Salmon Release Field Trip

Salmon is a big deal around here in the Pacific Northest, so in the schools, the kids learn a lot about salmon.  What they eat.  The five different kinds (which are pink, silver, king, sockeye, and chum in case you were wondering).  Where they breed.  In what waters they thrive, etc, etc. 

To learn about these fish first-hand, the third graders at Poulsbo Elementary began raising their own salmon in a tank at the beginning of the year.  Now I can't say that I know much about the process other than Elizabeth would occassionally check the tank when we were dropping Grace off or volunteering in her class, but I do know that they finally grew enough to be released.  So this afternoon, I boarded a bus (with quite a large number of other parents) for my first-ever field trip with Grace in over 2 years.  I normally don't get to go along because younger siblings can't accompany parent chaperones, but with Dave being home until Monday, he got our little girlie off to school and I got to be with the big girlie for a few hours.  We boarded all three classes onto two school buses and drove to one of our local estuaries at Fish Park to release the salmon into Liberty Bay.



The tide was out, but Liberty Bay was beautiful as always



It was a gorgreous day outside.  Now, not the kind of gorgeous 80 degree days that all of you are getting back in the Midwest, but gorgeous for us.  55...sunny...beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds.   

The kids got to stomp around in the mud, play a game, and listen to a few local salmon experts.  They had a lot of good questions and seemed pretty interested in learning about the fish. 







Grace and Poppie offering a quick "get out of here, Mom" smile

Either that or they were thrilled to be missing class to be hanging out at a park with their friends on a sunny Friday afternoon.  I know that Grace and her best friend, Poppie, loved hanging out together with a little more time to chat than they would have gotten if they were in class. 



Grace and Poppie dressed as silly twins

They are both such silly girls.  Great girls, but first and foremost, they are silly.  If you dont' believe me about the silliness, here is a picture of them from their playdate after school on Wednesday.  They dressed up as twins and skipped up and down our street.  They really are the best of friends.  See, Karen, we are putting those YMCA tie-dyed shirt to good use!  The kids and their friends all love to wear them!
  



Grace releasing her cup of salmon into Liberty Bay



At the end of our time at Fish P, each kiddo got to go down to the bank of the water and released a cup of 5 or so salmon.  I think it was very anti-climatic for most of them as they expected their fish to swim away quickly, but they (the salmon) mostly hung around in small schools right in the area where they were released.  A good lesson, right?  Science is usually interesting, but the processes aren't always as cool as you think they will be. 

But in true kid fashion, they made their own fun!  Grace and some of her classmates were "crying" after releasing their fish.  They were saying things like, "Oh, they just grow up so fast" or "It is so hard to say goodbye to your babies."  Did I tell you how much I just love these kids...simple humor at such an early age!

All in all, it was a great trip.  The bus was loud and warm, but luckily it was a very short trip just to the other side of town. The kids had a good time, and there were only a few tears (for all of the normal reasons like kids hurting other kids feelings and boys pushing other boys around/out of line).  There was a good number of kids that were complaining about how hot it was and how they needed to sit down and cool off. Keep in mind it was only about 55 degrees while we were at Fish Park. One little girl said to me, "Mrs. Zinkhon. Feel my head. It's so hot that it's almost on fire!"  These kids never cease to crack me up!