by Carmen and Hanna
The salmon project is a second grade project that Westside has done for 5 years. The main idea of the project is to learn about the importance of salmon in the Northwest, to understand the salmon life cycle and learn to appreciate nature.
The salmon eggs came from Soo's Creek hatchery. 2nd grade purchased 200 eggs and 198 are living happily. We interviewed the second grade class and their teacher, Laura Holmes. Here are some of their reactions to the project:
"I enjoyed seeing the alvins grow, and watching the eggs hatch." Kiera
"I enjoyed looking at the dead eggs." Cormac
We learned, as interviewers, that the salmon don't have mouths until they are 2 months old.
We also found out that all the alvins clump together for camouflage, because they can't swim with the heavy yolk sac that is connected to their belly. This is how they escape the predators.
All in all, the salmon project was fun for Hanna and I to learn about and is also a great learning experience for the second graders.
