Rochester Elementary Completes 9th Year of Sampling

Earlier this week Eileen Ernst’s 3rd graders sampled Indian Creek near the North Topeka Recreation Center. Notebooks in hand, they compared their findings with the information they gathered last fall. The most noteable difference - stream flow. There’s actually enough water in the stream to watch it spilling over rocks. The mayfly nymphs are bigger and they found dragonfly nymphs.

When we got to the site a work crew was repairing a waterline crossing the stream. The work crew was openly impressed and they suspended work long enough for us to complete our sampling without having to compete with the noise of heavy equipment. I noticed them lingering a bit to watch the students in action.

Over the last 9 years StreamLink has been an important component of the 3rd grade curriculum. The field excursions are much anticipated by Rochester students and remembered for years into the future. Her first set of StreamLink students are now seniors.

Nominated for a 2007 Kansas Wildlife Federation Award, Eileen has set a marvelous precedent and provided an extraordinary example for other elementary teachers. She’ll retire as a classroom teacher at the end of this school year but I fully anticipate we’ll be seeing her again soon. -Alison Reber