Subarsky, Zechariah; And Others Living Things in Field and - Eric

ED 127 166

AUTHORTITLE

INSTITUTION

SPONS AGENCYPUB DATENOTE

AVAILABLE FROM

EDRS P710EDESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIrRS

ABSTRACT

DOCUMENT VftD5E

SE 021 203

Subarsky, Zechariah; And OthersLiving Things in Field and Classroom: A HINNEMAS7Handbook for Teachers of Early Elementary Grades.Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Minnesota SchoolMathematics and Science Center.National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.69141p.; For related documents, see SE021201-234;Photographs may not reproduce wellMINNEMAST, Minnemath Center, 720 Washington Ave.,S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414

MF-$0.83 HC-$7.35 Plus Postage.*Classroom Environment; Curriculum; ElementaryEducation; *Elementary School Mathematics;*Elementary School Science; *Field Trips;*Instruction; Interdisciplinary Approach; LearningActivities; Mathematics Education; Primary Grades;Process Education; Science Education*MINNEMAST; *Minnesota Mathematics and ScienceTeaching Prbject

This handbook for teachers of the primary gradessuggests a variety of means by which children can be provided withexperiences related to science and mathematics. Chapters are devotedto the classroom garden, the classroom zoo, the classroom museum,objects children bring to school, and field trips. Each chaptetdescribes preparations to be made and suggests procedures to be usedthroughout the school year. The various plants, animals, or objectswhich might be included are described, and their care is discussed.Field trip discussions suggest places ,to visit (e.g., a tree, a barn,the school yard), and questions that might be asked at each location.A bibliography related to the topics discussed is provided. The firstpart of the bibliography presents an annotated list of materials forthe teacher; the second part provides lists of children's books.Although this handbook was prepared for use by teachers using theMINNEMAST materials, it can be used independently of the ethermaterials. (SD)

******:****************************************************************Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished

* materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal ** reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality ** of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available ** via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not* responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by EDPS are the best that can be made from the original. *****************************************A************$.*****************

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This edition of

ThirV

IS in rielca and Class;&

aulis dedicated

by the Minnernast staff

to the mem

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The M

innesota Mathem

atics andScience T

eaching Projectdeveloped these m

aterialsunder a grant from

theN

ational Scienc Foundation.

I

This second edition of L

iving Things in Field and

Classroom

is based on the 1967 edition, which

was designed to serve

as a supplement to the M

INN

EM

AST

curriculum units, and

toinsure that living things m

ight be available in theclassroom

when called for in the curriculum

.

Except for the rights to m

aterialsreserved by others, the publisher

and copyright owner hereby

grants permission to dom

esticpersons of

the United States and C

anada foruse of this w

ork without charge in

English language publications in the

United States and C

anada afterJuly 1, 1973, provided the publications

incorporating materials covered

by these copyrights containacknow

ledgement of them

anda statem

entthat the publication is endorsed

neither by the copyrightow

ner nor_ theN

ational Science Foundation.For conditions of

use and permission to

use materials contained herein for foreign

publications or publicationsinot4i? than the E

nglishlanguage, application m

ust be made

to: Offic

of the University A

ttorney,U

niversity of Minnesota, M

inneapolis,M

yinesota55-155.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions

or recomm

endationsexpressedherein do not necessarily reflect the

views of

the National Science Foundation

or the copyright holder.

I qr,7,Iqt,'1

Trnt-errntv

of jr noso'1.js II

ri[T

urd Printing

JAM

ES II. W

ER

NT

Z, Jr.

Director, M

INN

EM

AST

Project

RO

GE

R S. JO

NE

SA

ssociate Director for Science

ED

MU

ND

C. B

RA

YA

ssistant to Director,

Curriculum

Materials D

c7elopment

ED

ITH

R. D

AV

IS, Editor

IAM

MIT

rEN

DoR

rr, A33i:itrm

tB

EV

F,RE

Y 3011R

E, A

ssistant

somp. roR

srrii, Art D

irectorE

DW

AR

D E

A7:D

IN, Illustrator

JUD

IVI N

OR

MA

N, Illustrator andPhotographer

TA

BL

E O

F CO

NT

EN

TS

Introduction

Section 1, Your C

lassroom G

ardenSetting U

p the Garden

The T

errariumK

eeping Your Plants H

ealthyU

sing Your C

lassroom G

ardenSeeds T

ested for Classroom

Use

Collecting Plant Specim

ens[he E

no of the School Year

Section 2, Your C

lassroom Z

ooK

eeping Water A

nimals

Keeping L

and Anim

alsC

ollecting Living A

nimals

Anim

als Suitable for the Classroom

Section 3, When C

hildren Bring T

hings InA

nimals

PlantsR

ocks and FossilsSertizrn,A

, Your C

lassroom M

useumF-:hibit SuggestionsSetting U

p the E:zhibit

Museum

Related to M

INN

EM

AST

Section 5, When Y

ou Take a Field T

ripA

Sample Field T

ripO

ther Field Trip Ideas

Planninq Field Trips

5

121417222324252636?,9

4161627381856.

87U

nits 919.1

9597!7

Annotated Field T

rip Illustrations:O

n and Around a T

reeO

n a City Street

In a Vacant L

otO

n or Under a L

ogIn and A

round a Barn

At the E

dge of a PondIn a School Y

ard

Calendar A

ctivities Through the Y

ear

100102104106108110112

114

Bibliography

115A

nimals

117E

cology121

Fossils122

Plants123

Rocks and M

inerals125

Shells126

Index127

t

INT

RO

DU

CT

ION

Young children are curious by nature. T

hey are es-pecially intrigued by living things.

It they aregiven direct, firsthand experiences w

ith plants andanir,als in the early grades, their curiosity w

ill benurtured and enhanced, and they w

ill come to m

oreadvanced learning activities w

ith a background ofpleasant and instructive experiences.

So that you may best provide these experiences, w

ehave prepared this handbook to help you m

aintailiving things in your classroom

, and to help youcoordinate outdoor teaching w

ith your indoor curric-ulura.'

You w

ill find much m

ore material in the follow

ingpages...than you can possibly use during a singleschool year.

Select those activities that suityour needs and arc practical w

ithin the limitations

of your classroom and com

munity.

Itis not the

number of specim

ensin your classrootii

thatis

important.

Itis the educational use to w

hichthey are put that counts.

I

"."

CO

PRE

VIE

W O

F TH

E H

AN

DB

OO

K

awooriva"

Brow

se through the handbook toget a sense of w

hatis in it, how

it is organized, and thew

ays in which

it can help you.

At the beginnings of Sections

Iand 2 you w

ill findinform

ation about classroom gardens and

zoos thatyou -hould read at the very beginning of the schoolyear, because there are projects you

may w

ant tostart at once. each of these sections gives

practi-cal suggestions for keeping living things

in theclassroom

- what kinds. of organism

sare suitable,

and how they can be kept alive.

Section 5 offers help for those une.ipecterlr o cots

when children bring things

iii - :.-oments that -ould

leadto

excitinglearning experienccs

orto

missed opportU

nities, dependingon 1-o\:

oL,

the situation. You

find socigestions fordiscussion and activities,. and guides

to detalIedexam

ination and identification of the_-1,.(C

A:?,,"!":S,

together with suggestions about w

hatto do w

ith-them

afterwards.

Some of the things children bring

in i,,av find theirw

ay into the classroom m

useum. Section 4

suggestshow

to make the m

useum,

more than a shelf full of

lusty, ill-assorted obiects. We outline

a techniquefor organizing exhibits around

cot.imon properties or

other significant relationshipsam

ong objects.

Section 5 is a guide to field trips.T

t tells how the'i

may be used to coordinate the out-of-doors w

ithclassroom

teaching, and how to m

otivate,orcanize

and follow up field trips. W

e includem

any illus-trated suggestions of convenient places

in which

you and the children can explorethincro.

)urPibliography

includesc!-.1 1( ,t-e

refers .cam,

books and story books,as w

ell as teachers' refer-ence m

aterial.L

iving things themselves should al-

ways be the prim

e source for learning. The children

should be encouraged toexarran:-/ explore and spec-

ulate to their hearts' content before thk-.,.7are referred

to books for further information.

But at the right

time, reference books play

an important part

learning about living things.

1

IIMPO

RT

AN

CE

OF W

OR

K W

ITH

LIV

ING

TH

ING

S 1

The routine care of plants and anim

als in the class-room

can help develop sensitivity and respect forlife.

Pleasant experiences in the study of livingthings can lead to a perm

anent interest in life sci-ence and lay the foundation for the developm

ent ofA

n ecological point of view, w

hich is basic to, thesolution of m

any environmental problem

s of our timei.

AN

EC

OL

OG

ICA

L PO

INT

OF V

IEW

How

an animal or plant m

anages to stay alive ds aspecies in nature is explainable in term

s of how it

is adapted to the physical conditions in-its environ-m

ent (wet, m

oist or dirt'; dark or light; warm

or cold,etc.) and how

it is adapted to the other organisms,

harmful or beneficial, that share its environm

ent.T

he.s

fence that studies these relationshipsis

called ecology.

An ecosystem

is madc., op of all the living things in

Lorninunity, together w

ith their physical environ-m

ent.In the ecosystrr, the organism

s are in con-stant interaction w

ith :ach other and with the physi-

cal environment.

Man is an im

portant mem

ber ofth4_, ecolom

cal comm

unity. Not only does he have

tht normal effect of any other living thInci., but

some of m

an's technological developments upset

natur:os

As a city reaches into a w

ild area, or as highways

cut through a countryside,certain anim

als andplants disappear.

Others ,

such as cockroaches,

rats , dogs and cats, increase in numbers. B

odiesof w

ater such as rivers and lakes become polluted

by industrial and human w

aste, causing the deathof native fish and shorebirds.

The air over cities

becomes contam

inated by smoke from

household in-cinerators and from

factories, and by automobile

exhaust.(See B

ibliography, p. 121.)

YO

U, T

HE

TE

AC

HE

R

You are in a position to start a chain of

0::periencesfor your children that can lead then

to the increasedaw

areness and the special knoleche thatarc ,

requisitc_sfor intelligent action

1.,-s;,-ct tom

any of ,ro)zr environmental probler- S

For e: :ample; suppose

your class secs a robin pul-ling a w

orm out of 'the soil.

Questions 111:e these

will help develop an ecological

point of view:

many w

orms arc in the ground'

How

many w

arnsdoes a robin eat each day"

Suppose there were rust

enougn worm

s in the soil to feed all the rol)ins;w

hat would happen if

--oreinto

area')

Suppose your class visits a constrlctinn site.

You

might discuss ecological

questions such asplants and anim

als lived there b,fore, constriction

began and what has happenei

to then: since...*4

In :naintainpri 11-inci thingsin the classroo-

,vo.i

,,..a..

can rail attention to those conditionsun(ier w

hichthey thrtve and those under w

hic:ith,--_j eris 1.

r.4ItY

ouw

illfind

man;'

sirt..dar:alt': -itions to

Itit

p.:.,,,k,the dev lopt,ient of

an'colon cal

point of Yirw

,F-.' D

'slowi..-1.,L

e...,-; in' in today's ':.world.

We -;o_(- t:1-at this

'''31414;L

ift iboo:: will 11,-A

p70u ,Iiinn,

t1,1,m

rn Hrr,v",

',1111-.`,

71",,,direction, or in one of the

'' rin."oth,,r

)-77:Drtant

.----4

ihre -taor:-=that .-ti

? nt,T.,.-t

!.;-atara

ta',-.,- a cHld.

1-1

YO

UR

,CLA

SS

RO

OM

- GA

RD

EN

A classroom

garden can be a beautiful, interestingand useful part of your room

. Because it should be

a working garden, do not expect it to look E

ke aprofessional florist's display, and do not -strive forperm

anence.D

iscard old, unattractive or uselessplants and replace them

. Encourage the children to

help you in the planning and daily care of your gar-den.

The m

aterials and procedures in this section havebeen tried under conditions as difficult as thosein the average classroom

,if not w

orse, so thechances are that you w

ill he successful with them

.,O

n the other hand, conditions in your classroom are

different from those an,,,rw

here (Ise, and you may suc-

ceed with things that w

ould not work for another.

So do not hesitate to improvise and e:.:pelr-i-6-2nt.

AY

TIC

IPAFP:C

; TH

E SC

HO

OL

YE

AR

Before the year begins

e ::amine your classroon, to

decide on appropriate places for plants.*B

uy seedsfror- local 3tore:s.

the soil, fertilizers, insect-icid,:s or other m

aterials you n ay need.(See the

following pages.) 'locate a source for potted plants.

(.7;reenhol'ses frr,quently sel, off theLr s7,:nirr.cr stock

as fast as,p,00sible, so yol', n,ay not be tilde to find'the plants yol,! w

ant if you delay too long.)If you

have .recess to a garden, 'tal:e slips for rooting.(Sr ,' p.

It is helpful to 'keep a reeprd of yoursuc-c,esses and faitircs to (pude you ne-A

year.

SEC

TIO

N

cilrAT

NIN

G M

AT

ER

IAL

S

You

most things you need for a classroom

gardr n from tour superm

arket,variety store, or to-

rn! uret-nhouse.

POT

S

Any container that can have

a hole punched in thebottom

for drainagecan serve as a pot.

You m

ayuse m

ilk cartons, tin cans ,frozen foodcontainers,

or the more conventional plastic

or clay flowerpots.

Flowerpots com

e in many sizes and

can be pur-hased in greenhouses, but

many people have

spares to give away.

For short-term use, paper

cups are satisfactory.(C

ups for hot drinks,g

more sO

stantiai than thin ww

:edpaper cups.)

