The life of wild salmon in rhyme
Learn about the life of wild salmon in rhyme!
Competency goals for grade 7, science and Norwegian
Science subjects
- explore and describe different food webs and use this to discuss interactions in nature.
- explain how organisms can be divided into main groups, and give examples of the characteristics of different organisms.
Norwegian
- read poetry, short stories, non-fiction texts and other fiction and non-fiction in Bokmål and Nynorsk, Swedish and Danish and discuss purpose, form and content.
In the movie below, you can listen to the song Villakslivet and see pictures from the life of wild salmon.
Melody: Little baby goose, are you asleep? Text: Tone Løvold. Song/arrangement: Else Skogan Bonesrønning.
Film showing images from the salmon's life while Else sings the song Villakslivet. Full lyrics can be found as a pdf at the bottom of this page.
Task:
Read the lyrics that the teacher hands out.
Choose a verse and memorize it.
What is the verse about? Here you can use information you find on this website, or you can google and find information elsewhere.
Prepare a short presentation for the rest of the class about your findings.
Wild salmon in spawning suit. Photo: Helge Skoglund
Questions about the verses:
Verse 1: How do the salmon eggs end up under the gravel on the river bottom?
Verse 2: What does the yolk sac of the newly hatched salmon fry contain?
Verse 3: When the plum sack is gone, the salmon fry must find shelter and their own food. What do they eat in the river?
Verse 4: How big (length in centimeters) is the salmon when it becomes a smolt, and how old is it when it leaves?
Verse 5: "Out into the sea many miles" says the song. Find out where the wild salmon go.
Verse 6: When we say that the wild salmon will go home, do we mean home to Norway or to a particular river?
Verse 7: Do we know for sure how the wild salmon manage to find their way home?
Verse 8: What do male and female salmon look like when they spawn?
Verse 9: A winter chub is a salmon that has survived spawning. Where do winter salmon go when spring comes?
We want drawings for the song
If you're inspired, you can create a drawing for the verse you've chosen and send it to us by email.
Send drawings to tone.lovold@villaksenter.no
For the teacher
The song can be sung to the tune of "Lille gåsung, sover du?" or "Kua mi Kua, jeg takker deg".
The students can complete this task on their own, or they can work in groups of 3-4. Make sure to work on all the verses so that the entire life cycle is included in the summary. Take the verses in the correct order.
Get the students to sing or recite the verse. They can use the tune "My cow, I thank you".
The assignment can also be used together with a traditional non-fiction text about the life of wild salmon. Get the students to reflect on which text they learned the most from.
The students can be encouraged to create their own verse on the same rhythm. It can be a "joke verse".
The lyrics to the song can be found attached in pdf.
Student booklet
The Nasjonalt villakssenter works for a stronger wild salmon and wants to promote the stream as an educational resource. Bring experiences from the classroom and put them in context with experiences outside. Many schools in Norway have a local stream. Even in our largest cities, there are streams you can visit. Contact us if you would like help, tips and professional development.
The student booklet Who lives in your river? can help with both preparation and follow-up work.