Crayfish Feeding Time!

I love my new cave, and I'm not sharing it with Jim! If he comes in, I will pinch him!  Also, I'm getting a little tired of the food here and want something new.  Not Jiim...he loves it! I have to hear him chewing loudly when we get fed, and it drives me nuts!

From Sophia

Hi! It's me, Bruce.  I really don't...really don't like to eat, but today I just ate for the very first time.  "Yum"  I ate these red circle things. Anyway now I have to go back to my basin, but I will be back soon. Good bye!

From, Bruce

Hi! I'm Lightning, and today I ate some fish food.  It't not too bad. I am kinda jealous because the kids always pick up Chocolate. I forgot to mention this before, but I kinda like this place.  It's not too shabby.

From, Lightning

Our First Diary Entries of 2018

September 28, 2018

Hello!  This so far is my third grade at Glengary Elementary. I have this awesome group of third graders!  I also have a nice friend named Nugget. I only have one claw, which stinks. :(  Anyways, I am making new friends and having so much fun and eating lots of food!  I hope I have an awesome year with Team Bond 2018-19.

From, Bruce (Peyton)

I have spent 3 days in Mrs. Bond's Class.  I am in group 2. They have me some food, but I did not eat. When Sophia picked me up I pinched her and didn't let go. HE, HE, HE. Then I got put back in the basin.

From, Jim (Troy)

I;m Lightning and I got my name from what I do.  I am fast, and I love playing with Jacob. I love getting held by Chloe, Jacob, and Koen. Evie was scared of me because I raised my claws. I fight with Chocolate. She's a girl and I am a boy.  I have a bit of a crush on her.  Darn! She's cute!

From, Lightning  (Evie)

October 4, 2018

Dear Diary,
How dare Bruce! He pinched off my one and only claw. I am now left with only my walking feet and nothing to defend myself with. Students feel that I have a 10% chance of surviving, as it will be harder to eat and defend myself.  I am going to do the best I can, and I hope to prove them wrong.

Sincerely and Sadly,
Nugget

Preparing for Our Crayfish

We are getting ready to welcome a new group of crayfish to our classroom. To prepare, we are reading from our FOSS Structures of Life textbook.  Here is what we have learned:

• The mother crayfish keeps the eggs under her tail until they hatch. 
• Crayfish are completely covered by a hard shell.
• Most crayfish stay on the bottom of rivers. 
• The main part of the body is the hard shell. 
• Crayfish are members of a group called crustaceans. 
• Crayfish are easy to keep in classrooms.  They only need clean water and food. 
• The hard shell has bumps, points, and bristles. 
• When a crayfish comes out of its old shell, there is a new one already on. 
• The babies are transparent (see through), so you can't see them well. 
• To tell a male from a female, you have to look on the bottom side. 
• Crayfish have skeletons on the outside of their body. 
• When a crayfish is threatened, it will raise its pincers up. 
• A crayfish will molt 6-8 times during its life. 
• Crayfish can also use their pincers to catch other live organisms and food. 
• Crayfish find food with their antennas. 

Play Dates with Playground Organisms

Team Bond members went out on the playground to find other living organisms to catch and observe.  The organisms were then welcomed into our classroom to be compared to our crayfish, using a Venn diagram.  Here are the blog entries that were created from the lesson:

The students created Venn Diagrams. 

Hi! It's Hulk!  Yesterday we got to meet a worm, and it was really weird. It wiggled and jiggled. In the cap, it went in a circle over and over again.  Honestly, I just wanted to scream.  I did not like the worm, but here's some interesting things about it: it eats leaves, it slithers around, it is very slimy, and it lives in dirt.


From, Hulk (KT)

Here was the worm that went around and around. 

Hi! It's Killer.  I have a new roommate.  He's wild, he has legs just like mine.  His name is Beetle.  I don't know if he had a big mouth like mine, but he doesn't have claws.  He also sprays a weird orange liquid and his color is different...he is black. Oh by the way, I killed Lucinda/John.

From, Killer (KK)

Meeting a Roly Poly

Yesterday I met a lot of different bugs. I think that's what they were. I met a roly poly. He had a lot of legs. He got scared and rolled up into a ball. He had a shell like me. He was really small. He had an antennae like me too. He was really cool!

Yours truly, Fightie (AL)

A lot of roly poly critters (isopods) were found underneath this cement block. 

I Met a Beetle

Today I met a beetle. I wondered what the beetle would eat??  Well the beetle had the same kind of walking feet as me. I wondered where the beetle lived?  The beetle did not have a tail like me. We did not have a lot of things in common. 

