Flying Fish

When I worked as a second grade teacher, I had to come up with many positive ways to motivate my students. Among these were a couple of silly daily and weekly awards. For example, I gave the "bracelet" award for good behavior... two stretchy wrist bracelets that I wore prior to first recess in beads of our school colors. I gave one of them off each wrist to the boy and girl who exhibited the best behavior for the morning to wear during recess. It was my way of keeping those seven year old minds focused on what I was teaching early in the morning. I still marvel at how or why it was so highly coveted, but as any elementary school teacher will tell you, when something works, you go with it. 

One day I decided I needed to give another award on a weekly basis to identify a student who had achieved academic excellence. Because I love the ocean, and my classroom was decked out as if you were there, I decided the award should also have an ocean theme. Hence the creation of the "flying fish award." It all began as a ploy to motivate my students to do better with their research and weekly writing assignment. The students bought into it like fish to water (pun intended). Meanwhile, what became the Flying Fish Award evolved into a beautifully laminated, brief article about the flying fish, which my students helped to create, and was also highly coveted when they won it. 

I like to believe I was motivating them to to read appropriate and interesting non-fiction about a subject to which they (or I) knew little. The year I created the award, I learned a lot about flying fish. There are over 60 different species, and they are often found in the tropical waters of Barbados. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would ever SEE one, but I can attest that not only did I see one, I saw many of them off the coast of Maui. The flying fish I saw were predominantly off the coast of Wailea, and they flew/swam in small schools in and out of the water as we sailed by. What surprised me the most was the noise they make. They sound like a humming bird and the flapping of a homing pigeon at the same time. The effect is jaw dropping. 

Wishing to learn even more about this spectacular fish this morning, I found an excellent video that captures their magic. Try as I might, I was not able to snap a good photo of them. Shout out to David Attenborough, who (based on my recollection) sounds like the person who performs the narration. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/SKNjUQgQHPI