Sixth Graders Dive Into Hudson River Study With Seining Trip

As part of their yearlong study of the Hudson River, the sixth grade made the trek down to the Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park to go seining in the river.

The girls ventured down on Wednesday, September 18, while the boys followed on Thursday, September 19. 
 
"The theme of the sixth grade curriculum is the Hudson River," middle school science teacher Dan Russo said. "There is only so much you can learn about the river in the classroom. This field trip affords the students the opportunity to figuratively submerge themselves in their study of the river and literally submerge themselves in the river itself."
 
It was a unique chance for students to practice a fishing technique that dates back many centuries. "It was the same method employed by the Native Americans who inhabited the Hudson River Valley several hundred years ago," Russo said.

Fellow middle school teachers Mark Tamucci, Chris Mizell, Pamela Borowiec and Keith Kitchen joined Russo on the trip, which was both educational and physically demanding. Students wore full-body waders and, with the help of their teachers, carried large seining nets 15-plus yards out into the Hudson River. The groups then hauled the nets back to the shore, revealing a host of marine life in the process. 
 
According to Russo, they pulled in Atlantic silversides, red-jointed fiddler crabs and moon jellyfish. 

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