Every year the students
at Sakai Intermediate School on Bainbridge Island in Washington State receive
over 1,000 chum salmon eggs from the Suquamish fish hatchery, raise them in a
tank in front of their library, and then release them into the stream behind
the school. This annual salmon release event is a big highlight of the
school year. Librarian Kathy Ellison (pictured, left) is instrumental to the success of this
school-wide program.
Ellison facilitates excitement and learning as the 5th and 6th grade students in the school eggs in the tank and there is a black cloth draped over the tank to keep it dark, but kids can peek under the fabric. Students help to load additional salmon eggs into in-stream salmon incubators that they call the "egg condos." The salmon then return each fall swimming upstream to various areas surrounding Bainbridge Island.
For the past five years, teacher librarian Kathy Ellison has also run an annual "All School" program dubbed “Sakai Reads,” which is based on the "One Book, One Community" model. Since the students have varied interests in book selections, she developed a thematic approach to their All School read. In the 2013 – 2014 school year, students read novels and non-fiction accounts with the theme of courage. Throughout the Sakai Reads day, parent volunteers facilitate book discussion groups.
Ellison facilitates excitement and learning as the 5th and 6th grade students in the school eggs in the tank and there is a black cloth draped over the tank to keep it dark, but kids can peek under the fabric. Students help to load additional salmon eggs into in-stream salmon incubators that they call the "egg condos." The salmon then return each fall swimming upstream to various areas surrounding Bainbridge Island.
For the past five years, teacher librarian Kathy Ellison has also run an annual "All School" program dubbed “Sakai Reads,” which is based on the "One Book, One Community" model. Since the students have varied interests in book selections, she developed a thematic approach to their All School read. In the 2013 – 2014 school year, students read novels and non-fiction accounts with the theme of courage. Throughout the Sakai Reads day, parent volunteers facilitate book discussion groups.