For germinating seeds,

you can even use them

olded sections of egg cartons,

SOL

I

The easiest w

ay to get soil foryour classroom

gar-den is to buy the sterili:--,:ed

d :danced sip soldin

plastic bags.T

he best soil for potted plantsis a

mi:-:ture of one-third soil, one-third

p,at- moss and

one-third sand. These m

aterialscan be obtairt d

from superm

ark6ts.

Soil dug fromgarden or yard can be used,

itis (piton contam

inated, with

organistr,s that .-_au,;(r)lant dis:,ase.

It Bray also be unsu;table

al cont.-nt or degree of acidity.

LO

TT

ED

Supermarkets and variety stores nsl:ally

cany hardyhouse plant.; and seasonal plants

such as crocus.dill and Poinsettia. G

reenhouses shouldbe ahie to

provide a. more irteresting

variety of plants,

C'Spe-

'cially early in the fall and latein the spring.

(Secp.

Iitfor recor m

ended plants.)

SET

TIN

G U

P TH

E G

AR

DE

N

You ray w

ant to start some plants

at the very be-(O

rmin I of the school year.

Otheis

i)c appro-lxiate to start as you go along. (See

7 for ways

in-1

.0111- ,larden in teacl.ur..1.)

.)):1't worry about failures, and clon't

von haveto

tplant>

vou startSor

vill be

more perm

anent, others should be discarded or senthom

e with the children as soon as their classroom

usefulness is over.

PRE

PAR

ING

curriNG

s

To m

ole cuttings of such plants as deranitnn and be-gonia,

sttrki- zter:ends three to four Ir.cheslong.

Rem

ove any flowers.

Cut the stem

on aslant Just below

a leaf.R

emove this leaf and the

ne,:t one above it.A

llow the cut ends to dry for

alaait half an hour to permit a callus to form

, andthen place the tw

o lowest leaf nodes under w

ater orin m

oist sand.Ii you are rooting the cuttings in

sand, a plastic bag placed loosely over a singleeuttina or a sheet of plastic over a tray of them

will

protect the cuttings from e :cessive w

ater loss.

Take m

ore cuttings than you need, for 001:'.0y not

root.C

uttings taken late in the season after thenights have turned cool 11;07 not root as w

elt asthose taken earlier in the sum

mer.

Florists sellchem

icals which aid root grow

th, ,arc your ightto try these.

CiR

OW

Many plants car be grow

n without ;oil.

of ivy, philodendron and Wandering

rootand grow

indefinitely in water if given

..--301;,1-e

food every few 1.V

OO

1 :L,

tdbegonia, can be rooted in

and then ntante-:pots.

(See p. 3for w

ater plants to 1,ut

PRE

PAR

AT

ION

01" 1'0 rs

All t',,pe:-; of pot:. are prepircd in the

used pots should be scrubb, d with a 1.m

.Hre

water.

rood contain4 rs should he%

%A

ter must

toalit,

oa

bob' in the' bottoll, of til* CO

W:JO

r.r

hole with

:;ton(piec.,

oflow

ir:;oti

fror,f,11

rt!--roi:(1h

r

soil and water.

(It is easier to plant in moist soil.)

You should set the pots

in saucers or pans to col-lect the excess w

ater that drainsout.

TransPhnting from

the Clard'en

It you pot plants from the gar,I4,

spray then, well

with ari all-purpose

plant insecticide beforeyou

brine them into the classroom

.U

se a trowel to dig

Itpthe plant together w

ithsom

e soil ,so as to dis-

turb the roots as littleas possible.

Place inpot

v.u.th a layer of soil over the bottom,

hold the plantupright, and add soil to fill

in around the sides.-rho :;oil 101701 in the

pot shoal,/ he the saine i-1.; the

ground level when the plant

was in the garden.

Keep the plant w

ell watered and ouV

ofdirect sun-

light for a few days.

Potting Cuttings

If you have rooted a cuttingin sand, it is ready to

pot when the cutting seem

s firmly attached

to thesand.

Use a sm

all pot, two and one-half

or threeinches in diam

eter.U

se a spoon to scoop up theplant, together w

ith some sand, w

ithoutdisturbing

the roots.Set the plant into the pot, w

hichyou

have partially filled with soil, and

add more soil to

about one-half inch from the

top of the k ot.

ifyou have rooted the cutting

in water,

it i sreadyto pot w

hen the roots arc an inch long.Put a layer

of soil in the bottom of

a small pot.

Insert theplant an(i hold it

in position with one hand w

hilew

ith th(other hand ,,,ou

,T:radually add soil

spoon or trowel so that it

arounc) the roots.Ihr pot i

half full, water it

contanqth,

roots an,i the :oil.thc,

r,st of th soil and press it down

fin, !y.

ma,

co,Ter ney:1,, potted cuttinds w

ith plastn-kli1,--. for o few

days tocon..-Icr-t '1'01,,t)Irc

until tni_roots art

firir,h, established.rhop the Pass -eau

rewo./ed and the plants can he

iurr.

Transplanting to I it g,--sr Pots

Plants should not hr, putin larder pot.:

until the.7have olytgrow

n the small

ones.

To transplant to the next larger size pot, prepare

the new pot in the usual w

ay. Put a layer of soilover the bottom

. Take your sm

all pot with the plant

in it, and hold it upside down w

ith the plant pass-ing betw

een your fingers.R

ap the pot sharply toloosen the soil.

It should drop into your hand inone chunk.

Rem

ove the pot, and carefully turn theplant right side up, place it in the new

pot, andfill in the em

pty space at the sides with m

ore soiland w

ater.Y

ou want to disturb the roots as little

as possible in this operation.

GR

OW

ING

13UL

BS

Greenhouses, variety stores and departm

ent storescarry large :itipplies of bulbs in the fall.

Mail order

seed and nursery companies can usually supply

bulbs at riny time of the year, although they have

their largest selection during the fall planting sea-son.

Paper-white narcissus

isthe only bulb that is easyto obtain and that w

ill growand bloom

in water and peb-

bles without a prelim

inarygrow

th period in the dark,though it does better w

henstarted in the dark.

Place an )rregular layer of:-;t0110,

or gravel in a pan orbow

l two or m

ore inche';eeep. A

rrange the bulbs so

they are supported by the stones but not completely

buried under them.

The bulbs should not touch

each other.A

dd water until it touches the bottG

La

of the bulbs, and keep it at this level.

Narcissus flow

er parts are Small but regular, and

if you use a small paint brush to transfer son v pol-

len to the pistil, seeds should be produced,

The hyacinth is spectacular, but

it will not produce good flow

ersw

ithout a period of several weeks

in a dark, cool place.Y

ou may

want to try grow

ing some if you

have a dark, cool cupboard. The

hyacinth will grow

in soil or overw

ater.T

here is a special hya-cinth glass that supports the bulbover but not touching the w

ater.(T

he roots grow dow

n to the water.)

Cover the top of the hyacinth

bulb with a paper cup and place

it in a cupboard.If you use soil, keep it m

oist butnot flooded. W

hen the roots are well developed,

the tips of the leaves roach the bottom of trc in-

verted cup, and the flower bud is visible, the plant

should be brought into the light.

An am

aryllis bulb will send up a flow

er otaltm

onth or si:: weeks after it is planted in soil.

Itdoes not need to be kept in the dark. T

he lecrresm

ay not come up until after the flow

er has blooTtec;.

TI»s is the only bulb com

monly grow

n indoors thatcan be successfully saved for a secoL

d

The flow

ers are spectacular and large enough for thechildren to see all the flow

er parts and to demon-

strate pollination by putting pollen from the large

stamens on the sticky central pistil.

PLA

NT

ING

SEE

DS

Greenhouses, groceries, variety stores and hard-.

ware stores carry large assortm

ents of garden seedsin spring and sum

mer.

Seed companies and biolo-

,gicalsupply

houses have seeds available allthrough the year.

It is hApiul tv lid

c c;atalogufrom

seed companies in the classroom

, for theyare

very informative and w

ell illustrated.(See riii) lio-

p,I 16, for list.)

are. gturiii-inteoci tO cp?tr,111-1.,te,

have been treated for protection against fungus dis-east_s.

You can try planting beans that you get

Irani grocery shelves, but they m,y not sprout if

they are too old or have been treated to prevent300llage.

Test a few

before you pass them out to

the children.

When you plant seeds, fill a pot or tray w

ithm

osoil to rw

out one-half inch from the top.

Arrange,

the .;,-,eds on the :1,urtac, then co'kri srthi 'In w

ith aD

ryer of soil abou, the same thichnss

; the see,I,Press the soil dov.h1 firm

ly and sprinkle with addi-

tional t-ator.veep the soil ;,,oist.

It i., helph:l toco\,or the top of the c.ontaincr w

ith ;las.; or plasti,-until the seeds sprout.

(Alw

ays lexie.3:1,111

uponnit; U) preyw

it moldina.)

of dirL,t sl;n1iht 'until the ,,ronna

Seeds will germ

inate in moist sand or on m

oist clothor paper, but they m

ust be transplanted to soil ifw

ell-developed plants are desircd.(Sce

FLow

nRs rR

cr,.1

There are not 1-er.7 m

an; plant: thatc--17-,

from seed and brought to bloom

in the classroom in

a comparatively short tim

e.D

warf m

arigolds anddw

arf zinnias v.11 bloom w

ithin three ..oathsof

their planting if given adequateScarlet runner

beans should be tried, for they show spectacular

growth and som

etimes bloom

,producing beautiful

red-orange flowers.

The fl

vers tend to abort,how

ever, and don't produce scads.M

orning glo-rie.,,

'Cr

anu Tiny rin, tom

atoesshould also blot' m

in thelassroor ,.

OT

I TE

R R

EC

OT

A,1 I\ IC

TiD

ED

PIA%

l'S

There are not m

any pla):ts wh,h

azs-room

requiret:ient3 of :ruing ea:,,y to ol:,tain,for ( lass projects, and re:.;,e3tdr.t to giluac",i;

and(,

e:of

heat and coldthat are no: t-to-ih,-lostructil

1)elo-: aro titost

keaonias,

the Clero'..:-cooted .1g,

r-..}l1

1:iore a, :

5.%.111

rot.)it

,_1,111'.r,

or ,,) ,the

:Her

Hla,r.ti,-t

;,;f7 1

)1

others.A

void varieties with w

hite flowers, since

some of these are susceptible to m

ildew.

Begonia

cuttings are excellent terrarium plants.

Coleus is easy to root in w

ater or sand.Its leaves

are beautifully variegated, rind in the short days ofw

inter the plant may put up spikes of tiny flow

ers,w

hich produce seeds that will germ

inate a few days

alter ripening. Coleus is susceptible to m

ealy buginfestation, especially if brought in from

a garden,but this is easily controlled.

(See p. 16.)T

hedistinctive square stem

is comm

on to all mints. T

heopeosite,' pairing of leaves and their color patternscan be used for sym

metry and art projects.

The

semi-transparent stem

and h'gh water-loss rate

(transpiration) make coleus useful in experim

entsdem

onstrating the movem

ent of colored water in

stems.

Geranium

s tolerate lowhum

idity and great tem-

peraturefluctuations.

They w

ill bloom if given

enoughlight

(severalhours of sunlight daily).It is better to start w

ithw

ell-rooted cuttings ornew

plants, but repottedsum

mer plants can be

used, if cut back. Slipsare slow

to root.Y

ouw

ill find that the more

comm

onplace andless

exotic varieties are more

likely to do well under

poor conditions.T

his istrue for m

ost plants andis the reason old-fashioned varieties arc still popu-lar.

Geranium

s 'are especially usefulfor giving

young children experience in observing properties.T

he leaves are -hairy to touch and have a pleasantcharacteristic odor w

hen crushed.

4, 2.1,117'.

JapIpatiens (Sultana)is easily availzible, O

r;(1 hastransparent stem

s useful for dye e:.zperimcnts.

Itw

ill bloom under poor light conditions, but it has a

tendeocy to drop its leaves and is rot as re:--istantto environm

ental fluctuations as song other plants.liov.rever, som

e teachers arc quite successful

it.A

void exotic varieties such as plants wit.h dou-

ble flowers or tangerine colors.

This plant is a

good substitute for coleus in rooting and water

transport studies.

Rhoeo

discolor

Zebrina

pendula

Tradescantia in tw

o vani-ties *

isillustrated

he:0.O

ne is a potted plant, Rhoeo

discolor, comm

only calledM

oses-in-a-boat,w

hichproduces interesting w

hiteflow

ersin

largeboat-

.

shaped bracts.T

he leaveshave beautiful purple under-sides.

The other is a rela-

tive, Zebrina pendula

,com

-m

only called Wandering Jew

.It is a vine w

ith green and

white, green and purple or all-green leaves.

This

plant roots rapidly in water, and it can continue to

grow there or it can be potted.

Ivy is always attractive

either in water or in pots.

(For growing plants

inw

ater see p. 7.)

Other potted plants, such as philodendrons,

peper-om

ias, succulents and cacti, and festival plantssuch as poinsettias and E

aster lilies, are nice to

have around for their decorative effect, theiruse-

fulness in art activities, and their general interest.

TH

E T

ER

RA

RIU

M

A terrarium

is, a covered transparentcontainer

planted with a m

iniature comm

unity of plants.It

needs little attention and is quiteeasY

to make.

Several small ones m

ay bem

ore useful than onelarge one. C

hildren enjoy making their

own terraria

in plastic boxes or peanut butterjars.

Three types

of terraria arc described here.

In order to make any terrarium

you will need:

I.

A glass or plastic container.

(Anything from

apeanut buttW

jar to a large aquarium w

ill do.A

plastic shoe box is especially handy.) Your con-

tainer should be deep enough to allow som

e head-room

for the plants to grow in.

2. A rem

ovable transparent cover.(G

lass or plas-tic w

rap will do.)

3.D

rainage material, such as sand or gravel.

4.Soil.

5.Plants and seeds.

