Objective: #
Students will understand what will happen to their trout after release and forge a deeper connection with their trout and trout stream.
Background: #
Every year, students take their small fingerlings to streams across the country. Marking this event as a ritual helps students remember why they’re there, and gives them more stories to tell to their families about the trip. When students feel an emotional connection to the watershed streams, then they will bring that care back to their homes and families. The trout we have learned to love in our classrooms always have to go into the wild at the end of the year. Many of them will actually not survive, because the environment is too challenging. Our fingerlings face predators and sometimes food shortages; however, some trout do make it, as the water is so clean and the environment so healthy. Those that do will hunt and grow large from the aquatic insects they consume.
Materials: #
Copies of the lyrics (see below) for all participants, and it’s nice to have a guitar-playing adult to help keep everyone in key.
Procedure: #
Before or after releasing all your trout into the stream, take a moment to talk about where the trout are going next, and what their lives in the wild will be like. Then sing this song.
BYE-BYE TROUT
sung to the tune of “Bye-Bye Love,” by the Everly Brothers
(Chorus:)
Bye, bye Trout!
Bye, bye, aquatic friends!
We hope we’ll see you when
You’re swimmin’ down the stream!
You’re swimmin’ down the stream!
There go our fingerlings
They’re doin’ fine.
And now they’re lookin’
For a place to dine.
Look out you Stoneflies!
And Mayflies too!
Our little fishes
Are comin’ after you!(repeat chorus)
Wrap-Up: #
Once you’re back at school, you can have the students draw an illustration of this song’s content on a page with the lyrics, so they have it as a keepsake of the day. Another choice would be to have the students write their own trout song to their favorite tune. This song is also great for assemblies and school performances.
