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This Alaska elementary school teaches students to raise salmon : NPR


Students release salmon into the lake during the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges


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Jennifer Hodges


Students release salmon into the lake during the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges

Kenny Lake School in Copper Center, Alaska, is small, with about 60 students from kindergarten through high school. It gets even smaller in winter when some parents send their kids home because the road is long and slippery.

Jennifer Hodges is a third, fourth, and fifth grade teacher. She says her three-class class only sits at a desk for 20 minutes a day. They do a lot of practical learning, such as improving the Coho language salmon from eggs to Alevin to fry then drop them in the lake.

That’s through a program called Salmon in the Classroom, established by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Kate Morse, program director for the Copper River Watershed Project, is in charge of implementing the program at six schools across Alaska’s Copper Basin.

Coho salmon spawn in the fall, when many schools start. The eggs remain in the classroom for about six months before they are released into the aquarium. They then live for two to four years before laying eggs and die shortly after.

Jennifer Hodges in her classroom.

B. Hodges


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B. Hodges


Jennifer Hodges in her classroom.

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Every day, about a third of Hodges students take a 45-minute bus ride from Chitina Native Village. Many students have had experience with trout fishing, a profession found primarily in Alaskan Native communities.

“It’s really a delicate balance because we’re dealing with indigenous traditions and cultures,” says Hodges. “This is their land, this is their salmon. And so we have to really be a part of that.”

Students learn about the Copper River Basin on the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges


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Jennifer Hodges


Students learn about the Copper River Basin on the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges

Ahtna, one local tribal associationhelped donate the tank in her class.

Although many of her students grew up catching salmon for food, very few kept them as pets.

“Salmon has gone from being just a backyard fish they catch to eat, to becoming the fish they connect with,” says Hodges. “With this project, they have a completely different perspective because they know what it takes to really go through the stages of a salmon.”

Eye eggs in a salmon tank.

Teal Barmore


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Eye eggs in a salmon tank.

Teal Barmore

Students learn about habitat temperature and the impact of climate change

Learning about climate change is more important than ever. In 2022, the North Pole has warm friday year is recorded. But these lessons became specific to them in the farming of salmon, which need cold water to survive.

“We had a problem in our device and it caused the temperature to rise by about 5 degrees,” Hodges said.

“Just warming it up that much is enough to wipe out our eggs.”

Another lesson: observe how deadly pollution is to salmon habitat

Students practice writing by observing the salmon.

Jennifer Hodges


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Jennifer Hodges


Students practice writing by observing the salmon.

Jennifer Hodges

During the months when the salmon are in the classroom, students enjoy sitting by the tank to observe.

Addy, a student, said: “When the eggs hatch, they have pouches of food. “That way they can hide and not have to find food. It’s funny because when they try to swim, they just end up in circles,” Hodges said.

“For example, put hand sanitizer on your hands and then put your fingers in the tank – you’ve contaminated the tank. It’s happened to us before. That year we had seven people who did. Normally we have about 180 people can do it.”

That, of course, is yolk – a small bag of food that the baby trout float with. Morse, who oversees the program, says that salmon don’t need to be eaten until they reach the fry stage.

There are more ways to learn: math, writing and an appreciation of the outdoors

Students like to calculate when the salmon goes from egg to Alevin for frying based on the temperature of the tank. For them, it’s not doing math problems: it’s predicting the future.

Students release salmon into the lake during the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges


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Jennifer Hodges


Students release salmon into the lake during the Salmon Field Trip.

Jennifer Hodges

Liam, a student, said: “We always guess when they will hatch from the eggs first. “Have to learn math because you have to keep track of their temperature and add their ATU. I’m good at math so I usually get it right.”

Since Hodges and her students live in such a rural area, there aren’t many field trips. But every year in May, she takes her students on a Salmon Field Trip, where they get to stock the salmon they’ve grown in class.

They will name the fish, then release them into the wild and never see them again. But it’s not sad: it was the highlight of the year.

Fisher, a student, said: ‘The best thing is to release them after watching them hatch from eggs, grow into fry and take care of them. “You can say goodbye.”

Students place the salmon in a bucket and then secure it with a seat belt. The students wore bras and rubber overalls to keep them dry when they entered the lake, then each received a cup of about ten fish. They put the cup under the water and let the fish swim out.

“I went to release them last year and the lake is still partially covered by ice,” said Stylerling, a student. “I fell in. It was cold, but still funny.”

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