October 30,2009 UPDATE: Most of the eggs have hatched in their first week and the loss of eggs has been 
                                                        minimal. We are off to a great start!

                                                                    Trout in the Classroom 2010 has begun.
             
            Thanks to the Chattahoochee Forest Hatchery in conjunction with the Fannin County Middle School,
            our fourth year of Trout in the Classroom has begun. Tuesday October 20th the eggs were delivered and
            the trout have started their journey towards being released into the Toccoa River in April.
   
            A special thanks to teachers Jeff Weaver and Tony Tichler for taking on this important educational task
           again this year.
           We also want to thank the staff at the National hatchery for supplying this years rainbow trout eggs.

           Updates will be posted on a regular basis along with pictures to keep you informed. If you are interested
           in helping with the process please contact Carl Riggs 7turns@tds.net.



Teacher Tony Tichler and student                            President Mike Holloway

       

Third Annual Trout in The Classroom

Release Day a Success

By Joe DiPietro

 

This article first appeared in The Fannin Sentinel

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 350 rainbow trout were stocked in the Toccoa River April 2, when the seventh grade class  at Fannin County Middle School
 held its third annual Trout in The Classroom Release Day event at Tammen Park in Blue Ridge.

After a banner year in 2008, this year's program, which is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited,
struggled to get off the ground when the trout eggs arrived in November, said life science teachers Tony Tichler and Jeff Weaver.

“I'm not really sure what happened,” Tichler said. “Most of my eggs never even hatched and Tony's hatched, but they just
stayed  down and wouldn't come up to feed.”

Within a short time, the 250-gallon tanks in Weaver's and Tichler's classrooms were devoid of life.

With that happening, it made the goal of the program — to teach the students life science concepts through the hands-on
process of raising the trout from eggs to fingerlings — nearly impossible.

“We use this program to teach the students all aspects of life science like survival of the fittest and natural selection,” Weaver said.

However, that was when TU member, Board of Education Chairman and local trout farmer Terry Bramlett stepped up and donated
several hundred trout fry to revitalize the program. “I didn't want to see the excitement that this program has generated be deflated,
” he said. “I think some students who were difficult to motivate were motivated by this program, because it's a part of their heritage.”

 

 “This program will help the students learn an appreciation for trout because they study the life cycle and they know how sensitive
the eggs are to pollution and silt,” Bramlett said. “I think before, when they saw a trout, they would just see a trout. But when they
see a trout now, they have a much greater appreciation. And down the road that's going to pay great dividends because they'll step
 up to protect our watersheds.”

Blue Ridge Mountain TU President Ralph Artigliere also said  he thought the program helps the students better understand
why Fannin's watersheds need protection. “Anything that you do in life is a team effort and this trout program is no exception. If we
take care of the river, the trout will take care of themselves,” he told the students.

The program is not only limited to the science classrooms, as the students used the concepts in art music, writing and math classes
as well, said  Fannin County Middle School Principal Lori Chastain. “My favorite thing is how enthusiastic the students get because it
gives them a chance to apply what they're learning,”   she said.

 

 After the students released the trout into the river, local songwriter Bobby Don Bloodworth led the seventh grade chorus in singing
“The Trout Song,” which he and the first group of students to go through the program wrote together.Art students used the trout as
models for a year-long fund raiser in which they make clay trout and sell them at various events, Chastain said.

 

 

The students also utilized the fish in creating T-shirt designs for the release day event. This year's T-shirt was designed by
Cheyenne Golden.

Local TU members then put together lunch for about 60 of the seventh graders and provided them with free raffle items, including
a fly-fishing outfit. They also gave free fly-casting and fly-tying lessons to the students.

Several members of the Board of Education and school administration attended the event, along with officials from the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“It's rare these days that you get a program that gets the kids out into the wild like this,” said DNR Fisheries
 Biologist John Damer. “With all the video games and TV, you need that to keep next year's crop of environmentalists
coming along.”

Superintendent of Schools Mark Henson said he liked how the program aligns with the state's new Georgia Performance
 Standards Curriculum. “I think it's a great example of standards-based learning and I think it teaches problem solving
 skills,” he said. “It involves the students in a way that really interests them.” 

At the end of the release, Artigliere led the students in thanking Weaver, Tichler and Bramlett for their extra effort with
the program this year. “Please give them a big hand,” he said, as the students burst into applause and cheers. “The teachers
are like the engine in a car that makes it run.”

FCMS Science and TIC teachers Jeff Weaver, left, and Tony Tichler.

 

“We really need to say thanks to Terry Bramlett for becoming a part of the program this year,” Weaver said.

“He was a lifesaver,” Tichler said.

