In The TROUT SONGS project, I worked with the third-grade students at Dothan Brook Elementary School to write songs in conjunction with their science unit on trout. Through Vermont’s Trout In The Classroom program, students raise brook trout at their school, monitoring and supporting all stages of their development, before releasing them into a local stream. Students learn about early trout development and anatomy, habitat, water chemistry, life cycles and food. They also explore larger themes involving streams and aquatic ecosystems, water quality, environmental issues and the impacts humans can have on aquatic resources. In the TROUT SONGS project, students collaborated in small groups to integrate this learning into original songs, which we recorded and performed at their Trout Release Day.

The process of bringing a new song to the world was broken down into 9 modules: brainstorming, finding a central question, crafting lyrics and form, composing melody, finding harmony, arranging the songs, practicing the songs, recording the songs, and presenting the songs to the community. We merged the science curriculum with an expressive arts project. We practiced collaboration. We explored the poetic elements of rhyme, rhythm, and metaphor. We wrote songs that connect our inner lives to the natural world. We built community through intention and ceremony.