SIGNS OF SPRING: SIS TROUT RELEASE

by Dylan McGlynn Saratoga

Today

BALLSTON SPA —

Kindergarten and primary students at Saratoga Independent School released a group of juvenile rainbow trout into the Kayaderosseras Creek on Friday, capping off nearly six months of hands-on learning about water conservancy, life in water, Native American culture, and more.

The school took in nearly 100 rainbow trout eggs in October, and students watched and assisted as the fish hatched and grew in aquariums at the school. On Friday, the students finished their aquatic journey, releasing the fish into the wild.

Shauna Swiminer, a kindergarten teacher at Saratoga Independent School, said the project was “a perfect fit” for the school’s hands-on learning style.

“This year, we were studying both water, water conservancy, life in water, and Native American culture,” said Swiminer. “That idea of something so hands-on, that the kids can see, touch, and do, is really what we do at the Independent School.”

The eggs were provided by the Department of Environmental Conservation, and were part of the National Trout in the Classroom curriculum. Students met at Kelley Park in Ballston Spa to release the fish, which was preceded with words from Perry Ground, a member of the Onondaga Nation.

Ground spoke about indigenous culture, the importance of water and fish to the Haudenosaunee people, and led students through the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. The Thanksgiving Address was established as a way to give thanks to “everything in the world around us,” Ground said.

“Once those five tribes joined together, they shared lots of stuff. One of the things that we share is, whenever we join ourselves together, is something called the Thanksgiving Address,” said Ground. “Gratitude and appreciation for the things we have around us. … The Thanksgiving Address is something that we say to say thank you to everything in the world around us.”

Swiminer said her students were “so excited” when she returned to school with the fish in October.

“They were whispering like they were real babies,” said Swiminer. “Two days later, they all started to hatch out. So there was no real waiting time, which was really meaningful to the kids, to be able to get that immediate gratification.”

The students quickly grew attached to the fish, with SIS primary teacher Kathleen Johansson saying they wrote “trout poetry” and letters to the fish. She said working with hands-on projects such as this can make it “so much more real” to the students.

“I think it just makes it so much more real to them, when they’re thinking about these creatures that we’ve had and taken care of since October,” said Johansson. “They might think twice when they see some garbage floating down, and think, ‘Hey, I really don’t want my trout to get wrapped up in that.’”

But even though the fish have been released, the project has not stopped just yet. Johansson said the students will participate in a quilt exchange through the National Trout in the Classroom curriculum.

“We’re going to make individual little quilt squares with paintings on it, decorating, and we’re sending them all off, and we’ll get some in return,” said Johansson. “So we’ll have a giant quilt made from students all around who participated in the program as well.”

This year was the first time the school has participated in the Trout in the Classroom program, but Saratoga Independent School emphasizes many similar handson activities. Johansson said earlier this year, her class raised monarch larvae until they became butterflies.

“We did a butterfly garden last year in the spring, and we’ll start that again in a few weeks when it warms up,” Johansson said. “The kids love going out in the springtime. When they see that first monarch, they go, ‘That’s the great grandkids of the ones we let go.’ … Any of those projects where they see it happen in front of them, they just have a very different connection to it.”

Both teachers said they hope the project can help teach their students about different cultures, environmental conservation, showing compassion and empathy, and more.

“I think learning in general is best hands-on. It is important to create citizens that care about the world around them,” Swiminer said. “There were so many experiments about pollution, garbage, and watershed, just the general learning that the kids did. Those are human qualities. Those are things you want your kids to grow up and pass on.”

“I think these are the types of activities that will really stay with them,” added Johansson. “Any of them that are interested in the environment, or watershed, it makes them aware of why it’s important for all of us to care. That would be the biggest lesson, I think.”

Jonathan Foster Memorial Theater Arts Award Given by Home Made Theater

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Home Made Theater will offer an award of $500 to a graduating senior who will pursue courses in Theater Arts - either as a performer or on the technical level.

The student needs to have demonstrated an active interest in their area and should submit the following:

•A list of activities in this area, including clubs, classes and performances which the student has been involved in for the past three years.

•Two letters of support, preferably from people within the discipline in which the student is applying.

•A high school transcript.

•A letter written by the student that includes pertinent information on their goals, the schools to which they are applying, the course of study they intend to pursue and other information which may offer important criteria in the selection process.

The above listed information should be mailed by April 28, 2023 to: Home Made Theater, Jonathan Foster Memorial Award. P.O. Box 1182, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Please include your home address and telephone number.