The slideshow at the top of the page captures the enthusiasm of the Gracmore students in Kansas City, Missouri who were recently visited by Kirk Werner, author of Olive The Little Woolly Bugger and Olive and the Big Stream. Kirk shared information with the students about fly fishing, aquatic conservation, and was present for the unveiling of the school's new mural painted by Gracemor's Art Teacher. What a treat for the students to view this beautiful mural of a boy and girl fly fishing whenever they congregate in this room!
HAVE YOU HAD ANY SPECIAL VISITORS VISIT YOUR STUDENTS THIS YEAR? PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORIES!!
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What a neat thing! I wish that my course was set up different so I could spend more time on the fishing unit, but because of time I cannot so I am limited as to what I can do. I would like to bring in some speakers and I currently working to try and locate someone from the DNR to cover native aquatic life, rules, and regulations with the students. I feel that this would be a great informational source for them. I just hope I can figure something out for the next time around.
I have had state parks, dnr, wildlife troopers, fishing guides, and forest service come in.they have covered topics such as fish identification, rules and regulations, boat safety, water safety, hatchery programs, fly tieing and we will make fish print tshirts and disscet coho salmon in the near futre.
Guest speakers are an awesome addition. I have had people from the local fish hatchery in who discuss fish indentifcation, salmon life cycle etc. I have also had memebers of a local fly club come in an assist students with tying flies.
I started to have speakers at school but instead I had them speak at stations when we went on out fishing trip. At our ecology station a state fisheries biologist talked about the food chain fertilizer, phytoplankton, zooplankton,macroinvertebrates,
small bluegilland catfish, bass. Had the students ID macroinvertebrates from the lake then seined a cove and talked about management practices for ponds, lakes, rivers including a look at an electrofishing boat.
At the cleaning station a state biologist aid demonstrated several methods for cleaning fish and also identified the external and internal parts of a fish. The kids loved it especially when he ripped a catfish head off.
At our cooking station a retired fisheries biologist demonstrated cooking techniques and told tall tales.
At our boating safety station a marine police and talked about safety including PFDs. Then parent volunteers took students 2 at a time on a boat ride in a john boat w/ trolling motor.
I took care of the fishing station along with about 8 parents. All I had to do "that day" was keep the bait ready and help take catfish off of hooks.
The 4th - 6th students were divided into groups of 20 with a teacher and parent helper. They changed stations every 45 min. My principal and superintendent attended, they were a little worried about safety. But, we didn't have any problems. It helps to be organized and have stations that are interesting.
I would love to hear from other elementary teachers about their ideas for an elementary school fishing program. Younger children require a lot of guidance and a lot more one on one assistance. We did the author visit from Kirk Werner as way to stimulate interest and teach them about the outdoors. Prior to his visit we did lessons on environmental health. The word "Woolly Bugger" gets their attention real well. It's a great opening for a class discussion. Then we make pretend woolly buggers out of clothes pins & pipe cleaners. As a PE teacher I was very happy to contribute to other curricular areas and promote my program at the same time.
I have had Dave Hagengruber from the Montana State Fish, Wildlife and Parks come to the school this fall and talk to the students about fish identification, habitat, rules and regs, etc.... Dave finished his presentation by playing a jeopardy game to summarize and evaluate what the students learned from his presentation. Our students really enjoyed the value of his presentation.
I am in the process of lining up people to come in and talk to my kids.
I've had speakers in the past, and sometimes there becomes a real attachment to them.
Our school used to be a place where elementary students transferred from a Jr. High bus to one that took them to their elementary schools. We had a young man (child) who started right out in kindergarden transferring, and he was blind. Eugene was a great trainer, even at that young age. He let me know right up front, he takes my elbow, not the other way around. Eugene was a smart kid. He could follow me down a whole line of buses and tell me the name of the company that made each one, just from the sound of the engine.
People would often say things to him that were just plain dumb. He used to wear his socking hat pulled all the way down to the end of his nose on cold days. People would yell, "pull that hat up or you won't be able to see."
About the time Eugene was in 1st grade, I started having him come in and talk to my health classes about what it was like to be blind. That was about the time I got to know his Mother, Linda. Linda was a little scary. She was a big boned woman, and not the most attractive. She was always there for Eugene and she would stand up to anyone that she thought wasn't treating him "just right." (Good for her!) Linda and I got along great, she often called me at home when she had a problem. (There are school staff members out there that have no idea how many bad experiences with Linda I headed off from them.)
Anyway, she had the people at school scared of her, except for me, I knew she had a heart of gold. Anyway, Linda was going to bring Eugene in to talk to my classes one day (he was probably 4-5th grade at the time) and they didn't show up on time. The office called me out of my class over the P.A. system, (a real no, no in our school system)
When I got to the office, I found out that Linda was sitting in her pickup in front of the building. (You would have thought it was a major stand off with the police or something, with the reaction of the office staff.) Linda had called into the building from her cell phone and demanded I come out to her truck!