Sincerely, NN (ZS)

Beetles were all over our grass outside our classroom window. 

The death of John…

I went in the classroom. I Iooked at the crayfish. There was one crayfish, and  I couldn’t find the other crayfish. I looked under the seaweed. I saw that John was chopped in half.  I wondered who did it. It had to be Killer, as he was the only other crayfish in the basin. I freaked out and told everybody. Everyone crowded around me. Most of the people were like,

“Killer killed John!”       

Collin suggested that we should kill Killer, but everybody said no. I told Ms. Donahue that I found a dead crayfish body, but she thought it was just a molted crayfish.  I picked it up and showed her the severed body parts. She agreed, John had been murdered.

Mrs. Bond took a photo of me with the body parts.  Here it is!

Afterwards Mrs. Bond put him in a cup, and we passed him around to see what it looks like inside a crayfish.  It was a neat perspective to see our crayfish from...however, we would have preferred to have John in one piece! 

This post was authored by M.B.

I Molted Already!

Hello! A crazy thing happened over the weekend...I molted!  Bummer that the kids weren't around to see it.  My shell split opened, and I tossed and turned a bit.  Next thing you know...my shell was beside me.  One Claw tried to come up to me to fight, but he was really going after my old self.  Funny guy!  Anyways within a few minutes I started growing bigger and bigger.  It was so cool! I immediately had to hide and protect myself, as my shell was still very soft.  Luckily, the kids in Mrs. Bond's class noticed my molting, and she put in some houses for us.  This was very much appreciated, as I now feel much safer. Overall, I think I am going to like my new carapace (that's the hard shell that protects me.)

Bye For Now,
The New and Improved N.N

Welcoming Our Little Ones into Team Bond 2017

I have been teaching this unit on the Structures of Life for many, many years.  Each year we get a supply of crayfish that are typically around 4 inches long.  This year, I think we were given the youth of the crayfish crop, as they are only about 1 1/2-2 inches long.  They are sooo cute!  (I know...could that even be said about them??? Until now I wasn't so sure.)

Team Bond 2017 has enjoyed sharing their classroom with them over the past 2 days, and they have started their Diary of a Crayfish blog entries.  Below are some of the best ones! In parentheses will be the initials of the blog authors.

This is how our crayfish arrived...pretty camouflaged too!

9/28/17

First Day at Home

Today I went in a room full of heumans.  (I tried to spell it right.) Also, I think they are called Team Bond??? I have a roommate named Mr. Nugget.  Mr Nugget pinched my back leg. Mr. Nugget is way bigger than me.  They tried to feed me, but I wasn't hungry. 

By Sally (ST)

The First Day

Today I woke up, and I was in a classroom. I tried to escape, but I was in a deli container. They filled up a bucket and put me in it. They named me Mr. Nugget. I realized there was someone else with me...they named her Sally.

From Mr. Nugget (JG)

This was my first time at Team Bond.  My name is N.N cuz that's what they called me.  I had a friend.  His name was One Claw. The kids kept petting me.  It was refreshing.  The kids took a picture of me.  When I first met One Claw we fought. On my second day in Team Bond, One Claw and I kept fighting. I was acting mean to the students, so the students kept petting One Claw. 

From N.N (ZS)

Hello!  My name is N.N!! I love to be picked up by Noha and only Noha (I think I spelled Noha, but I am not that great with spelling!)  Anyway...I got a little scared when I got into the classroom so I jumped into the basin, but I noticed they could still reach me. I also noticed that some of the kids could be nice though. 

Day 2:

I am still adjusting to the Team Bond classroom, but I like my owners Jake, David, Zane and Trey. Noha wasn't here today.  They noticed that I like to pinch.  One Claw is actually kind of fun, but sometimes he invades my space. 

From N.N (JB)

My Story

Hi, I'm Sassafrass!  I live in a gray tub of water with Mr. Sassafrass, and he kept attacking me. I got mad and started pinching him.  Then, people started petting me and him, but I didn't like it.  Someone tried to pick me up, so I snapped at them. People are weird! 

My Second Day

Today was my second day.  I got to be petted, but I got sick of it. I pinched Mr. Sassafrass' eye. Fun, I guess???  I'm gonna go with the flow. The kids realized I had 6 legs and an antenna (Although as Mrs. Bond types this she is hoping they realize I really have 8.)  I also have an antennae. Well...that's my 2nd day! 

By Sassafrass (CS)

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New this year, kids will also be creating posts to their See Saw journal.  There are already some great video journals on our class page! U+IF600