“You can see it in the students' eyes, they're fascinated with the trout,” Bramlett said. “It's just a wonderful program.
I'm glad to see the program is sustainable and, by all indications, it's going to be carried on. They've gotten a lot of mileage
 out of this program and anytime you can grab a hold of a wave of enthusiasm, it's a great thing.”  

                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited Chapter

 

February 18, 2009

 

 

 

Trout in the Classroom Program Revived at Fannin County Middle School

Trout Unlimited Partners with Terry Bramlett Trout Farms to Save Program

 

                Yesterday a wonderful thing happened at Fannin County Middle School.  The massive blue trout tanks that have been
empty of fish for some weeks now were replenished with two hundred baby trout donated by Terry BramlettTrout Farms.   The
excitement of the students in both science classes was palpable when the tiny replacement trout arrived and were placed in
plastic bags in the tanks and released about fifteen minutes later.  All the fish seemed lively in their new home.   

 

                The Trout Unlimited Trout in the Classroom program, which thrived for more than two years and was one of the
most successful in the nation last year in number of fish released into the wild, met an insurmountable natural obstacle this
year when the tiny fish hatched from trout eggs failed to thrive.  The eggs were donated by the same reliable supplier that has
provided eggs in the past and provides eggs successfully to many local trout farms.  Seventh grade teachers Jeff Weaver and
Tony Tichler who have grown trout successfully in past years were searching for answers to this outcome.  “Unlike past years,
the eggs were late due to a warmer fall season in the Pacific Northwest, and the hatchlings were active within a day or two of
 arrival, which is much sooner than normal,” said Mr. Weaver.  “Normally it takes a week to ten days to see movement.”  The
fact that early movement is an  aberration was confirmed by Terry Bramlett, who gets eggs from the same source and does
 not normally see tails and heads moving as soon as two days.  “That’s way too soon,” said Mr. Bramlett, who added that this
supplier is very reliable and eggs received by Mr. Bramlett from the same supplier have been exceptionally good this year.
  Fannin Middle School may have gotten a bad batch of eggs, as the condition and temperature of the water in the school’s
tanks was excellent, according to monitoring and testing by the teachers.  Other TU Trout in the Classroom programs in Georgia
and North Carolina that received eggs as the same time as Fannin Middle also lost all their fish.  However, the teachers and
Trout Unlimited are not complaining about the supplier, which graciously donates the eggs for the program.  The cause is still
unknown and may never be known. 

               

                Regardless of the cause of fish loss, the program was at a standstill. That’s when local TU President
Ralph Artigliere  stepped in.  “We refuse to deprive this year’s classes of at least a chance of a successful program.  
The teachers and kids worked too hard to lose the program,” said Artigliere.  Artigliere considered procuring more eggs,
 but starting over in winter as opposed to the fall would mean the fish would not have enough growing time for an April
release in the Toccoa River.  That’s when TU member Bruce Hanson came up with the idea of using fry (small trout) instead
 of eggs.  That way the kids could feed, observe, and grow the trout in time for April release.  Since the classes already

blueridgetu.com

  

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                                                          FANNIN COUNTY -   First in the state with Trout in The Classroom

For any of you who unfamiliar with this program, Trout in the Classroom involves setting up a cold-water aquarium in a
classroom where students incubate a batch of trout eggs, raise the fingerlings during the school year and then release
them in an approved stream on a class field trip. A curriculum has been developed to go along with this aquarium project
which involves math, social studies, language arts/reading and science. For example the students must compledevelopment.
Besides the educational opportunities offered by TIC, the program will expose the students to some valuable environmental
lessons. With Trout in the Classroom aquariums in two classrooms, the entire seventh grade at Fannin County Middle School
will have an opportunity to learn from their involvement with Trout in the Classroom.
-   

Teacher Jeff Weaver said Trout in the Classroom has really captured the students’ attention. He said, “We’ve got students
who didn’t give a hoot about science. But  they got interested in raising these trout and now they’re paying attention. They’re
starting to make a connection between the science in their books and real world situations.” Besides science, Tony Ticher
said, Trout in the Classroom is being used to illustrate “hands on” applications for many of the students’ other textbook
subjects. “Trout in the Classroom is making science exciting for the kids. But it’s not just science, Trout in the Classroom is
being used with math, language, art and more to integrate classroom learning with real life applications.”

According to Rochelle Gandour, Trout Unlimited’s Trout in the Classroom national coordinator, the program is presently in
25 states; however, she said the Fannin County Middle School program was the first in Georgia.

         Students hatch trout eggs in an aquarium
    in their classroom and raise the fingerlings
    during the school year, finally releasing them 
    into a local stream. Along the way they are
    exposed to a variety of academic and 
    environmental exercises.