The Trout Have Arrived in the Bronx!

Article by Nicole Wallace, STEAM Program Manager, Bronx Children's Museum

With mason jars and coolers on hand, educators from all over New York State came together at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home in Hyde Park on Thursday, October 8th to attend workshops on tank maintenance, underwater robotics, data integration, and water quality testing.  But the real purpose of the event was to receive their “foster babies”: 50-100 tiny orange, black-eyed trout eggs. The eggs will hatch in the coming weeks and classrooms will raise the trout throughout the year, culminating in their release back into the NYC watershed system in April or May.

The conference in Hyde Park was only the first step in a year-long program called Trout in the Classroom (TIC) wherein schools raise trout from eggs to fry and then release the fish back into the NYC watershed system. In attendance were representatives from three different Bronx early childhood centers who are following TIC via participation in the Bronx Children’s Museum’s adaptation of the program called “Little Friends of the River” (LFR). “Little Friends,” now in its fourth year, is a STEAM-based initiative designed specifically for early childhood. Carla Precht, Bronx Children’s Museum Executive Director stated: "We started “Little Friends of the River” four years ago as an experiment. We wanted to know if the Trout in the Classroom model could be adapted for pre-school children. Our instinct told us that because children love animals and babies and because they learn more in an interactive environment, this program would work for a younger audience, even though current models are focused on older grades. “

In addition to providing tank equipment and professional development training, Museum Educators will provide monthly classroom visits that will include art projects, field trips, and other STEAM-based activities aimed to teach children about the life cycle of the trout and its role in the environment. Each participating school will also receive a visit from the Museum’s mobile exhibit, “Rivers On the Go!”. The schools currently participating are P.S. 314, South Bronx Headstart Site III, Mid-Bronx Headstart, and BronxWorks.

“Children love having the fish in their classroom,” says Estela Campbell, Director of South Bronx Headstart, one of the first schools to pilot LFR. “Not only does it inspire a sense of responsibility and stewardship as they care for the trout, but they get to witness firsthand the life cycle of an animal, something they normally only get to read about in books. The children grow with the trout as they are engaged intellectually, emotionally, and physically.”

To assist educators in teaching children about the trout, the Museum recently unveiled its new Teacher Resource Packet, a seventy-page document that includes common core-aligned lesson plans, art activities, worksheets, monthly calendars, a suggested reading list, and a detailed section on tank set-up, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The packet was created by Museum Educators in collaboration with Trout in the Classroom, the Department of Environmental Protection, and Bronx educators.

Lilli Genovesi, NYC Trout in the Classroom Coordinator, said, “Teachers are often daunted by the idea of installing and maintaining a 55-gallon fish tank in a Pre-K classroom. The Bronx Children’s Museum has done a great job alleviating their fears by offering classroom visits and educational materials such as their Teacher Resource Packet. This level of support gives teachers and students the confidence to care for their fish throughout the year, ensuring a successful outcome for people and fish alike!”

For more information, please contact:

Nicole Wallace, STEAM Program Manager (Bronx Children’s Museum) nicole@bronxchildrensmuseum.org

Lillit Genovesi, NYC Coordinator (Trout in the Classroom), lgenovesi@tu.org