So, of course I went out to see what was wrong. (Remember, this is the front of the building and half the people in the building can see what is going on. The office staff had their noses pressed to the window too.) When I got out there, Linda thanked me for coming out. She and Eugene had been running late and she was still in her P.J.'s and didn't want to come in the building. Linda said, "I could just kiss you for coming out like this." Eugene picked up on that right away, "come on Mom, give Mr. Holmes a kiss," he said. With that, the drivers' door openned and out come Linda, PJ's and all. She gave me a kiss that would normally be saved for someone going off to war. Believe me, it didn't go unnoticed!
I am sad to say that Linda is no longer with us. She always thought a cold beer was the cure for everything. It didn't seem to work well for cancer. I miss her! It will be hard to come up with people to bring in my class that will get the kids attention more than Eugene and Linda. God bless them both.
This year we will have several people from the Dupage Fly Fishing Organization coming in to teach flying fishing techniques and work with fly tying. Every year I have a former and retired counselor come in and share with the students about x-c skiing and canoeing his favorite activities and topics. A change of pace for the students. He brings along his senior citizen friends for a canoe intro. session, and they go with us on our 3 hour river canoe paddle. They get a kick out of helping out. It's also very helpful as I am able to use them as charparones for that activity.
Our first unit included guest speakers from the Winneshiek (Iowa) County Conservation Board. Their naturalists came and talked about fish ID and habitats. On the field trip, we visited the local trout hatchery where DNR staff gave a tour and talked about the importance of water quality. All guests added to the value of the unit!
We are planning to have a speaker from the environmental team at the local Health Department. He has a great display that he can demonstrate the effects of that dumping hazardous waste has on the land.
At Melbourne High School here in Florida we had a member of the United States Power Squadron come in and talk to our class as a wrap-up of our boating safety class. The USPS offers more advanced versions of the basic Boating Safety course that we offered. They charge a fee for their course, but they are always interested in recuiting new members and getting their name out there. They seemed more than willing to share their time. We might in the future utilize them more than once as speakers during the boating unit.
I have invited the local fly tyer club to my PE classes for the past 5 years and it has been a total success for the kids and the older gentlemen who donate their time to our school and the kids. Other guest I invite during the fishing unit are the local DNR rep, our local fish hatchery supervisor, and local FLW pro's who live in our area. I can usually talk one or two into coming and showing off some of their fancy gear.
We have scheduled "Adventures with Jonny" author Michael Dilorenzo to kick off our reading month during the month of Feb.
Hey Vance--Funny story for the record books! Sorry she passed on. Also Alaska Tommy, I just want to note that it was 20 degrees below zero here in Michigan last week! Please keep that weather up north! It's hard to talk about fishing when I'm a fish stick!
Tammi,
How is the ice up your way? We have a big ice fishing event going on this weekend and I am very concerned about the strength of the ice. I hate to complain, but it was 50 degrees here this morning and we have had several days of warm weather.
I've been talking to the kids today about safety on the ice. If the weather continues to be warm, I am going to have to keep my kids off the ice, so they are safe.
A couple weekends from now, I am going up by Ludington with a group, and ice fishing was on our list of things to do. If you still have good ice, those further north should too.
I am having a little different angle on the guest speaker "thing." I have become active in a Carp fishing forum and have developed a fairly large group of friends and fellow carp fishermen. When they learned that I would be taking kids out carp fishing a large number of these carp fishermen offered to show the kids how to catch the big ones. They will be giving advise on where to fish, and be on the bank to demonstrate how to fish.
If you are overlooking local or state fishing clubs, you are probably missing out.
The author from "Adventures with Jonny" came to our school yesterday. He was a great speaker. He talked about the steps he had to take to be a writer. Since we are working on young author stories right now, it was inspiring to the students who thought they were "finished". The kids really enjoyed his visit. We have also contacted Jay's Sporting Goods and they are going to send someone to the school to tie some flies with the kids.
Tammi,
It is wonderful that you are working with kids to encourage them to read and develop their writing skills. If you have any tips on how to arrange for an author to come in I'd love to hear them.
Also, local business that sell fishing equipment can be a great resource. Those that aren't from Michigan might not know about Jay's. It is a "home grown" sporting good store here in Michigan. "Old red," can hardly get through Clare without making a side trip to Jay's.
Down my way you cannot beat "The Fishing Tackle Grab bag," for a sporting goods store to work with. Tom, the owner, really supports those that try to get kids into fishing. He gave us equipment at near cost to help our grant money go as far as possible. Gary, who works there has offered to help out at our school, directing kids to develop good fishing practices. He hasn't been at our school yet but hopeful he will before the end of the year. Gary often helps Shelly with her program over in Davision. I know that "The Fishing Tackle Grab Bag," has a site on the net, so those of you outside of Michigan could get things shipped to you. Jay's may have a web page too, I don't know.
Anyway, if you are not getting local businesses on board with your program, you are missing out.
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