MO

IST W

OO

DL

AN

D T

ER

RA

RIU

M

This is probably the m

ost useful kind for keepingsm

all plants such as ferns, mosses and fungi, and

for rooting cuttings.

Put a half-inch layer of sand or gravel or a mixture

of both in the bottom of your container for rainage.

Add one inch of m

oist soil.T

his should preferably.be in the proportions of one-third soil, one-thirdsand and one-third peat m

oss or humus, but ordi-

nary garden or potting soil will do. (T

he soil shouldbe m

oist enough to cling together in balls when

pressed in the hand.)

Make holes

in the soil, gently insert the rootsof the plants

,and press the soil around them

.

carpet of moss around the plant keeps the soil from

spattering. Sprinkle carefully with w

ater and coveralm

ost all the way w

ith glass or plastic.

Adjust the lid so that a little but not m

uch moisture

collects on it.W

ater only when the soil appears

dry,once. a w

eek or less. Unless the lid is open,

keep the terrarium out of direct sunlight because it

will overheat.

Appropriate plants for a w

oodland terrarium are

mosses and shelf fungi, ferns, sm

all house plantsor cuttings of ivy, begonia, coleus, or tradescantia,'or seeds of different kinds. A

s plants get too large,prune them

or replace them.

If you can get wood-

land soil and moss in your terrarium

, watch for

surprises as old woodland plants die and new

onesappear.

In early spring plant a terrarium w

ith any youngplants that are just beginning to appear.

,Trow

th In the warr. roor:

will

1-,e

Young violet plants, w

ild ginger, emerging scillas.

small w

eeds or moss a.nd young seedlings can be

:3

14

used.It is also interesting to place

a piece of oldlog or a spadeful of garden soil in

a terrariuln andw

ater it.In a few

days you will have an interesting

assortment of young plants and sm

all animals. E

n-courage the children to study them

with m

agnifiers.

DE

SER

T T

ER

RA

RIU

M

This kind is easier to keep than

a woodland terrar-

ium, but not as m

uch happens in it.U

se moist soil

mixed w

ith an equal part of sandover the -drainage

layer.Sm

all cacti and some succulents such

asjade plants, hens and chicks, and aloe w

illgrow

un-der these conditions. (H

andle the cactiw

ith tweez-

ers or gloves.)A

fter the plants are in place thesoil should be kept evenly m

oist until theroots are

established, but never add so much w

ater thatyou

can see any standing in little pools.From

then onw

ater sparingly, perhaps once a week,

so that thesurface of the soil rem

ains fairly dry.K

eep in asunny spot and do not add a lid. A

wire

screen canbe put over the top if an anim

al (suchas a horned

toad) is to be housed in the desertterrarium

.

BO

G T

ER

RA

RIU

M

The bog terrarium

is especially interestingbecause

insect-eating plants can begrow

n in it.Fut in the

drainage layer, then a layer of sphagnumm

oss. No

soil is necessary. Order m

aterials andplants for

a bog terrarium from

a biological supply house,un-

less you are near a natural bog. Keep it cool,

cov-ered alm

ost all the way, and w

ell lighted.K

eep thegravel layer under w

ater all the time.

There are m

any modifications of terraria.

Large

woodland ones can be m

ade with

a sloped drainagelayer and a bog or shallow

pool atone end. T

heypresent m

any opportunities for artistic creativityin addition L

o their biologicaluses.

FET

PIN-G

YO

UR

PLA

NT

S HE

AL

TH

Y,

To grow

well, plants require-

proper amounts of

moisture, light and heat.

Plants also require prop-er nutrition and protection from

insects and disease.

C\1

MO

ISTU

RE

All plants need w

ater; they require moisture in the

air as well as at their roots.

But the m

oisture inthe air of heated schoolroc..ls

is about equivalentto that of a desert.

There are several w

ays of deal-ing w

ith this peoblem.

Potted plants can be set on stones or gravel in leak-proof containers.

(Fiberglass window

boxes are ex-cellent for this purpose, but any large pan w

ill do.)T

he layer of stones should be kept flooded to in-crease the hum

idity around the plants.T

he plantscan be w

atered either by pouring enough water into

the pan of gravel or stones so that the water can

rise through the openings in the bottoms of the pots,

or by pouring water into the pots from

above, al-low

ing excess titer to drain out into the supportinglayer of stones.

Before holidays and w

eekends,add extra w

ater to the pans.

Water the plants w

henever the soil in the pots ap-pears dry, but do not w

ater so frequently that thesoil is alw

ays moist.

It is important to let the soil

drys out between w

aterings, because over-watering

will lead to the decay of the underground plant parts.

If this has happened, the plants will look w

iltedeven though the soil is m

oist.In this case, let the

soil dry out before watering again.

If the plant isnot able to restore its root system

, take cuttingsfrom

it to try again, and throw the rest of the plant

out.

Cold, chlorinated tap w

ater is not recomm

ended.If

you do use tap water, try to have it at room

tempera-

ture.Ideally, you should keep a container of w

aterstanding several days. to w

arm it and free it from

chlorine before you use it for watering your plants'.

Small delicate plants that need a m

oist environment

grow w

ellcontrolleralso be rc

LIG

HT

in a terrarium, w

here the humidity can be

(See p. 13.1C

uttings and slips canted in a terrarium

.

Some pints can survive in very poor light.

These

grow slow

ly and seldom, bloom

.M

ost plants needseveral hours of bright light from

a window

(prefer-ably facing south, east or w

est) or additional arti-ficial light in O

rder to grow w

ell and bloom. Seed-

lings and young plants need considerable light toC

Vkeep them

from becom

ing pale and spindly.

A sunny w

indowsill is the m

ost appropriate place forplants in the classroom

.If the natural light is poor,

as in rooms facing north or in room

s where plants

cannot be close to a window

, an additional lightsource on a table w

ill be very helpful. Small fluo-

rescent fixtures can be bought from seed com

panies

5

or biological supply houses, or can be made by

any-one handy w

ith tools. Such fixtures can be equippedw

ith timers that turn them

on and off automatically

to give a controlled amount of light.

If your window

s with the best

light have heatingunits under them

, see the following

paragraphs.

TE

MPE

RA

TU

RE

How

to keep plants from being frozen

or cooked isa constant classroom

problem. W

interclassroom

temperatures are by no m

eans ideal for plantgrow

th.H

owever, som

e plants will survive fluctuations

intem

perature on weekends and holidays if

you takea few

precautions.

If you expectvery cold w

eather over holidays,either place cardboard

or newspapers betw

een, theplants and the w

indows,

or move the plants into a

warm

er part of the room. T

emperatures

are unlikelyto i-rch freezing, since the plum

bingm

ust be pro-tected.

If you want to keep your plants

at window

s thathave heating units under them

, raise theplant trays

on blocks or bricks so that air can circulate beneaththem

. This w

ill reduce excessivetem

perature fluc-tuation w

hile allowing you to take advantage

of thelight.

If worst com

es to worst and disaster

does stril.e,rem

ember that plants are expendable and

cal. be re-placed.

16

PLA

NT

FOO

D

The natural plant nutrients found

in good soil aregradually depleted in a pot.

All plants should be

,,fertilized periodically.Solutions of essential m

in-erals are 'sold in bottles in sy3res that

carry garden-ing supplies. O

rdinarily, small

amounts of the solu-

tion are added every few w

eeksto the w

ater usedin w

atering the plants.D

irections for use are sup-plied on the containers.

PEST

CO

NT

RO

L

If aphids, scale, or mealy bugs

appear, the plantsw

ill need some treatm

ent. Aphids (plant lice)

"clus-ter on grow

ing tips of sterns. Scaleinsects appear

as flat brown oval disks on stem

sor near the veins

of leaves, especiallyon the undersurface of the

leaves.M

ealy bugs appearw

hite, cottonyclum

ps around growing tips and

at the base ofyoung leaves.

Scale and mealy hugs can be

removed 1:vith cotton-,

tipped toothpicks dippedin ruL

bing alcohol or witch

hazel.Plants w

ith aphids should be sprayed with

,

an all-purpose plant insecticide.Several kinds are

carried in stores which supply other m

aterials forgardening.

If the plants have too many insects, dis-

card the plants to protect your healthy ones from in-

festation. A w

eekly rinsing of the leaves will be

very helpful in discouraging insects and will im

provethe appearance of the plants. H

old plants under fau-cet or spray and rinse both sides of leaves.

USIN

G Y

OU

R C

LA

SSRO

OM

GA

RD

EN

1

Specific uses of plants for teaching are suggestedbelow

, but general daily care is also important.

Daily care can bring out the facts that plants grow

(measure thorn and record the m

easurements), bend

toward the light (keep turning them

each day), andneed w

ater regularly.

PLA

NT

STR

UC

TU

RE

S

Let the children exam

ine whole plants, roots in-

cluded, by uprooting and washing the soil aw

ayfrom

a plant that is to be discarded. To gain som

e

appreciation of ..the extent of the root system pro-

duced by a plant, have the children carefully re-m

ove and untangle all roots, lay them end to

end,and m

easure the distance they stretch,

Supermarkets offer a great variety of plant m

aterialsthat are useful for classroom

activities.T

here areseeds to grow

, fruits to dis'Sect, vegetables andflow

ers to examine.. W

hole vegetables are seldomseen by .m

any children brought. upandfrozen or

canned food. Use unshelled peas aria. green beans

to show fruit structure and seed arrangem

ent.D

is-cuss the uses of the structures you see

(the pod,'the seeds

,the attachm

ent %points of the seeds).

Cut cross - sections of cucum

bers, peppers, toma-

toes, apple's and oranges to see the structures.C

ount the seeds in a single orange, plant them and

find out how m

any orange trees you could get.C

ount the seeds in your Hallow

een pumpkin, dry

them and use them

in germination experim

ents.

Take apart, leaf by leaf, a head of lettuce, a brus-

se s _grout, a cabbage or a bunch ofcelery. N

otecolor difference betw

een inside alit outside leaves.L

ook for small buds at the base df each separated

part.T

ry counting the leaves on a brussels sprout.

Much of e plant is w

ater. You can dem

onstrate thisby m

easuring water loss. W

eigh individual fruits,vegetables or leaves. A

llow them

to dry out, weiah-

ing at intervals (daily or less freciuently, depcndinaon the rate of loss) .

Com

pare water loss under var-

ied conditions (on a radiator, on an open shelf, ina plastic bag) .

I 7

SEE

D PA

RT

S

Large seeds, such as beans,

corn kernels and pump-

kin seeds, are good fordem

onstrating seed struc-ture and em

bryo plantparts, and for experim

entsw

ith seedlings.Pum

pkin seeds can often betaken

directly from the H

alloween

pumpkin and germ

inated.L

ima and w

ax beansare useful for show

ing seedparts (geed coat, stored food,

young plant). Soakthem

overnight before takingthem

apart.

As large seeds germ

inate,the parts of the

youngplant are easy to identify.

The bean .halves

arecalled cotyledons. T

heycan be observed to shrink

as the young plants develop.T

ry removing one or

both cotyledons from a

young plant, and compare

this plant after a few days w

ithone that still has

its cotyledons.

GE

RM

INA

TIO

N

Only a few

kinds of seedsgerm

inate rapidly underordinary conditions. T

he seedslisted above should

germinate w

ithin two days to

a' week.

Overnight

soaking of large seeds will speed

germination.

Seeds can be germinated

in sand, in soil,or be-

tween layers of m

oist blottersor paper tow

elling.Y

ou can also linea tum

bler or glass jarwith

a,blotter or tow

elling andplace seeds 'betw

een theglass and the paper.

Crum

ple more tow

ellingto

fill the center of theglass and put a little

water

in the bottom of the

container.A

n index cardplaced aver the top w

ill reduceevaporation.

Start

18

enough seeds so that the childrencan take apart

and examine the seeds at

various stages of germi-

nation.

PLA

NT

GR

OW

TH

Germ

inate seeds between blotting

paper and glass toshow

the effects of gravityon plant grow

th.T

heroots w

ill grow dow

n and the stern will

grow up re-

gardless of, the position of theseed.

If the glass istilted, the seedling w

ill adjust:-its growth so that

the roots keep growing dow

nand the stem

keepsgrow

ing up.

CQ

all seeds such as radish and grass seeds produceseedlings that are sm

all but respond rapidly to en-vironm

ental changes in light, temperature,

oistureand gravity. Y

ong radish seedlings resp3"nd tochange in light.direction in only an hour lox so.

Ifth4=

-* plants are leaning toward the, w

indow in the.-

morning, turn the pot around, and, long before the

.end of the day the children w

ill be able to see thatthe Seedlings are again leaning tow

ard the light.Such seedlings W

ilt and recover rapidly from loss of

water.

They lose their green color after a few

days in the dark nand regain it afi.day or tw

o inthe light.

When

take. cuttings, the effect on the parentplants

will

be interesting to watch.

Grow

th ofpl5ntb can be m

odified by pinching out the terminal -

Suds on the shoots to allow the side buds to develop.

'Plant the ,tops of carrots, beets and radishes inm

oist sand to get a new grow

th of leaves.

Grow

an onion in a glass over water that just

touches the bottom of the bulb. T

he roots will grow

very rapidly. 'The leaves are especially interesting

because they are tubular.

Plant growth, is affected by crow

ded conditions.T

ake two pots of the sam

e size and plant one with

twice as .m

any seeds as the other. 'Note the differ-

: ences betweeh the grow

th of the plants in the two

pots as the plants get bigger and bigger.

PRO

PAG

AT

ION

Many m

ethods of plant propagation can be demon-

strated in the classroom.

Cuttings

Cuttings taken from

classroom plant can be rooted

in water or sand.

Rooted cuttinjp are excellent for

children to plant in paper cups /to take home and

watch.

Show the, children how

Ito transplant tolarger pots.

(See.p. 7 and 8.)

