To begin the year, James H. Bean’s 4th and 5th grade learners teamed up to complete a Salmon Run activity. Now that we can come out of our individual classrooms and collaborate once again, the teachers wanted to begin the year with a fun activity that allowed the students to work together. For this activity, an obstacle course was set up that simulated the natural life cycle of the North Atlantic Salmon. Students had to navigate through the course to see if they could make it back to where they were born as adult salmon to spawn. Within this course they had to avoid falling prey to a variety of predators or be lost to high water or lack of food. Data was collected regarding the fraction of students who successfully made it through, and that data was compared to the real life statistics of salmon who successfully make it back to spawn. As follow ups to this activity, students had several reading assignments, built foundational knowledge of various ecology terms, worked with food chains and food webs, and will continue to analyze the success of re-establishing the Atlantic Salmon in Maine rivers. This activity was based upon the Project Wet/ Project Wild curriculum provided by the Department of Education.
RSU 18 Messenger 