These students from P.S. 36 in Harlem have some interesting classroom companions, tiny trout.

"The Trout in the Classroom program is a great opportunity for DEP to really engage with thousands of young New Yorkers each year in the classroom, helping them to raise trout from eggs to small fingerlings or juvenile trout," said Robin Sanchez, DEP Deputy Director for Education at the Department of Environmental Protection.

It's a partnership between the city Department of Environmental Protection and the environmental group Trout Unlimited, the goal is to protect cold-water fisheries and the watershed, and educate kids about wildlife and water quality.

"It’s been really fun because we’re always seeing new things every single day, we’re seeing this, we’re seeing that," said Ashley Abreu, a student.

Students start out by incubating trout eggs, care for the newly hatched fish as they grow into fingerlings, and eventually release them into rivers and streams in Westchester County.

On a recent field trip, the students got an up-close-and-personal look at the female trout those eggs come from and how they were fertilized with the help of a male trout.

The trout are not cuddly, but watching them grow up is a labor of love.

"When I first saw that they hatched, I was excited because I have a feeling that we’re going to help them survive and once we let them go in the Hudson River, they’re gonna feel good," said Angerica Rodriguez, a student.

The class received the eggs five weeks ago. So far, the project is going swimmingly.

"They’re now not fully grown but they like swim, we could see the tail, we could see the yolk," said Abreu.

That yolk is full of food, but soon, the trout will be developed enough that the students will need to feed them.

"Our teacher was telling us that some people said that their fish didn’t really, most of their fish didn’t survive and it was so amazing that mostly all of our fish had survived," said Esthere Merant, a student.

The students are growing attached to the fish. But next spring, it will be time to watch them swim away.

"Each student gets to individually release a little trout in a cup to a watershed stream. Oftentimes, the trout will have names. We always sing a farewell song for each and every trout, so it’s a special occasion," said Lilli Genovesi, coordinator for trout in the classroom.

This year the program is serving over 200 schools in the New York City watershed, reaching over 32,000 students.