The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

By Ryan Howard

• Latest Stories

  • E-Mail 'Receptionist' To A Friend
  • E-Mail 'Detox Technician' To A Friend
  • E-Mail 'HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR' To A Friend
  • E-Mail 'Quality Assurance Engineer' To A Friend
  • E-Mail 'SERVERS - PT' To A Friend

Battle Lake students learn and fish

Published 6:02pm Saturday, March 12, 2011

It wasn’t the luckiest day on the lake, but the kids still had fun.

On Friday, the fifth and sixth grade classes at Battle Lake elementary school took traveled to Molly Stark Lake in Glendalough State Park to go ice fishing. Overall, they caught three perch, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. They studied their fishing holes intently and played in the snow cover on the lake, throwing snowballs and wrestling.

The day on the lake is in its third year, and the kids earned it by completing the school’s MinnAqua curriculum. MinnAqua is a DNR program designed to teach people of all ages about stewardship of lakes and water, as well as fishing safety and the ins and outs of lake ecosystems. This is the third school year that the Battle Lake school has used the curriculum for the fifth-grade class.

“The fish didn’t cooperate, but it’s a great program,” said sixth-grade teacher Bret Setterholm, who, along with fifth-grade teacher Eric Olson, teaches the curriculum to students. A fishing guide during the summer, Setterholm is very interested in teaching kids about their natural aquatic surroundings, and he said he was proud of the students’ commitment to learning.

“The kids were really eager,” he said. “(The curriculum) went really well through the whole thing.”

Though Setterholm and Olson generally stick to MinnAqua’s script, the teachers came up with the ice fishing trip on their own. Setterholm said that the kids always seem to enjoy the trip whether they catch any fish or not, which is good, because only three fish were caught on the first year of the trip as well.

Setterholm added that the teachers also try to localize the curriculum by using Glendalough State Park as a teaching resource during the program, correlating their talks about lake environments to the ecosystems of lakes like Molly Stark or Annie Battle.

Their teaching style seems to be working. Upon finishing the course, students knew more about fish biology and good fishing habits.

“They’re good teachers,” said student Justin Sagerhorn.

Tags: Battle Lake, fishing, Glendalough State Park