest. We had several people from our local zoo do a presentation and then we went seine netting in 16 groups. We collected and identified seahorses, blue crabs, hermit crabs, sting rays, mojarra, mangrove snappers, bay anchovies, pipefish, needlefish, pinfish, pigfish, and jelllyfish. We also saw dolphins and many birds. After lunch we went on a scavenger hunt to find and discuss both natural and manmade objects(trash) in the environment. The zoo personell then did a lesson on how various pollutants effect the lagoon. Our kids learned about protecting and caring for the environment and had a great time.
John
Melbourne, Fl.
Hello from Alaska where it is 5 degrees. we made it down to our Quartz Creek watershed area and were able to find a few macro invertabrates as well as find that the water temp was 30 degrees. made for a cold day for the kids to pickout the little creatures. good thing we had a bunch of little hotties to keep our hands warm.
yesterday we were able to look at our salmon eggs and paint beads in a modeled egg pattern for future fishing.
we then tied some flesh flies and next week will make some articulated flesh flies. Happy Winter.
Well it is 20 degrees up here in Alaska and we got a nice dump of fresh snow. This week we have made fish print tshirts and have been tying flys and painting beads. We can not use bait in our area for fishing and the orange and red beads are painted with fingernail polish. some colors we are using include:Forbidden Love, Lost Love, and Peony Pink from sinful colors.
I guess i shoudl be talking about sex ed with those kind of names. :)
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