Through the generosity of the EEF grant, our fourth grade classes we able to secure two complete tanks with all of the necessities to be active citizens of our Trout in the Classroom partnership with the California Aquarium Education Program. The benefit is that we had those students watching, evaluating and analyzing the health and welfare of the trout on a daily basis. The experience of seeing first hand the life cycle of a trout has inspired our students to practice their super stewardship of protecting and serving our local watershed. This passion made them anxious to learn and to take opportunities to become real scientists. Their year long expedition consisted of an ever growing awareness of the condition, water quality and community connection to the Escondido Watershed. The data and first hand, real world field work is complete and our students are in the process of organizing their information to share with the community at a Celebration of Learning on campus. We are also writing letters to the Escondido City Council to share our perspectives on solving the issue of rehabilitating our part of the Escondido Creek based on landscape studies done by the Cal Poly Pomona, Department of Landscape Architecture, in August of 2010.
The attached video gives an excellent account of our work this year with the Trout in The Classroom and the positive impact it has had on our students.