FOUNTAIN GREEN — Children got to learn about the great outdoors during Fountain Green Elementary’s annual Literacy Night on Thursday, Feb. 24, with stations on fish, wilderness, a planetarium, an ongoing book fair, and of course, s’mores to eat.
School principal Robyn Cox said the theme this year is “The Great Outdoors” and also featured a book fair.
“We hope everyone enjoys all the stations, and of course, has smores and some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup,” she said.
Students rotated through the four stations every half hour, with parents in tow.
Wilderness
The wilderness rotation was led by DeWayne Mower, a school employee, Kali Blackham, teacher, Jessica Parkes, teacher, and Jodi Beck, speech teacher, who took turns with the presentation and a guessing game.
Mower would call up a child from the group and give them a picture of an animal to hold on top of their head. The child could ask questions like, “Is it yellow?”, “Does it have legs?”, while the group would say yes or no. Eventually, the answer was revealed, It’s a snake!”, and Mower would explain, “It’s a rubber boa snake! I found one of these in one of our Sanpete canyons.” Then another child and another picture would be selected.
The game was popular. After the session, Branson, 5th grade, said, “I liked to see all the elk and deer.” Another 5th grader, Grayson said, “I liked how the tent was set up in there, it was pretty cool.”
Hatchery
The fish hatchery was led by Nick Wohlforth, who has been with the Fountain Green Fish Hatchery for about three years; Allison Bradley, teacher; Monica Finlinson, and Kari Hansen, teachers. Wohlforth gave a slideshow showing native fishes and explained how lakes are seeded with trout in Utah.
“The hatchery raises rainbow, tiger, cutthroat, tiger, musky and catfish,” he said. “And takes fish every year to larger lakes, like Deer Creek and Strawberry mostly.”
Asked how the hatchery dealt with smaller lakes with little water, like Gunnison Reservoir, 9-Mile, and Yuba Reservoir, he said they probably wouldn’t get seeded much this year because the water levels are too low, the oxygen is too low, and all the fish will die. “Of course, we want the fish to be caught, but not to just die.”
Children got to look at a small aquarium with some small trout in it, and they got to color a picture of a fish (for the refrigerators back home), one parent said.
Beth German, a 6th grader, said she liked learning about fish and that there was more than one kind in the hatchery, but the main kind was the rainbow trout. At the meal, she said the chicken noodle soup was great, but the s’mores were “kind of sticky.” She is the daughter of Gus and Tammy German.
Her mom Tammy said, “They really do a great job here; the kids really love it.”
Adam and Mark German both said the s’mores were their favorite. Mark, in kindergarten, proclaimed “The s’mores are my very favorite.”
“I think it’s awesome to see the kids interact with other kids, and see the excitement on their faces as they learn things,” said Justin Parkes, who, with his wife Amy, had three kids at the event. The Parkes have a 7-year-old, 4-year-old, and a 2-year-old.
Planetarium
Manning the planetarium rotation was Brandon Harrison with the Central Utah Educational Support system, who got a grant to bring the planetarium show to local elementary schools; Marc Anderson, teacher; Darcie Stansfield, teacher; and Tori Larsen, teacher.
About 40 kids and parents at a time piled into a 15-foot diameter tent, and saw the Milky Way galaxy, made a quick trip to the moon, then went on to Mars and Saturn, before returning to the earth.
During the presentation, many spontaneous expressions of “cool” were heard. Ketta, a kindergartener, said, “I like the planets.” Wyatt, a 5th grader, definitely liked Saturn the best, “because of its rings and lots of moons.”
Principal Cox said she appreciated her staff for the hours of work they put into literacy night, the Fountain Green Community Council for planning and funding literacy night, and the community of students and parents who support the school and make Fountain Green an incredible place to live and work.