Seeds

See Germ

ination, (p. 18), and Life C

ycles (p.21)

,

for propagation by seed.T

o demonstrate fertiliza-

tion, try to find &Potted lily or potted tulips w

ithStam

ens that have not been removed.

(If you can'tfind them

, get some w

ith buds and wait for them

toopen.)

The children can put pollen on the sticky

central pistil and observe how, .w

hile the flower

dried up, the central ovary enlarges as many young

seeds develop in itA

lso see Narcissus and A

ma-

ryllis, p. 9.

gs.19

Tubers

A w

hole white potato

can beplanted,

with a portion of it

above the soil.O

bserve howonly som

e of the eyes (buds)sprout.

If these are removed,

others will sprout.

This is

parallel to the situation inleafy plants w

here removing

the top bud allbws the side

ones to develop.T

he white

potato is a stem, botanically

speaking, since it bears buds(the eyes).

20

Try cutting up a

potatoleaving an

'eyein each sec-

tion and plantingthem

.(T

his is thew

aythe

farmer

plantshis' 'pota-

toes.) Several po-tatoes w

ill furnishenough eyes foreach child to haveone.

Allow

oneuncut potato to lieon a shelf, andcom

pareit

with

the planted piecesover a period ofseveral w

eeks.

rZ

Sweet potatoes* and yarns w

ill grow in w

ater andpro-

duce beautiful vines.(Som

e potatoes have beentreated to prevent sprouting, so start several.)

Im-

merse the end of the sw

eet potato or yam that has

no purple buds to about one-third of Its length ina

jar of water.

It thay 'be necessary to support thepotato above the m

outh of an unusually large jarw

ith toothpicks. Itis difficult to predicthow

longit w

ill take to sprout.It m

ay take a month or even

more, so do not givd up unless It begins to decay.

It is also possible to grow w

hite potatoesin w

aterin the sam

e way.

Leaf Propagation

The leaves of A

frican violets andgloxinias

rootin w

ater or sand.(T

hese sometim

es takea long

time.)

ti

Rex (angel w

ing) begonia can be propagated by cut-ting across the rib of a leaf that has been laid onm

oist sand. A new

plant will grow

from the cut.

New

plants will grow

from the notches of B

ryophyl-lum

(maternity plant). D

rop a leaf, or even just partof a leaf, on dam

p soil, and watch for a circle of

new plants sprouting, one from

each notch.(T

hisw

orks very well in a terrarium

.)

Layering

Layering is a m

ethod of propagation that works w

ithm

ost vinesivy, philodendron, tradescantia.

Italso w

orks with a jade plant that is long enough to

lean over.If the stem

is held in such a positionthat a leaf node touches the soil, it w

ill root thereand can be cut aw

ay from the parent plant. Y

ou may

anchor the stern down w

ith a bent paper clip or cov-er it w

ith some soil.

LIFE

CY

CL

ES

Morning glories and w

ax beans are two of the very

few plants that w

ill complete a life cycle w

ithin thecourse of the school year.

If strings are put up at a sunny win-

dow, m

orning glories will clim

b themrapidly.

Morning glories w

ill bloomin tw

o months and produce seeds,

which in turn w

ill germinate as soon

as they are ripe. As soon as the pa-

pery covers on the seeds open, plantthe seeds.

They w

ill germinate in

three to five days and produce an-other generation.

(Be sure to get a

mixed variety. Sucli special types as

Heavenly B

lue may not produce seeds.)

Plant some w

ax beans in soil, and grow in good

light. Some should bloom

and produce pods. Beans

from the ripe pods w

ill germinate in a w

eek or less.T

his provides a very nice example of the life cycle

of a plant.

Coleus m

ay produce seed that will germ

inate quick-ly.

(See p. 11.)

Tiny T

im tom

ato plants will grow

from seed and pro-

duce little tomatoes. T

he seed from these w

ill ger-m

inate if the ripe tomatoes are opened so that the'

seeds can drop on the soil.C

ucumber vines w

illbloom

and produce miniature cucum

bers, but thesew

ill not mature.

2.1

SEE

DS T

EST

ED

FOR

CL

ASSR

OO

M U

SE

Kind of Seed

Beans:

mung

kidney, lima

scarlet runner

Days to

Germ

ination

I35

Days to

Flowering

30-4048

Com

ments

Excellent for experim

ents.M

ay produce seeds in well-lighted

window

.Spectacular grow

th, beautifulflow

ers.C

itrus fruits (grape-fruit, lem

on, lime,

orange, tangerine)

30G

ermination tim

e very uncertain;depends on

condition of fruit.

Corn

4E

xcellent for growth :neasurem

ent.C

ucumber

360

Beautiful vine w

ill producetiny cucum

bers.G

rape30

Interesting vine.M

arigold (dwarf)

,,,3

60W

ill flower in good light.

Morning glory

360

Will produce ripe seeds in 90 days.

Pea4

20D

oes not do well in overheated

rooms.

Pumpkin

4B

eautiful vine.

Radish

ISeedlings are excellent for experim

ents.Squash (acorn)

8B

eautiful vine.

Tom

ato (Tiny T

im)

374

Produces young fruitin 85 days.

CV

Seeds from m

ature fruit will

grow.

Zinnia (dw

arf)2

60N

ice flowering plant w

hengiven adequate light.

CO

LL

EC

TIN

G PL

AN

TSPE

CIM

EN

F]

You m

ay want to collect w

hole plants or plant ma-

terials for special uses in your classroom.

Fruits,seeds and colorful leaves are abundant in the fall.V

acant lots and unmow

ed rights-of-way along high-

ways and railroad tracks are excellent sources of

varied and interesting specimens.

(See Warnings

below and on p. 24.)

Dorm

ant branches of shrubs and trees can be broughtinto the classroom

in late winter or early spring.

Put them in w

ater in good light and watch for the

opening of flowers and leaf buds.

These m

aterialsm

ust not be collected until prolonged cold has bru-4.011 L

ii..11pea-kips by the ond of .1,111U

di y.

A single spadeful of w

oodland or bog soil can pro-vide the m

akings for many terraria.

(See p. 12.)

CO

LL

EC

TIO

N A

ND

TR

AN

SPOR

TA

TIO

N

Dried fruits and seeds such as m

ilkweed pods or

bare twigs can be carried in the hand or put in pa-

per bags or other containers.

Colorful leaves and other plant parts that you w

antto m

ount and display in some w

ay are easiest to car-ry if you insert them

between pages of an old m

aga-zine.

Identification and notes as to place of col-lection can be w

ritten in the margins of the pages.

Many specim

ens can be collected this way and

transported without orushing or w

rinkling.

Leafy branches and flow

ers should be cut with a

knife or pruner and placed in plastic bags.Inflate

the bags and close with w

ire twists to keep the

specimens m

oist and cushioned against injury.

Whole plants should be carefully

dug up with a trow

el or largeknife,

keeping as much soil

around the roots as possible.Put the plant w

ith its soil into aplastic bag at once.

Inflate thebag by blow

ing into it, and then fasten it.In the

case of moss, sm

all ferns or other tiny plants grow-

ing on wood or rocks, try to collect a piece of w

oodor stone along w

ith the plant growing on it, and

enclose the whole specim

en in a plastic bag as d-scribed above.

WA

RN

ING

S

When collecting, try to leave the area as undis-

turbed as possible.N

ever take more m

aterial thenyou can use.

Needless to say, you w

ill not collectplants on private or park prqperty w

ithout permis-

sion.Y

ou should familiarize yourself w

ith the rarcspecies of plants protected in your state.

Enov., how

to recognize poi-son ivy.

("Leaves three,

quickly flee! ")If sonic is

touched accidently , wash

the skin thoroughly with

teak-

24

,,

-P.-

.

Be careful w

ith fungi.Y

ou can safely collectany

dried and leathery fr,rms of shelf

fungi which- appear

on tree trunks, most odd-shaped fungi,

and puff-balls,

Avoid those that look like toadstools

or theedible m

ushrooms sold in

grocery stores.T

here isa slim

chance that you might pick a

poisonous onew

hich resembles these harm

lessform

s, and it isbettor to leave questionable

ones alone.

rHL

LN

Dnu:

HU

OL

You, your friends,

or the school children may

want

to keep the potted plants thathave survived the

school year.D

iscard plants thatare in poor condi-

tion.

Em

pty and scrub pots, terrariaand w

indow boxes.

store unused soil, sandand gravel.

It is better notto store used soil,

since it may be contam

inatedw

ith fungus diseases andharm

ful insect pests.

Leftover seeds should be

discarded, since thechance that they w

ill germinate

W4 ,3,1,

Plan to get new seeds

in the fall.

Store dried specimens in boxes.

YO

UR

CLA

SS

RO

OM

ZO

O

Many living things w

iggle. Many are soft and furry.

This m

akes them fascinating for children and w

instheir greatest interest and attention.

On the other

hand, to the teacher, the care of animals in a class-

room presents problem

s such as weekend and vaca-

tion care, and is sometim

es thought more trouble

than it is worth.

But do not underestim

ate thew

orth of direct experience with living things in ex-

citing interest and in developing humane attitudes.

It is possible to find animals that you can feel com

-fortable w

ith in almost any individual classroom

sit-uation. T

he animals and procedures described here

have all been tried successfully in classrooms w

ithaverage to poor conditions. Som

e animals require

less wor; than others, but all th()..,4-,

(-1;)11,.

A nu

.

This section discusses procedures for keeping w

ateranim

als and land animals. W

e give details about agroup of selected anim

als that have Proved especial-ly u.,:tai

ti,6ruoin.

Water anim

als are simple to care for.

They need

water, air, a reasonably constant tem

perature, andfood in the right am

ounts.'

Land anim

als need more w

atching and more cleaning-

up-after.H

owever, land anim

als are also more fun.

Children can have rew

arding experiences takingcare of w

ater fleas in a jar of pond water, but they

26

usually like the bigger, fuzzier animals that

are alittle harder to take care of.

Pick the ones thatsuit your :conditions as w

ell asyour preferences.

KE

EPIN

G W

AT

ER

AN

IMA

LS

An aquarium

is any kind ofcontainer in w

hich con-ditions are right for w

aterorganism

s to remain alive.

Much fuss is usually m

ade aboutpreparing an aquar-

ium.

Fuss may ne necessary w

hen the aquariumis

to be a permanent establishm

ent intendedto last for

several years and to containm

any kinds of fish. But

this kind of aquarium is not recom

mended'

for theclassroom

. Not very m

uch happens in it.A

lso, toom

any special requirements result in too m

uch lossw

hen you have inevitable classroomcatastrophies

such as too much food,

inapgropriete food,too

cold over weekends, too hot

over weekends, cover

left off, too much chlorinated w

ateradded, and so

on.

A sm

all aquarium can be

set* up with

an under-standing that

itw

ill be changed or removed

intw

o weeks.

Several small aquaria w

ith differentcontents can be m

ort f.interesting than one big

one.L

arger aquaria set up for long periodscan

be used to study life cycles of fishand snails ,knu

ti 'L vi

n.rnyiny ,_:onditions un population.

SET

TIN

G U

P AN

D C

AR

ING

FOR

AN

AQ

UA

RIU

M

Fish need a great deal ofoxygen and a fairly con-

stant temperature. T

hey also need clearw

ater (wa-

ter without too m

any suspended particles),and they

need food.T

hese needs are simple to provide

inan aquarium

.

If the aquarium is to be set

up for any length of time,

put some clean coarse sand

or gravel in the bottombefore you fill the container.

This w

ill trap particlesof dead plants,

excrement,

etc., and help preventfloating particles from

being stirredup from

the bot-tom

of the aquarium by the fish.

Sand should bew

ashed absolutely clean(free of clay, dust, soil,

and chemicals) before being

put into the aquarium.

If the sand is not cleanit m

ay contribute more

con-tam

ination than it takes out.Plants can be rooted

in the sand.

CO

NT

AIN

ER

S

Any transparent container

can serve as an aquarium.

Aquaria can ra.ige in size from

a peanut butter jar toa 10- or 20-gallon tank. A

n aquarium should

not behigher than it is w

ide,to insure an adequate oxy-

gen supply.If by chance you have

an aquarium w

itha constricted top,

be sure not to fill it above thew

idest portion.

t."D

CO

It is wise to keep a cover on an aquarium

. A cover

keeps animals in (and keeps intruders out).

Italso prevents excessive evaporation of w

ater. The

cover should be loose-fitting or have a couple ofholes to allow

air to circulate.Y

ou might use

loose plastic wrap over a sm

all container, anda sheet of glass or heavier plastic over a largecontainer.

Leaky aquaria can be sealed by brushing epoxy glue

onto the inside joints. Take the w

ater out first andbe sure all the inside joints are thoroughly dry be-fore you apply the glue.

Allow

to set for 24 hoursbefore refilling w

ith water.

OX

YG

EN

Most dissolved oxygen com

es from the surface of

the water. T

herefore, use a container with a w

ater -'air surface at least as w

ide as the depth of the wa-

ter.Plants do relatively little good as oxygenators

in small containcT

s (10 gallons and under) unlessthey are w

ell illuminated 24 hours a day.

Plantsin

n aquarium of this size are m

ainly for decora-tion.

Bubblers are not necessary unless conditions

are crowded.

Fish that come to the surface and gulp are not trying

to be friendly or to show you that they are hungry.

They are suffocating.

This m

eans that there is notenough surface area, or that there are too m

any fish.It m

ay also mean that the w

hole tank has gone foul.(Y

ou should know if it is foul from

other indications,such as the odor,)

TE

MPE

RA

TU

RE

Heaters can be obtained to keep tropical fish from

being chilled by temperatures below

68F.

But w

hynot use native fish that can take cooler w

ater' (Seep. 35.)

