Spring Newsletter
Steelhead
By Macee Wessels
On March sixth, we received 200 steelhead eggs to hatch and raise in our tank for around three months. A lady named Sam came in and dropped them off and educated us about them. We received the eggs when they were in the eyed egg stage, which is right before hatching. The eggs hatched somewhere in between March 13th and March 15th. The hatched steelhead are called sac fry, which still have the egg sac attached. The alvin eats off of the sac and it gradually shrinks as they eat it. The sac makes them too heavy to swim and they don’t develop fins for a while, so they burrow in the rocks or just sit on top of them. Soon we will figure out when we need to feed them for the first time. After they drop the egg sac, they will start swimming. We are hoping to get survival rates of 70 to 95 percent.
Did you know that only one percent of steelhead make it through the whole living and reproducing cycle? During their journey to and from the ocean, lots of steelhead die and are fished. This is why the hatchery releases over 6 million steelhead trout a year. We will release our steelhead into the clearwater at the end of May when they are fingerlings. A fingerling is about the size of your pinky finger. On April 11th, we will go to the hatchery and learn more about steelhead. We may do a small newsletter for future updates on the fish. Thank you!
Stations of the Cross By Ariyana Clark
This year our All Saints Catholic School middle school students are putting on the living Stations of the cross. The stations of the cross are about Jesus and how he was condemned to death and then nailed to the cross. Each year middle school students put this on during Lent and it is absolutely beautiful and meaningful. Each year they put in a lot of work into it, once it is done it’s amazing and sounds great when they sing!
Art Stamps
By: Abby Snyder
This March, we started a project in art where we got to carve stamps. Mrs. Green gave us each one piece of rubber that we drew on with pencil and then carved the design onto it. Some people carved out pigs, airplanes, snowbikes, volleyballs, etc. It was a very fun project and we hope to do it again sometime in the future.
Pen Pal Letter
By Grace Goeckner,
This March, the fifth graders started writing letters to our pen pals. In the letter, we were supposed to give a greeting to an elder that goes, or used to go to All Saints Catholic church. Some of the fifth grade kids wrote about their schedule, what their favorite school subject is, or some of their hobbies.
EASTER
By Grace Goekner
He Has Risen! This Easter season we 5th graders are trying to show our faith by doing religion frequently, going to confession, and by practicing our faith by doing good deeds for each other. One of my favorite bible verses is Romans 6:8-11 and it says, “Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we will also be with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead we can not die again; Death no longer has mastery over him.” We hope you have an amazing Easter season!
The AR Mountain By Emily and Lily
This year, the fifth grade is doing a project called the AR mountain. The way this works is every student has a goat and every time a student takes an AR test we move their goat on the mountain the amount of AR points they gained. The mountain is on the back cupboards of the classroom. Every peak there are places they can stop which are AR point spots. The different checkpoints are 5, 10, 15, 20, and beyond. Every other peak, there is a checkpoint. If you get 25 or more points, you get a free helicopter ride off the mountain to be relocated. A lot of the time, this gives motivation to get farther on the mountain. Getting motivation means reading more, reading more means getting smarter, and getting smarter means better grades. If students get into it, they might even get a new hobby.
Fun stuff!
