EAST MOLINE, Illinois -- Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy has been teaching students how to fish. It's a new unit in the school's lifetime sports curriculum.
"About 80 percent of our junior high kids have never held a pole before, so we have to work on casting," said Troy Noble, a Physical Education teacher at Our Lady of Grace. "You know, putting on a bobber, putting a weight on a line, putting a hook on a line, putting a worm on a hook."
Between academics and sports, most 5th and 6th graders said they just didn't have time to go fish with their families.
"I've never gone with my family because we've always been so busy," said Molly Skahill. "So we've never had much time. And like, so much patience with this."
But they do have everything they need to learn -- a tackle box full of weights and bobbers, a bucket full of worms, and some timeless wisdom from their teacher.
"We live in such an instant gratification society with smartphones and the internet, but there's no app that's going to help you catch a fish today," said Noble. "You're going to have to be patient about it," he said.