Avoid too m

uch heat.O

ver 80° F.is hard on m

ostfish. A

high temperature low

ers the amount of oxy-

gen in the water and also increases the m

etabolic-rate of the fish, and thus heightens oxygen require-m

ents.'

Rapid tem

perature changes can kill or weaken a fish\

This usually happens w

hen a fish is first put into an"cti

aquarium.

For safety, float a container with the

fish and some of its previous w

ater in the newaquarium

water for an hour before dum

ping the fishinto its new

environment. T

his permits the tem

per-atures to equalize.

WA

TE

R

Chlorine is often present in tap vtater (drinking w

a-ter) in large enough am

ounts to kill water plants

and animals. T

he water m

ay be freed of chlorine byletting it stand tw

o cloys in an open wide-m

outhedcontainer; or by boiling it 20 m

inutes, letting itcool, and then stirring it vigorously for 5 m

inutes;or by treating the w

ater with a few

crystals of pho-tographic hypo.

(Hypo is obtained cheaply from

photo supply stores.It is essentially w

hat you netin expensive sm

all amounts front pet shops undcr

the label of chlorine neutralizer.)

27

Distilled w

ater will not m

aintain lifevery long. L

iv-ing things need m

inerals, and the osmotic balance

of living cells is upset by distilled water.

Cloudy w

ater is most often caused by bacteria, sin-

gle-celled animals, or algae grow

ing in great abun-dance and suspended in the w

ater.T

his happensw

hen there is too much organic m

atterin the w

ater,w

hich in turn is probably due to too much

fish food,contam

inants dropped in by children(gum

, candy,glue, paper), or dead w

ater plants and animals

thathave not been rem

oved.

The quickest cure for cloudy w

ater isto_ start over

again.T

he easiest cure is to add nothing to thecontainer until it clears up.

But there is a chance

that everything will die before the w

aterclears.

Inany case, be sure to look at the cloudy w

ater with

a microscope or m

agnifier.

Do not m

i;stake algae-coated gl:'ss for cloudyw

ater.T

o have algae in the tank, especiallygreen algae,

is a healthy condition. Algae

serve as vegetablesand protection for a population of m

icroscopicani-

mals.

Rem

ove excess algae from the front glass by

scraping. Look at the scrapings under

a microscope.

If you go exploring, you will find

a multitude of tiny

animals living on the sides of the

aquarium.

FEE

DIN

G T

HE

INH

AB

ITA

NT

S

The food you use should depend

on what anim

alsare in your aquarium

.Standard tropical fish food

is a good mixture for m

any forms of life.

Crum

bled

28

dry dog or cat food is similar.

Since different fishhave different eating habits, find out w

hatyour par-

ticular fish need to avoid contaminating the tank

with the w

rong food.(See B

ibliography.)

The healthiest and m

ost interesting fish are slightlyhungry ones.

Never feed m

ore food at any one time

than the fish will eat up com

pletely rightaw

ay. The

water then w

ill not get cloudy. It will be'm

ore inter-esting to w

atch the fish being fed if there is not al-w

ays excess food around.

Most aquarium

animals need to be fed

at most once

a day; some m

ight need feeding onlyonce a w

eek.O

bserve yours to see how m

uch,they need.G

en-erally, large fish and cold-w

ater fisheat m

ore thansm

aller fish and those that live naturallyin w

armer

water.

WH

AT

TO

KE

EP IN

YO

UR

AQ

UA

RIU

M

You m

ay stock your aquarium from

a pet shop, a baitshop, or pond or stream

.Y

our choice will be gov-

1CY

D

erned by the area you live in and the time of year,

as well as by your ow

n inclinations.

A N

AT

UR

AL

PON

D A

QU

AR

IUM

This is the sim

plest and perhaps the most interest-

ing kind of aquarium to set up.

It involves gettingsom

e material from

a pond or lake and dumping it in-

to an empty transparent container or standard glass

aquarium. T

his is called the bucket technique ofcollecting.

No preparation is necessary.

Some

judgment in selection of m

aterials will increase

your chances of success.

At the pond

Take along a bucket or tw

o. It is important to bring

back as much w

ater as possible, but do not fill abucket m

ore than half full.If you fill it full it w

illbe too heavy, and it w

ill spill all over the back ofyour car.

Dip half a bucket of clear w

ater.T

hen pick outsom

e bushy, bunched water plants and plop them

quickly into the bucket of water.

Avoid too m

uchm

ud and bottom silt, as

clouds the water exces-

sively. Tear out som

e algae from rocks or posts and

dump it in.

Take only a little.

Too m

uch plantm

aterial will start a chain reaction of decay that

will foul the w

ater.A

handful or two of plants in a

plastic pail of water should be enough.

Also collect a

ff.-_,wsam

ples of submerged dead

leaves, twigs, and algae-covered rocks.

-

If you have fire, featheryplaits

that are healthylooking, the job of collecting is finished.

You w

illfind that you have collected anim

als* along with the

plants.If you w

ish to spend more tim

e, search andpoke for special anim

als under leaves, in the mud,

or swim

ming about. A

small jar or net or kitchen

strainer may be of help here. Fish, frogs, and sala-

manders are not recom

mended for this collection,

for, as you might have guessed by now

, most of

your aquarium dw

ellers will be sm

all invertebrateform

s easily eaten or disturbed by giants.A

gain,take only a few

.Y

our aquarium w

ill only representa very sm

all fraction of the pond.O

ften one speci-m

en will live w

ell, but several may cause the death

of all.

Transportation

"mr

The faster you get hom

e, the better. The cooler you

keep the water, the better. T

he smaller your collec-

tion of organic material, the longer it %

il, stay alive.

If there is a chance that'the water tem

perature will

rise considerably during transportation, ice cubesshould be dropped into the pail.

the greritcst suc-cess w

ith this kind of collecting can be had in the

29

wintertim

e.- Iregions w

here ponds freeze over inw

inter, the icean be C

hopped to get at plants andanim

als, and some of the ice can be saved to keep

the water from

warm

ing too quickly in thecar or

classroom.

(You w

ill find fewer plants in w

inter,but life is still abundant enough to stock

your aquar-'ium

.)

In the Classroom

Tip the bucket and pour its contents into

your aquar-ium

.If there is a lot of m

ud, shake the plants offin the w

ater and let them float free w

hile them

udsettles at the bottom

of the aquarium.

This is to

insure that the plants aet enough light.It is diffi-

cult to root the plants in soft mud,

so you can justlet them

float.

Keep the containers as cool as possible, and allow

good light for the plants.Put on a lid but allow

anopening,for air circulation.

Let the w

hole thing situntil

the mud has

settled.T

hen your pondaquarium

is ready for observation.T

he animals

make them

selves known by their m

ovement. B

ut bealert. T

hey are small and subtle.

A natural pond aquarium

shoUld not be fed

more than

once a week.

Use just a pinch of fish food.

The

animals eat each other and the plants, and also the

bacteria that decompose dead plants and anim

als.B

y helping the food cycle a little, you can maintain

larger populations, butoo much feeding w

ill usual-ly increase grow

th of bacteria and algae to sucha

degree that the tank will

go foul.

30

Expect the population to change as tim

epasses.

This is all very unpredictable but interesting. Sam

-ple m

aterials can be transferred with

a medicine

dropper or tweezers to m

icro-aquaria (small

con-tainers such as plastic cups or sm

all jars),one for

each child.

The pond aquarium

may run dow

n aftera tim

e.If

active populations are wanted, it is best to

startagain in a few

weeks w

ith a fresh supply ofw

ater,plants and anim

als.

The natural pond aquarium

offersan opportunity to

study the effects of pollution.U

se several con-tainers filled from

the same pond.

Care for one as

,described aboVe, to serve as a control. A

ddto thi

others an assortment of pollutants such

as might be

found iri lakes- nearby.D

etergent is a comm

on pol-lutant_ See w

hat happens when a little is added

toa natural pond aquarium

. Another pollutant is natu-

ral wastes. W

astes serve as food for bacteria,bacteria serve as food for pretozoa, and

so or .Y

oucan sim

ulate this effect by adding too much fish

food to the aquarium and w

atching tosee w

hat hap-pens.

Plants you find in a pond aquarium w

ill includesom

e of those shown on p. 33.

In addition, youw

ill find algae.

Filamentous

algae

Anim

als will be found in m

any sizes.Som

e can beseem

with the naked eye, som

e with a hand lens ,

and some w

ith a microscope.

11"

11

C73

Protozoa (seen througha m

icroscope, 100x)

Flatworm

s(to m

ore thanl-irr.)

Roundw

orms

1

(to4

in.)

Bristle w

orm1

(to i in.).

Tube w

orms

(aboutI

in.)

------,

-'------

-___---i--- -----

'''''.4.7....-...---.

_/"

/...-

..---

,,-.

--...----

-----

Hydras

(less thanI

in.)

Rotifers (seen through

a microscope, 100x)

.p...'54,---..._

Leech

( Iin. to 10 in.)

°DCO

(about5

10in.)

Crustaceans -- C

opepods and Water

fleas(seen through a hand lens)

3I

This group of anim

alscan be seen w

ithouta m

icroFcope. You should find.som

e ofthem

in your natural pond aquarium.

Mosquito larva

II

( in. to 2 in.)5

Giant w

ater bug(to 3 in.)

32

Z.'

Dragonfly larva

1

(to 2 in.)2

Springtail(on surfacep"w

a ter)(to

5in.)

'Water m

ite(to

in.)5

Mayfly larva

(I in.)

Water L

oatman

(1 in.)

Water beetl..

(adult)(larva)

(to I in.)2

(toI

in.)

Dam

selfly larva(to

Iin.)

3Snails (I in. to-4 in.)

CY

'D

SEL

EC

TIN

G PL

AN

TS FO

R T

HE

AQ

UA

RIU

M

Plants serve several pUrposes in an aquarium

be-sides being decorative.

They add to the com

fort ofsom

e fish who like to hide in them

. They help keep

the aquarium clean by absorbing som

e trapped excre-m

ent. They m

ay also help supply oxygen in largetanks. A

pinch of garden fertilizer sprinkled intothe W

ater will m

ake the plant growth m

ore lush.

Plants need light if they are to live.D

on't keep theaquarium

in direct sunlight, but it should be in aw

ell-lighted spot or have its own light source./

Some aquarium

plants float near the surface of thew

ater; others live suspended between the surface

and the bottom.

Still others are rooted.T

he illus-trations on this and the next page are of "tried andtrue" aquarium

plants of all three kinds.T

hey canbe found in m

ost freshwater environm

ents, or inyour nezest pet shop.

Surface PlantsDuckw

eed

Ivy- leaved duckweed

Suspended Plants

Water m

oss

Water m

ilfoil

Stonewort

Bladderw

ort

33

Rooted Plants

Pondweed

(small

species)

Vallisneria

SEL

EC

TIN

G FISH

FOR

TH

E A

QU

AR

IUM

Some fish w

ill' ndt remairralive in captivity.

Others

.

are very delicate and therefore are difficult to ,kealive.

Fish.that can be kept alivee sily in

o'classroom

are illustrated here.Som

can b- ob-tained from

pet shops, some from

pondsand s

earns,E

ach locality has different representativespecies

which m

ight be.used in thesam

e way.

Be sure to

obtain small, young fish. Y

oung fish thatgrow

toglarge should be-rt-turned to their natural habitats.

You can get.m

innows and perhaps freshw

aterpraw

nsin bait stores.

Children in your class--aan go net-

ting in 'Shallow w

ater, with their

parents, to stockyour aguaribm

.

You m

ay choose to keep a single, largefish in a

container without plants or sand.

This m

akes thecontainer easier to clean.

(Just draw dirt off the

bottom'w

ith a large baster syringeor siphon it off

-with a hose.) A

few large rocks

can be used forhiding places or to relieve the visual

monotony for

humans. Som

e animals (such

as sunfish) that orientto thi.eir surroundings in specialw

ays are interestingto /vatch

if you change the"furniture" around.

Cr6yfisn need sand w

hen theyshed their shells.

-Snails sometim

es helpan aquarium

by cleaning ex-cess algae off the sides and by picking

up excessfood.

They can also be a nuisance. T

heym

ay eatplants, carry fish diseases and

parasites (this istrue especially of native snails), becom

eover-abun-

,

./.?ctvSagittaria

dant, or die. They are interesting

to watch, but

34

they are not necessary in an aquarium and they do

not eat fish excrement.

If anything, when num

erousthey m

ake mare L

itter than the fiih.(See p. 44 for

more about snails.)

CO

LD

WA

TE

R E

GG

-LA

YE

RS

50° -.75° F.G

ar eats only live fish.D

ogfish and darter eat meat. O

therseat fishfood as w

ell as meat.

Carp (12-15 in.)

Minnow

(4 in.)

Dogfis h

(30 in.)

Sunfish(6-8 in.)

Goldfish (to 18 in.)

Prawn (to 4 in.)

4

Bullhead

(to 18 in.)

Zebra

(2 in.)

Crayfish (to 5 in.)

Catfish

(2 in. to several ft.)

Gar

(5-6 ft.)

Darter (3 in.)

C\1

WA

RM

WA

TE

R L

IVE

-BE

AR

ER

S

750- 85° F.

Eat fish food.

(These draw

ings are life-sized.)

(t)

(male)

(female)

Guppies

frC4

9(fem

ale)

(male)

Mosquito fish

Moons

WA

RM

WA

TE

R E

GG

-LA

YE

RS

750-

,oF.

Eat fish food.

(These draw

ings are life-sized.)

Tropical catfish

36

Mollie

(male)

LK

EE

PING

LA

ND

AN

IMA

LS

There are tim

es when

you will plan to bring an ani-

mal into the classroom

.T

here are other times w

henchildren w

ill bring themunexpectedly.

It is a goodidea to be prepared in

advance with

appropriate con-tainers for them

.

