Big days for the Science Room

Yesterday and today were big days for the Science Room.

On Friday we added two (the only two) of Mrs. Sanui's surviving crayfish to the turtle tank. Now, there are 2 crayfish, 1 red-eared slider (aquatic turtle), and about 3 fish. I took a smaller guppy-like fish out. It is fat and looks like it might be pregnant. I don't know how that's possible because I don't think there are any other fish of its species in the tank... We'll see what happens. It could be that the fish is just bloated or has some sort of fishy cancer.

Today I put a little hideout in the turtle tank. It seems like one of the crayfish has taken the spot near the filter and bubbler underneath Betsy's basking spot. The other one was hiding underneath the brick that keeps the other filter in place. We'll see if either prefer the little ceramic hideout log I put in there. The water's a lot clearer today - thanks to Anthony! Great work on Friday Anthony! He helped do a lot of dirty work!

Oh! The fish tank.... that's new. I put the fish, scuds and aquatic snails from Mrs. Villo's class' aquariums and Mrs. Woodhead's class' aquariums into one 10-gallon tank. :) That's the fish tank I'm talking about.

Now the science room has:
- One 55-gallon tank with 1 red-eared slider, 2 crayfish and about 4 small goldfish/guppy-type fish.
- One 10-gallon tank with many small comet goldfish, a few scuds (gammarus) and many aquatic snails.
- One 10-gallon tank with 2 (maybe 3, but probably not) hermit crabs.
- One 10-gallon tank with a giant millipede in it.
- Five containers of silkworms that are starting to spin their cocoons and pupate.
- Three containers of darkling beetles in various stages of their life cycle: larvae, pupa and adult.
- Let's not forget the glass case of dead moths and butterflies that kids like to look at.

;)

Not such a good weekend for the Science Room

I took 18 dead small comets out of the tank this morning. Akk. Remember, we lost about 8 or so last week. Not such a good weekend. :(

Time lapse fast growing corn, roots and leaves growing

I don't want to leave out the first graders....

Strategies For Animal Survival Vol I

Third graders should check out the first 1:30 of this video. It gives GREAT examples of behavioral and physical adaptations that animals have that help them grow, survive and reproduce. Enjoy!

A video for third graders!

Adaptations - Addresses 3rd Grade Life Science Standard 3a.

CB Frog Life Cycle Video

Second graders should check this video out also. It directly addresses 2nd grade life science standard 2b.

Silk Worms

Second graders should check out this video!

Betsy is restless

I am still at school doing work and Betsy is very busy in her tank trying to move things around. I think she is trying to rig up a basking area. I don't think she could get onto the area we set up before. She is trying to move the bricks around, which is proving to be a challenging task for her. I hope she doesn't disloge the filters and spray water out of the tank like she did before. What we really need for her is a 75 gallon tank, a new, huge basking area and filters strong enough to filter that large of a tank (like a Magnum 500). Does anyone have $500+ they can donate to the Science Room? :-)

small comets

I bought at least 75 small comets (goldfish) yesterday for the 4th graders - we're starting aquatic environments - and already, at least 6 have died!! :( Grrrrrr....

Interesting science fact of the day

Snails can poop while they are hanging upside-down from the lid of the habitat. (Bonus fact: the poop can stick to the top of the lid.) (Bonus, bonus fact: Ms. Bloom thinks that is really gross.)

Tragedy strikes again

The second little crayfish that didn't have any pincers was found dead on Wednesday morning. Ouch.

6th grade updates

I updated the sixth grade page of the Graham pbwiki site.

Oh! The tragedy!

One of the smaller crayfish is DEAD. He was murdered this weekend, torn apart bit by bit.

You can see that the carcass is in three pieces...

I find it sad that the victim is one of the two crayfish in the habitat that had no pincers. The other two crayfish in the habitat have one pincer each.

Here is a photo of the other crayfish habitat. The 8 original crayfish were separated based on size.

The second graders' silkworm larva are doing well and continue to grow as we feed them mulberry leaves (did you know there is a mulberry tree in the kindergarten yard?).

Information for 3rd graders

Interested in finding out more about our crayfish friends?

Check out Crayfish Sexes and Sustaining America's Aquatic Biodiversity.