Burlington participating in Trout in the Classroom

On Jan. 6, Burlington Schools received a delivery of rainbow trout eggs as a part of the Wyoming Game and Fish’s Trout in the Classroom project. 

About 100 fertilized eggs from the fish hatchery in Dubois will be growing in Brandi Dearcorn’s classroom. 

“I had read an article in the Sheridan Press about the program and it caught my attention,” she said. “I visited the Wyoming Game and Fish website to explore how this program could be integrated into a classroom through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). With Mrs. Tempany’s permission, I applied and was awarded a grant to participate in the program this year, along with approximately 71 other schools across the state.” 

Excitement for the project has reached sky-high levels at the school, with students of all ages coming to visit the classroom to check out the eggs. 

Mrs. Dearcorn plans on using the program to instruct and educate many of her classes. “I plan to incorporate this program into my fourth and fifth grade computer science classes by teaching students how to measure water temperature and graph the results, conduct water testing, observe animal habitats and study the life cycle of the rainbow trout. Additionally, my sixth grade language arts class will write about the experiences throughout this project in hopes of creating several videos to share with others on how the project is transpiring.” 

Burlington will care for the fish for about five months before releasing them into a designated pond selected by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.