CA

GE

S

A land anim

al that iskept in the classroom

shouldhave a cage that resem

bles itsnatural environm

entat least in a few

essentials.A

n insect or a warm

-blooded anim

al needsa dry cage; a

Ianclsnail,

salamander, toad or earthw

orm needs

a moist cage.

If you are in doubtas to w

hat kind ofcage a parti-

cular animal needs,

see pp. 41-60 or the Bibliogra-

phy.

A D

RY

CA

GE

This is m

ostly for insects.U

se a piepan, cake

pan or can lidfor the

bottom, and a piece of

glass, plastic or screenfor the too.

The sides

are made of a roll

ofscreen.

You can

tie,hook, sew

or solder itdow

n the seam.

Wire

or tie the bottom to the

sides.

C.D

) j

ForeaI.sy

easy access ,you m

ay want to m

ake a sleevetop' for the ca(ie. U

se a plastic bag with the bottom

slit open, a cotton stocking with the foot cut off,

or any other sleeve you might devise of cloth or

plastic.

Attach it to the top of the cage by sew

ing, or with

glue, string, or binder. The open end of the sleeve

should be closed with a w

ire twist or rubber band

that can be removed and replaced easily.

Providing Water

Even in a dry cage you

will have to provide

water for the anim

als.Insects usually fallinto open containersof w

ater, but almost

all insects are able to sip water out of a piece of

wet absorbent cotton or paper tow

el.T

he best way

to keep cotton we'. continuously is to stick a tight

wad into the m

outh of a bottle of water and then tip

the 1.1ottie on its side. Trim

the fluffy edges of thecotton w

ad with scissors so the insects can reach

the wet fibers.

In nature insects get water from

rain or dewdrops,

from plant juices, from

what they eat, or from

thesoil.

Therefore, if it is convenient you can sprin-

kle the inside of the cage lightly with drops of w

a-ter once or tw

ice a day.

A M

OIST

CA

GE

Any glass or plastic container w

ith a wide top can

serve as a moist cage.

72m777.--,

A. screen lid w

ill keep aninials iron, escaping. Am

eta! or plastic lid will help retain m

ore moisture

than will a screen lid.

But if you use a solid lid,

you must he sure that it is punched w

ith many holes

for good air circulation, or everything in the con-tainer w

ill go eitheAnoldy or sour.

37

Plastic shoe boxes are ideal for medium

-sizedm

oistcages.

To m

ake a transparent container of othersizes, you

can use glass or plastic sheets. Acrylic plastic

canbe glued w

ith model airplane

glue or other appro-priate cem

ent to make a box.

Other plastics or sheets of glass

can be put to-gether w

ith tape to make

a box. Water -seal it w

ithm

elted pitch (tar) or beeswax. (Paraffin

is not tackyenough.) T

o seal, heatthe sealer in a tin can w

ith

38

a pinched lip. Tip the box and pour

a stream of m

elt-ed sealer along each joint

on the inside.E

poxyglue can be used as a sealer.

This kind of cage is not strong

enough to hold to-gether if filled to the brim

with

water.

But if you

do a good job,it should be able to hold

up to aninch of w

ater without leaking.

Place rocks, water-soaked w

ood, andm

oss in thebottom

of the moist cage. D

onot use soil or sand,

Any plants you w

ant to include shouldbe potted in

their own sm

all containers.follow

ing this generaloutline, you should have a

cage that can be cleanedeasily and w

ill not contain materials

that will rot or

decompose in the w

et conditions.

Cleaning

When keeping larger anim

als suchas frogs, sala-

manders, turtles, or snakes, clean

out the cage and

..1A

,.,

CI

wash w

ith soap once a week. For m

ore details, seethe directions for keeping special anim

als, begin-ning on p'. 47.

Tem

perature

You can control tem

perature in a moist cage botri by

selecting a proper location in the classroom and by

adjusting the opening at the top of the cage to pro-vide m

ore or less ventilation.,T

he cover of a moist

gage should never be sealed tight.

Use a therm

ometer to keep a careful check on the

temperature in the cage, especially

if the cageis in the sun, because sunlight (or even an incan-descent lam

p) can quickly raise the heat insideto a lethal level.

To cool the cage, increase

the cover opening. When you need a w

ider open-ing for ventilation to allow

the escape of theheated air, w

atch that the cage doesnot

dryout.

The heat over a radiator is usually too erratic for

good living conditions.If the cage is to be w

armall the tim

e, d shelf or table in an inside corner ofthe room

is the best location. An incandescent lam

pcan be adjusted to ptovide both heat and light.

Ifonly light is w

anted,1 a fluorescent lamp is better

because it is cooler.

To keep a cage cool, set it on a w

indowsill.

The

downdraft of cool air, even w

hen the window

isclosed, w

ill keep the cage cool. But be careful not

to let it freeze in winter.

CO

LL

EC

TIN

G L

IVIN

G A

NIM

AL

S

Special animals for your classroom

zoo can be pur-chased, but in order to encourage the students tofeel involved and to be know

ledgeable about what

lives in their own com

munity it is im

portant to col-lect som

e local animal life

the kinds of thingsthat the children often com

e upon when they go ex-

ploring or when they are playing close to the ground.

An anim

al is fascinating in itself, but itis im

por-tant to realize the relation betw

een the animal's

needs and behavior and tiv place where it lives.

Only an anim

al that is found and collected near itsow

n home can be observed, at least briefly, in its

natural conditions.T

hen you can see whether it

lives in a wet or dry place, if it eats leaves, etc.

It is important for the children to be aw

are of theserelations betw

een the animal and its environm

ent,and they w

ill be more likely to notice them

if theydo their ow

n collecting.

Following are som

e simple w

ays of capturing livingthings successfully and transferring them

to theclassroom

for study.

SMA

LL

AN

IMA

LS T

HA

T M

OV

E Q

UIC

KL

Y

If the animal is not m

oving too fast, you can usuallysneak up on it w

ith a small jar in one hand and a

cover in the other.G

et the animal betw

een the jarand the cover, and w

hen you are close enough to besure of your aim

, quickly close the lid.

39

Many anim

als (especially insects)detect your m

ove-m

ents easily, but it is possibleto sneak up on them

if you move slow

ly.M

any insects can be caughtw

hile they are busyon plants and flow

ers.

If the insect is both alertand a good flier (as is the

butterfly),it m

ay be necessary touse a net. B

utit takes a lot of leg w

orkto chase insects w

itha

net, and we recom

mend this

kind of collecting onlyto those w

ith sufficient time

and energy.

An easy w

ay of collectinginsects w

ith a net iscalled "sw

eeping." Swish

the net back and forththrough the tops of long

grass and weeds, alw

ayskeeping the opening of the

net moving forw

ard. You

collect a lot of weed seeds this

way (w

hich may be

interesting too) but you alsocan get several hundred

insects of different kinds thatyou can see craw

lingand leaping about in all

directions when you invert

the net on the ground.If you w

ish to keepsom

e ofthe'insects, invert the

net over the mouth of a large

plastic bag or jar and shakethe insects out of the

net.

SMA

LL

AN

IMA

LS T

HA

T C

RA

WL

OR

HO

P

mails

,shags

,eaithw

orms, caterpillars

and small

toads can he pickedup w

ith the fingers.If you are

squeamish about this sort of thing,

they can be

iiVC

:067Arr

1,:r -Ma

...L111,11: 1;1.40 r'"''''''"4t4i:;11,

4,44

4

coaxed into a jar or plastic bagw

ith a stick or apiece of stiff paper.

When.using a plastic bag

as a container, blow it up

before tying off thetop.

This insures that there

wil1 be enough oxygen (even from

your breath)to

last the animal for an hour

or two.

The cushion of

air also keeps it from getting

squashed.B

e sureto keep closed containers

out of the sun, as theyheat up very rapidly by collecting

the sun's heatenergy.

(This is called the greenhouse

effect.)

SMA

LL

AN

IMA

LS T

HA

T SW

IMO

R C

LIN

G

If you hunt and pick in small

spring ponds or aroundrocks and w

eeds in streams and

lakes, you may turn

up many interesting creatures that

give themselves

away to a careful observer by their

movem

ent. Bend

down close to the w

ater,because m

any creaturesare sm

all and inconspicuous.

The handiest catching device

is a small aquarium

net. You could also use

a tea strainer or a small

plastic cup. Carry several

plastic bags along tchold your collection.

Put some w

ater in a bag andadd a couple of specim

ens.B

low in about three

times as m

uch air as you havew

ater, and tie a knotin the top of the bag.

This package can be carried

in a pocket (if you dori't siton it) or in a pail, box,

or shoulder bag.

Back in the classroom

, theseanim

als can be put tem-

porarily in a small container

for observation,or they

can be placed in an aquarium.

(See p. 26.)

di

SAM

PLE

S FRO

M N

AT

UR

AL

HA

BIT

AT

S

There is an am

azing variety of tiny living creaturesthat are usually difficult to collect individual.ly butbecom

e evident a few days after a sam

ple of theirnatural habitat is brought into the classroom

.

Here are som

e such samples that can be collected,

carried back in a box or plastic bag, and placed ina m

oist cage for class observation:

I.

Moist and half-rotted dead leaves.

2.Soil from

the woods.

3.Soil from

a swam

py place.

4. Garden soil.

5. Sandy soil and plant debris from a vacant lot.

6.D

ry rotted wood or a m

oist piece of rotted log;

7.D

ry animal dung.

LA

RG

ER

AN

IMA

LS

It is not recomm

ended that you collect native ani-m

als larger than those you can pick up with your

fingers.It is difficult to care for them

, and class-room

conditions may be a hardship and can result in

death. The death of a larger anim

al may be m

oredistressing to the children than that of sim

plerform

s of life.In addition, m

oderation in collecting,

exhibited by leaving more easily identifiable ani-

mals in their proper places in the w

ild, is goodconservation education.

Large anim

als such as rabbits or ducks should be en-couraged in the classroom

in the form of tam

e petsvisiting for a day and then returning hom

e with their

owners. Pets are easier to handle and observe and

are far easier to care for.

IAN

IMA

LS SU

ITA

BL

E FO

R T

HE

CL

ASSR

OO

MI

An anim

al that serves a -special demonstration or

observation purpose or i3 to be kept as a classroompet should be carefully selected for its suitabilityto classroom

conditions.T

here are many anim

alsother than the recom

mended ones that the children

03

41

are likely to bring to school (for example,

turtles,chipm

unks, white m

ice) :M

any of these are eithertoo difficult to keep healthy in the

classroom or are

messy or undesirable for som

e otherreason.

If thechildren bring in anim

als thatare not included in

the groups on the following

pages, it is usuallybest to w

elcome them

,as visitors for the day, andthen have the children take

them back to their

nat-.

ural habitats.

We give here a num

berof anim

als suitable forkeeping in the classroom

,directions for their

care,and suggestions for

activities and observation.

PAR

AM

EC

IUM

200x

The param

ecium is

a single-celled, almost m

icro-scopic anim

al that lives inpond w

ater.It is w

ell-suited to classroom

use because it is easy to cul-ture, it show

s how tiny life

can be, and it demon-

strates interesting and clear-cutreactions to cer-

tain stimuli.

42

If you hold the glasscontainer up to a strong back

or side light, you can barelysee param

ecia with

the naked eye.T

hey appear as small

pinpoints oflight, and can be detected by

their movem

ents.

Small cultures of

Paramecium

caudatum can be

pur-chased from

biologicalsupply houses. T

heycan be

cultured in great numbers if

you provide proper food.Y

ou can also usea dropper to isolate individual

animals from

pond water, and

use them to start your

cultures.

To provide a grow

ing medium

for the paramecia, put

some hay, long dry grass,

or lettuce into enoughpond or lake or aquarium

water to half-fill six

orm

ore jars. Sterilize the water and the

plant material

by boiling for 20 minutes.

This w

ill make a tea that

provides food for bacteriaon w

hich the paramecia

'feed.(B

acteria spores will

get into the jar from the

air after the culturew

ater cools.) When the

water

is cool, pour it into thejars together w

ith a fewpieces of the boiled

grass or lettuce, add thepara-

mecia, and let it sit for

a week or m

ore. Paramecia

grow best in a dark or dim

place.

Use loose covers or glass

plates slightly ajarover

the containers to avoidevaporation of w

ater.K

eepin a cool place.

If any mold grow

son grass stick-

ing out of the water,

remove the pieces of grass.

Stir up the culture occasionallyto break the surface

scum.

The culture w

ill dieout as the param

eciause up the

food, so every two

weeks new

cultures should be

Qi1

made. T

o do this simply transfer som

e of thepara-

mecia from

the old culture to a fresh supply of thegrow

ing medium

.

Observe the culture under a m

icroscope or hand mag-

nifier.T

o prevent rapid movem

ent under the micro-

scope, mix a drop of culture w

ater with a drop of

methyl cellulose paste and cover w

ith a cower glass.

(Methyl cellulose can be obtained from

biologicalsupply houses or from

wallpaper stores.)

You can see m

any organisms w

ith the naked-tye ifyou 'spread a few

drops of culture on a glass plateand .hold it over a dark surface.

Illuminate this

from the side.

Iritroduce weak salt, acid, base'and

other solutions (vinegar, soap, soda pop, etc.) atone end of the glass plate, to show

patterns ofattraction or repulsion.

Observe responses duo to

temperature or light-intensity differences betw

eenthe tw

o ends.

OT

HE

R T

INY

OR

GA

NISM

S

Many kinds of tiny anithals can be cultured by just

adding grass or lettuce to pond or aquarium w

ater.In this case do not boil the w

ater, becauseyou

want to culture the organism

s in it.T

o get agreater variety of life, scrape the side of the aquar-ium

or pick up a small am

ount of debris from the

bottom. T

he population in this culture will change

in time as the food supply or predator population

favors' one or another kind of animal.

