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Owatin Creek Elementary

Grades K-4 | 610-406-4580

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Directory

Owatin Creek ELEMENTARY

5000 Boyertown Pike | Reading, PA 19606
(610) 406-4580

Click Here For A District Directory
  • Office

    x8002 Charlie Payne, Principal
    x8000 Karla Tryon, Attendance Secretary
    x8004 Andrea Williams, Secretary

  • Counselor & Psychologist

    x8031 Paola Cordova, School Counselor K-2
    x8141 Emily Perri, School Counselor 3-4
    x8032 Joanne Miano, Psychologist

  • Nurse

    x8006 Susan Templin

  • Technology Support

    x8016 Kristin Kenagy

Note: Faculty phone numbers go to voice mail during school hours

  • Kindergarten

    x8207 Meghan Motze
    x8203 Melissa Murphy
    x8205 Karen Okonski
    x8201 Christine Vogt
    x8206 Wendy Warchol

  • Grade 1

    x8225 Stephanie Arnold
    x8226 Francine Daniels
    x8216 Cristina Stoudt
    x8223 Amy Wright
    x8224 Catherine Zervanos

  • Grade 2

    x8234 Meghan Bezler
    x8235 Marjorie Haines
    x8215 Thomas Hirshorn
    x8236 Danielle Jupina
    x8237 Kimberly Smith

  • Grade 3

    x8122 Brooke Beane
    x8124 Joseph Bertolet
    x8121 Stephanie Douglas
    x8123 Kristen McBride
    x8114 Carole Moyer

  • Grade 4

    x8132 Alisse Auchenbach
    x8148 Marie Clark
    x8134 Steven Dibler
    x8133 Alexandra Schlotzhauer
    x8135 Karina Tramont

  • Reading & Intervention Specialists

    x8249 Tina Greth, Reading Specialist
    x8146 Tiffany Mell, Reading Specialist
    x8246 Jennifer Schuster, Reading Specialist

  • Special Education

    x8232 Dana Caron, Life Skills
    x8125 Jennifer Elliott, Learning Support
    x8131 Erika Moyer, Learning Support
    x8214 Taylor Schollenberger, Learning Support
    x8245 Kathleen Walker, Gifted
    x8221 Jill Weaver, Life Skills

  • Specials

    x8410 Diana Bogust, Physical Education
    x8441 Britta Hyneman, Art
    x8423 Amanda Mrenna, Music
    x8415 Emily Reppert, Instrumental Music
    x8014 Allison Swoyer, Library

  • Therapists

    x8417 Jessica Dimitriadis, Occupational & Physical Therapist
    x8248 Sydney Manwiller, Speech Therapist
    x8417 Monika Touri, Occupational & Physical Therapist

Home » Owatin Students Raise and then Release Baby Fish
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release day 1
RELEASE DAY 3

The mood outside on a bright and sunny May day last week was slightly bittersweet despite the finally-warm temperatures. Gathered around Antietam Creek at Happy Landings, students from Mrs. Groff's 3rd grade Owatin Creek classroom were delighted--and yet sad--to see their fellow "classmates" swim away. "Bye fishy! Have a good life!" said one, as she held a plastic cup to the creek to see a baby rainbow trout "fingerling" swim away. The release of the fingerlings that morning late last week was the culminating event in a months-long project that Mrs. Groff exclusively teaches at Owatin Creek called "Trout in the Classroom." The curriculum, which is taught in classrooms throughout the US and Great Britain, aims to teach students connections between trout, water resources, the environment and themselves by having students learn about aquarium setup, ecosystems, the life stages of fish, the environment of waterways, and then putting their knowledge to the test by raising fish from eggs to fingerlings, eventually releasing them into an approved waterway. 

Mrs. Groff started teaching the program in 2017 after going through additional training to learn the curriculum through Penn State. She said that her interest in teaching "Trout in the Classroom" was a natural fit since her husband is an avid fisherman and her children, Brooke and Trent, were both named from his passion for fishing in Exeter. "I knew that my husband would help me on this adventure," she said with a laugh.

Students start by learning and setting up a cold-water fish tank in January. Soon afterwards, they receive baby fish eggs, which live in an "egg basket" until they're developed enough to eat fish food on their own and be released into the full tank. In the tank, they grow and mature until they’re old enough to be released into a natural waterway. Throughout the process, students learn about the life cycle of the fish as they develop from an egg to a fingerling--or as one student described, "We saw them as little babies and now we see them as little grown ups." Students keep a journal of their learning experience by drawing pictures and writing about aquarium equipment, fish stages, ecosystems and the waterways. 

After months, the project culminates with students’ favorite activity: the release of their fingerlings at Antietam Creek. Carrying a cooler of baby trout, Mr. Groff accompanied his wife’s class to Antietam Creek last week, where they gave students clear cups filled with aquarium water and a baby fish. Carefully, each student then stood on the side of the creek to release their fingerling, happy–yet sad–to see them swim away.

Like her fish, Mrs. Groff also plans to “swim away” at the end of the school year after teaching for 32 years in the District. We share her students’ feelings of bittersweetness as we mourn the “release” of a great teacher, yet wish her a retirement filled with joy, relaxation… and lots of fishing!

Owatin Creek Elementary School

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Address & Contact Info

  • 5000 Boyertown Pike
    Reading, PA 19606

  • Phone:
    610-406-4580

  • Fax:
    610-898-0910

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Our Schools

Exeter Township Senior High

Exeter Township Junior High

Reiffton School

Jacksonwald Elementary

Lorane Elementary

Owatin Creek Elementary