Observe

these organisms as you did the param

ecia.(See

above.)

PLA

NA

RIA

4x

A planarian is a sm

all freshwater flatw

orm that lives

in streams.

It is 'between one-fourth and one-half

inch long.It is easy to keep, it has interesting be-

havior, and it exhibits regeneration of parts of thebody.

You can obtain planaria from

biological supplyhouses. T

o collect your own specim

ens, to .0 some

water w

ith plants and debris from a lakv,i-or stream

.L

e:-.ve it in a shallow pan to settle.

In allay or two,

planaria should crawl on the side of the pan or com

eto the surface of the w

ater. They can then be trans-

ferrec: to a jar or a culture dish half-filled with

clear c,quarium w

ater, where they w

ill grow w

ell.

Feed your culture twice a w

eek with one or tw

o tinypieces of raw

beef liver for.,each container.It is

easy to cut small bits from

liver that you keep fro-zen.

Leave bits of liver in the container w

ith theplanaria for ai-out an hour.

Then rem

ove the

4 3

Replace all the w

ater_ with fresh aquarium

water.

(It is easy to pour the water off, because the

worm

sstick to the jar.)

It is important to do this after

each feeding.Y

ou must rem

ove the meat juices

that seep out of the liver, in orderto prevent the

water from

becoming foul.

The container w

ith its planaria cultureshould be

kept in a cool and dimly lit place.

When a planarian gets large enough, it

splits inhalf, usually across the .m

iddle, to producetw

oindividuals. A

healthy culture ofw

orms w

ill multi-

ply rapidly.

Some activities your class can do w

ith planariaare suggested here:

I.O

bserve how a resting planaria w

ill respondto liver that is put gently into illte

container. The

planaria detect food by asense of "taste" in the

head region.

2.Planaria w

ill move aw

ay from strong

light.T

hey will detect the light w

itheye spots.

These

are not true eyes that see images.

They are

light-sensitive nerve endings connectedto the

brain.

3.O

bs.erve the gliding movem

ent of the planaria.glide by m

eans of muscle contractions and

lso by the movem

ent of cilia (microscopic

hairlextensions of cells).

The w

orms can glide ("i'the

surface film of the w

ater.

44

SNA

ILS

Local freshw

ater pond snailsare easiest to keep.

European red ram

shorn snails can be purchasedat

aquarfurn shops.L

arge exotic snails are interest-ing but they are harder to keep alive, and

when they

die they make a larger m

ess.

Snails will do best in algae-coated

containers. To

prepare one, let a container of pond water

sit inthe sun or bright light until

its sides are coatedw

ith algae. The snails

eat the algae and_micro-

scopic organisms. Y

oucan also give them

a pinchof fish food every tw

o daysand a piece of lettuce

every week. If you do not use pond

water, prepare

the water as for an aquarium

.(See p. 27.) D

o notuse untreated tap w

ater.

Fish will often eat

or bothernails.

The snails

exhibit the most interesting

ehavior when they

are kept without fish.

Snails are useful in the classroom because they can

be picked out of the aquarium and placed in a sm

alljar for children to observe.

Children can w

atchclosely to see the use of feelers, m

uscular move-

ments of the foot and the action of the m

outh on thesurfacezof the glass.

Many snails breathe air from

the surface,.althoughsom

e snails have giils.T

hey may be seen at the

surface, opening a sac-like lung on the side of thebody to exchange air. Som

e snails havea long tube

that is stretched up for air when the snail

ap-proaches the surface.

Snails are interesting in that they demonstrate

re-production by eggs. M

ost pond snails are herma-

phroditicthat is, an individual anim

al has organsfor producing both eggs and sperm

.O

ften snailscan be seen side by side and attached to each other,trading sperm

through short tubes.Follow

ing this,both snails w

ill lay many eggs over a period of

several days.T

he 'eggs will be,laichon the glass

and on the plants.

The eggs can be scraped 'off the glass and placed

under a microscope to observe successive stages

of the embryo's grw

th inside.T

he most striking

observation is one that can be made w

itha strong

hand lens.T

he small snail can be seen craw

li.round and round

insidethe

eggjust

beforehatching.

,Soon you should have m

ore snails than you need,and the children can take som

e home fol- pets.

SCU

DS

Scuds, or Am

phipods, are crustaceans related tocrayfish, lobsters, and fairy shrim

p.T

he easiestA

mphipods to raise are G

amm

arus and similar

freshwater species. T

hese animals are com

monly

called scuds; or sideswim

mers.

They are sm

allbut active creatures.

They have m

any legs which

are used for swim

ming, 'grasping ,and respiration.

Place them in a drop or tw

o of water and look

atthem

with a m

agnifier.

Scuds are most easily kept alone or w

ith snailsin a sm

all aquariiuni or large jar.'friey can be col-

lected from pdnd, lake or stream

by the "bucket"m

ethod.(See p', 29.)

Feed them fish food once

a week.

Scuds laylarvae. T

ralulatiocontain=

ris late estsee

the

tiny eggs which hatch into m

icroscopicarvae grow

slowly into the adult form

.vill reproduce to form

a stable pop-num

ber depends upon the size of thethe food supply and other conditions.

Itng to change one condition at a tim

e toopulation can be increased.

45

SOW

BU

GS

Sow buts (A

tmadillidium

or PorcelliOb

are small

isopods that live inmoist soil.

They feed-on de-

.caying plant m

aterial, and so are found in placesw

,here there are decaying leaves and wood.

They can be collected outdoors by turning

over logsand boards that are lying on the soil,

or by separa-ting leaves and hum

us on the ground. Dam

p base-m

ents provide enough food and moisture for them

.

Sow. bugs C

an be baited in a damp basem

ent bycut-

ting two thick slices of raw

, potato ana-layingone

over the edge of the other in a dark corner.Sow

bugs will collect on the underside of the

potatos lice .

1

Place sow bugs in a cottage cheese

carton, half-gallon plastic ice cream

container,or plastic shoe

46

box that has been washed and half filled w

ith soil.M

ix broken up or rotting leaves with the soil to

keep it loose. Sand can also be used instead ofleaves to keep the soil loose. (A

dding sand will'

allow you to find the sow

bugs more easily.)

Keep the soil m

oist and cover the container with

aperforated lid to retard drying but to allow

some air

circulation.

Feed sow bud's on rotting leaves, slices of potato

or carrot, or" a few pieces of unsw

eetened breakfastcereal.

Provide some flat slices of potato, leaves O

r stones=

for the sow bugs to hide under.

ow bugs that are collected in early autum

n shouldreproduce by m

idwinter at the latest. T

hey layeggs

in the debris in their cage, and theyoung look just

-like the adults.

Things to observe:

I.T

hey avoid light.If they m

ust search for foodin a lighted place, they w

ill run froma suddenly

moving sfiadow

.

2.R

esponse to moist and dry objects:

See which

they will C

ling to, of hide under.

3. Note tesponsd to carbon dioxide. B

lowsom

e ofthe gas tow

ard them from

soda water

or a mixture of

vinegar and baking soda.

CY

i

)

4.Put a sow

bug in a box and see if there is anypattern to its response to edges and corners.

5. Observe how

the legs move.

6. See how the feelers m

ove. What can they

sense? Do they detect chem

icals?T

ry touchingthe feelers w

ith toothpicks that have been dippedin different substances.

CR

ICK

ET

S

A continuously reproducing collection of crickets

(Gryllus) can be m

aintained id the classroom. W

ithlittle effort at least tw

o generations can be raised'%

over a period of three to six months.

The best w

ayto start is to purchase a m

inimum

supply of live

crickets from a biologicals O

ply hoUse. T

he crick-ets they usually supply are tdropean house crickets.i,T

hese are the easiest to keep alive under classroomconditions. It is also possible to find native crick-ets in basem

ents and fields, but it is necessary toget one to tw

o dozen to insure that you haire enoughof both sexes and that m

ating will take place.

This should result in the laying of fertile eggs.

Place crickets in a dry cage for insects. (See p. 36.)T

ransferring crickets from one container to another

is much easier if you put the caged crickets in a re-

frigerator for 10 to 20 minutes to slow

them dow

'n.

Supply many. surfaces in the cage for the crickets to

crawl on, cling to and hide under. T

his will-elim

i-nate stress'due to overcrow

ding.. Coarse excelsior

or crumpled paper tow

els % are good for this .

To feed th

crickets, place dry dog food in the cageand supplem

enis w

ith small bits of fresh apple,

celery, and other vegetables.Supply the cage

with 'a w

ater bottle arid also sprinkle the cagetw

ice a day.(See p. 37.)

It:Will not be easy to

clean the cage because of the crickets' activity,but the crickets do riot m

ake much m

ess if a layerof coarse sand or saw

dust is put at the bottomof the cage.

Males w

ill "chirp" to attis internal.

Females can

ovipositor on the rear of teggs in m

oist soil.T

hew

eeks, depending on temp

ct females. Fertiliz *aeon

be identified by the longe body.

They lay_their

ggs hatch in one to two

-rature.

47

To receive the eggs

, place a bowl or box containing

at least an inch of soil into the cricketcage.

Sprinkle the soil each time the cage is sprinkled.

(The soil that 'receives the

eggs should be keptm

oist but not wet.)

Females w

ill be observedrepeatedly inserting the ovipositor into the soilto lay eggs.

The young crickets are m

iniaturecopies of the adult.

There is no com

plete metam

orphosisin this insect.

The young are. called nym

phs.

The young crickets can be left w

ith the adultseven

though some cannibalism

will take place.

Loss

of--Ing is also likely to result because thetiny

young crickets will craw

l out through the screen ofthe cage.

If you wish, you can transfer the

con-tainer of soil to a glass container, to retain theyoung m

ore effectively.If you do this, be sure to

provide thadults w

ith more soil for egg-laying.

Care for the young the sam

ew

ay as for adults. The

young undergo a series of moults (skin-shedding)

during growth. A

fter each moult they

appear whit-

ish in color; they darken to brown

or black in abouta day. C

rickets live an average of two to four

months. C

ooler temperatures (60°

to 700) prolonga cricket's life, but then the life activities

are al-so slow

ed up.

Each child can be provided w

itha sm

all coveredplastic container containing

one cricket, a largepinch of saw

dust, a wet w

ad ofabsorbent cotton,

and tl.ve kernels of dry puppy-sizeddog food.

48

cricket

dog food

absorbentcotton

sawdust

The cricket w

ill live in this small cage for several

weeks if food and w

ater are provided regularly.B

esure to keep the dog food aw

ay from the w

et cottonand avoid getting the saw

dust wet, or m

old will take

over. If mold is seen grow

ing, remove the contents,

wash the container and start again. W

hen changingcontainers, rem

ember that cool crickets jum

p nei-ther so fast nor so far as w

armones.

Observe these things abotit crickets:

I.rinds of food consum

ed.

2. Response to light.

3. Use of antennae.

4.L

ocomotion.

5.M

ating behavior.----

6.Production of chirping.

r7.

Eating and drinking behavior.

GR

ASSH

OPPE

RS

Grasshoppers can be kept in the sam

e way as crick-

ets (see p. 47), but only a few can be kept in each

cage.Fem

ales already fertilized will lay eggs un-

der the same conditions as crickets.

It is more

difficult to get grasshoppers to mate in

a cage.

Grasshoppers need sunlight to rem

ain vigorous.T

hey are more m

essy than crickets, and thecage

should be cleaned once a week. G

rasshopperscan

be cooled for transfer.(See C

rickets.)T

hey eata variety of foods including lettuce, sliced apple,tall grasses, clover, new

ly sproutedgrass seed

(which can be planted,right in the cage) and

bran(bran flakes breakfast cereal). T

hey also needw

a-ter.

To provide it, use a w

ater bottle and periodicsprinkling.

Meadow

grasshopper

Migrato.y grasshopper

Chrysalis of giant sw

allowtail

Cocoon of ailanthus silk m

oth

CO

CO

ON

S AN

D C

HR

YSA

LID

S

The bodies of m

any insects undergo a complete

change or metam

orphosis during theirlife cycle.

They go from

egg to larva to pupa to adult.A

cat-erpillar is a larval stage.

A cocoon is a protective case of silken thread

woven

by some larvae.

Inside it, the insect goes throughits pupal stage, protected from

its natural enemies

and from the w

eather.T

hen it emerges. as an adult.

(Most m

oths make cocoons.)

A chrysalis is the pupa of a butterfly.

The larva

fastens itself to a branch or 1)oard,

hancm\cs

down.

Then it sheds its caterpillar skin, and the

next skin forms a hard protective covering for the

pupal stage. This form

of pupa" is calleda chrysalis.

After a period varying from

days to months,

an adultbutterfly em

erges from the chrysalis.

j-1 4 9'

You are m

ost likely to find cocoons and chrysalidsin the late fall or early spring.

Look in sheltered

spotsunder boards and rocks, on the ground in

debris or lightly covered with soil, on fences or

houses, on bushes, on tree branches or between

ridges on the bark.M

ost caterpillars eat one par-ticular kind of plant as the m

ain part of their diet,so you are likely to find the cocoons or chrysalidsof a particular species near particular kinds ofplants.

(See Field Book of Insects by Frank E

.L

utzfor a list of plant-insect associates.)

When you find a cocoon or .chryszlis,

you will w

antto keep it under conditions sim

ilar to those outdoors.K

eep it in a gallon jar, so that when the m

othor

butterfly emerges it w

ill have plenty ofroom

tospread its w

ings.Put a one-inch layer of m

oistsoil or sphagnum

moss on the bottom

of thejar, and

then add a few sticks of w

ood for the adult tocraw

lon w

hen it emerges.

Place the pupa in the jar,above the soil but not touching it, and

cover the jarw

ith a piece of screening. Sprirkle lightly.

The tem

peraturg at which you keep the

cocoon orchrysalis w

ill determine how

long the adult takesto

emerge.

If the pupa is kept ina w

arm room

the adult will usually em

erge in abouttw

o months'

time.

If you keep the jar in the classroom during

the winter, do not let the pupa dry

out.Sprinkle

the soil regularly, but be carefulnot to overw

ater,or the pupa w

ill become m

oldy.

A pupa found and brought indoors in late fall

would

become an adult in m

id-winter. Som

eadults norm

al-

;30

ly reproduce and die without feeding.

Mating w

ouldof course be im

possible in winter.

Othen w

ouldnorm

ally live longer, but you may find it difficult to

provide the kind of food they would usually eat.

Therefore prepare to kill the insect painlessly by

exposing it to vapor from nail polish rem

over (ethylacetate) in a closed jar for one-half hour.

The in-

sect can then be displayed.(A

lso see Lutz's Field

Book of Insects.)

To allow

a pupa to follow its natural

course of devel-opm

ent, keep its jar outdoors in a well- ventilated,

sheltered spot. An unheated garage

or porch isideal.

Do not let the sun shine on the jar; or it w

illoverheat it.

If no. suitable outdoor spot is available,you can delay em

ergence until the normal tim

e bykeeping the jar in the refrigerator.

You can have the children w

atch forem

ergencew

here the pupa has wintered, if convenient,

orbring it into the classroom

as spring approaches.T

here is no "need to sprinkle the soil ina jar 1:cpt

outdoors:

After everyone in the class has had

an opportunityto look at the adult insect, encourage them

to letit go outdoors.

If you wish to keep it in the class-

room, see the B

ibliography (p.17) to 1,i nt)f-

moth or butterfly and find out w

hat itoats.Som

eadult insects live for only a few

days, butothers,

such as the Monarch butterfly, m

ay live fora year.

If the merging adult is a fem

ale itm

ay la,?but these w

ill not develot unless a male is

pres-ent also.

You m

ay want to try keeping a caterpillar to w

atchit go into the pupal stage of its life cycle, and thenw

atch for the adult insect to emerge. Y

our chancesfor success are best if you find a large caterpillarthat m

ay be ready to pupate within a few

days.For food for the caterpillar you w

ill need to gatherfresh leaves of the kind of plant you find the cater-pillar on.

These m

ust be gathered fresh daily, oryou m

ay try storing some in a plastic bag in the re-

frigerator.

ME

AL

WO

RM

S

The m

ealworm

(Tenebrio m

olitor) is the larval formof a beetle that is found in stored grain.

Meal-

worm

s can be purchased in pet shops in lots of 25or. 50, or from

bis)logical supply houses.

To culture, put the larvae in a low

plastic container,box or jar of about one quart capacity.

(A plastic

shoe box is ideal.) Cover the larvae w

ith about 2cups of w

hole-grain corn or wheat. G

ood substitutefoods are cornm

eal, a mixture of unsugared corn

flakes and bran breakfast cereals,

or dry enrichedbaby cereal.

Add thick slices of potato, apple

or carrot, or apple cores, to the top to providem

oisture. Replace these w

hen dry or moldy.

Crum

ple some paper tow

elling and place over thefood to provide cover and hiding places for theadults. W

eigh the paper down w

ith a stone sothat it is not higher than the sides of the container,or the adults w

ill crawl out. A

cover is not neededif the container has sm

ooth sides, because theadult beetles rarely fly, especially if there isenough food and m

oisture provided.

Mealw

orm larvae hatch from

tiny eggs that are hardto see because they get covered w

ith dust and de-bris. T

he eggs hatch about a week after they are

laid. The young are sm

all and difficult to find.T

hey grow slow

ly, shedding their skins severaltim

es. They are shiny, dry, a yellow

-brown color,

and fairly plump w

hen healthy. They grow

to aboutone inch long before they pupate.

The pupa is w

hitish in color and is shorter and wider

than the larva.. looks like a sm

all, shrouded mum

-m

y form. T

he pupa changes to the adult form in one

to three weeks.

The adult beetle is w

hite at first,then gradually

turns brown, and finally black.

The adults need

,5) C

JIn

moisture in order to m

ate and layeggs.

Be sure to

continue to provide slices of vegetableor fruit on

the cereal.

The w

hole cycle will take fror

three to six months,

depending upon temperature, food

and moisture.

Itis ordinarily possible, how

ever,to find a tim

e when

larvae, pupae, and adultsare present at once.

Surplus larvae can be fed to toads,salam

anders, orother insect-eaters in

your classroom zoo.

The individual insects

can be handled by childrenon their desks or in sm

all boxesor plastic contain-

ers.(Paper boxes provide

a better crawling surface

than plastic.)

Observations of m

ealworm

sm

ay include the follow-

ing:

I.L

ife stages and metam

orphosis.

2.R

esponse to moisture

or dryness.

3.M

eans of locomotion.

4.R

esponse to barriers.

5.R

esponse to light.

6.R

esponse to a lharcl surfaceas com

pared with a

pile of bran.

7.B

ehavior of adults as compared w

ith behaviorof

larvae.

52

Other things to observe

are included in Elem

entaryScience Study, B

ehavior of D./lea 'w

orms, listed in

the Bibliography.

FRU

IT FL

IES

Fruit flies (Drosophila)

can be attracted to ripeor

decaying fruit duringsum

mer and autum

n.Y

ou may

be successful in winter

too if the flies have hiber-nated in the building.

It is also possible, butrare,

to get fruit which has fruit fly

eggs or larvae on it.

To prepare a bottle for fruit flies,

place a piece ofbanana in it, sprinkle the banana

with a little dry

ysast, add a piece ofpaper tow

el for the larvae toclim

b on, and tape apaper funnel into the m

outh ofthe bottle so that

a small opening (about an eighth

of an inch across) extendsinto the bottle.

The flies w

ill follow the odor

into the trap, but will

not be able to find the small

When several

flies have been caught, plug theopening of the fun-

nel with absorbent cotton. Y

ou may w

ant tl replacethe funnel w

ith cotton, but if so, you have to move

very quickly to keep the fruit flies from escaping.

The captured adults w

ill lay eggs on the banana, andthe larvae w

ill hatch and feed on the yeast. Then

they climb on the paper tow

el and pupate there. The

complete life cycle takes about tw

o weeks.

More generations of flies can be bred by transfer-

ring adults to bottles with fresh yeast and banana.

If the banana is mashed into the new

bottle so thatit w

ill not fall out, the new bottle can be inverted

quickly over the old after removing the cotton plug,

and the flies will fly upw

ard into their new cage.

You m

ay find it easier to observe flies in a smaller

bottle without food in it.

Transfer them

in the same

way.

For more elaborate fruit fly culturing, refer

paper cone

tape

piece ofpaper tow

el

banana

to Drosophila G

uide by Dem

erec and Kaufm

an, pub-lished by C

arnegie Institution of Washington,

D.C

., 1967, 50 cents.

Observe:

I.L

ife stages of fly:egg, larva, pupa, adult.

2. Response to light:

See how the flies behave

when you shine a light on one side of the bottle or

slip the bottle into a construction-paper sleevew

ith a window

cut in it.

3. Response to odors: Put spots of different odors

in a large container.(T

ry fruits, perfumes, flavor-

ings.) Transfer som

e flies to the container and seeif they are attracted by particular odors.

4. Response to vibration: T

ap the bottle in differ-ent w

ays.

5. Craw

ling behavior: Watch w

ith a magnifier.

6. Eye color.

BE

ES

A dem

onstration hive of bees, including a queen andw

orkers,

may be obtainable from

your biologicalsupply house.

If not, the supply house should beable to suggest a source for a hive.

The dem

onstration hive is a very handy unit de-signed to be set inside a w

indow. T

he beesgo in

53

and out through a plastic tube insertedin a hole

bored through the window

frame.

The hive has

transparent plastic sides. The com

b is inside,and

all the activity of the hivecan be observed. N

ohandling of bees is necessary.

The hive is sm

all andm

ay need extra feeding with

honey to maintain it.

(A container is provided.)

The m

ost important consideration

for a healthy hiveis to install it in the spring

so that the bees cancollect pollen actively during the

summ

er. A hive

installed in the fall in cold climates

will not show

much activity.

Theoretically, the hive should continue

indefinitely,but keeping the bees alive through

the winter poses

special problems of fueding and heating.

It is bestto replace the bees each spring.

*Sod.ips Papeof

:4_14 s.Z4.1'

"')1

.if)!

r -0

Th

N.

)S.

1

(-2in.)

54

1'

GU

PPIES

Guppies (L

ebistes reticulatus)are sm

all minnow

snative to C

entral Am

erica. They

are easily kept inthe classroom

because theycan stand variations

in temperature from

65° to 900 F.,

if the changesare not too rapid. G

uppies eat a variety of food.T

hey mate readily under alm

ostany circum

stances.T

he eggs are hatched internally, and theyoung are

retained within the fem

ale's body.T

he young areborn fully able to sw

im and feed.

Obtain guppies from

pet storesor from

the children.(Som

eone almost alw

ays has too many.)

Keep them

in an aquarium.

(See p. 26.)If you have just tw

oguppies, they can be kept in a quart jar. Feed themstandard fish food or special guppy food bought

ata pot shop. A

dults sometim

es eat the young,so it

is best to provide plants as hiding places.

Observe;

I.H

ow fins and tail w

ork.

2.D

ifferences between m

ale and female:

The pres-

ence of the gonopodium indicates a m

ature male fish.

CID

The gonopodium

is a modified fin used for transfer-

ring sperm. M

ales are usually smaller and m

orebrightly colored than fem

ales.

3.M

ating behavior: The m

ale transfers a spermpacket to the opening in the fem

ale's body neer theanal fin.

4.B

reathing: Note increase in respiration rate

with w

armer w

ater and lack of oxygen.

5.Feeding habits: Fish can be trained to com

e toa particular spot to be fed if the food is alw

ays putin the sam

e place. They usually becom

e condition-ed to seek food w

hen they perceive motion of large

objects (people).See if they w

ill respond in thesam

e way if they are not hungry.

6.T

he flow of blood in the tail of a young guppie

can be easily seen with a m

icroscope.C

atch thecjuppie in a net and w

rap it in wet tissue, leaving

its tail sticking out on a wet m

icroscope slide.T

his shouldn't harm the guppie if you unw

rap andreplace it in the aquarium

within 5 m

inutes.

Gow

ns H

The goldfish (C

arassius auratus) sold in varietystores and pet shops are sturdy and easy to keep inthe classroom

.Y

pu will not need aerators or

heaters for them.

To prepare your aquarium

, set the empty tank w

hereyou w

ill want to keep it, in a cool place and out of

direct sunlight.Sand or gravel is not necessary,

unless you want it for anchoring plants.

Fill the aquarium w

ith tap water.

The w

ater shouldrem

ain in the aquarium at least 24 hours, preferably

long.er, before the fish are added, so that the chlo-rine w

ill have disappeared. At this tim

e also fill aplastic bucket or open jug w

ith water w

hich will be

"aged" and ready to replenish the supply in theaquarium

as it evaporates.Y

ou can use a fewdrops of hypo or the w

ater dechlorinator sold in petshops to age the w

ater more quickly.

After the w

ater in the aquarium has cleared and has

aged for several days, purchase your fish, a dip net,and a supply of 'fish food.

Select lively, mcclium

-sized fish.

Check to see that there are no dead or

sluggish fish in the tank at the store.If there are,

there is a greater likelihood that the fish you buyw

ill also be diseased.,

The fish w

ill be given to you in a plastic bag. Floatthe unopened bag in the aquarium

for about an hour

CD

55

56

before releasing the fish.T

his allows the tem

pera-ture of the w

ater inside and outsidethe bag to equal-

ize.T

he shock of rapidtem

perature change will

kill a fish.

The usual difficulties w

ithkeeping goldfish result

from keeping the aquarium

too warm

, having thefish in too sm

all containers,or overfeeding. Feed

the fish only a small pinch

of food every other day.Pet shops m

ay recomm

endenough food to be eaten

in five minutes every day,

but ordinarily a feedingevery other day w

ill be sufficient.It is easy to

train goldfish tocom

e for food if you always feed

them at the

same tim

e and in the same portion of

the tank. You can also

tap lightly on the aquariumjust before you add the food.

If much debris accum

ulatesat the bottom

of the tank,siphon it off.

If the. fish come to the surface

andgasp for air, either they are overcrow

dedor the

water has becom

e foul.For the first situation,

pro-vide an additional container; for

the second, siphonm

ost of the water out and replace it from

your agedw

ater supply.

Observe:

I.H

ow does a goldfish use fins and tail

for move-

ment? W

hich fins are used form

oving up and down,

which for m

oving forward?

Does, the fish

move

backwards?

2.N

oce rate of gill movem

ent incom

parison totem

perature of water.

3. Observe fish from

a distance so as not to dis-turb them

, and note the region ofthe container in

which they are m

ost oftenseen.

Observations

,-m

ig'ht be made at five-m

inuteintervals. D

o all fishbehave this w

ay?

-4.N

ote feeding habits. What

makes fish com

e tobe fed?

5.T

est for favorite kinds of food.T

ransfer a fishto a sm

all container, and cleanout food that is not

eaten. Try sm

all bits of the following:

plastic,nails, oatm

eal, carrot, wood,

insects, hamburger,

cheese, cracker, lettuce.

TO

AD

The com

mon toad (B

ufo americanus)

makes an excel-

lent pet for the classroom.

It will often live for

many years.

Keep the toad in a m

oist cage and provideit w

ith adish of w

ater to sit in occasionally.(T

ap water

does not seem to harm

toads.)C

lean the cageevery w

eek with soapy w

ater and rinse thoroughly.Provide som

e sunshine.

Feed a toad with m

ealworm

s, earthworm

s, cridketsand other insects tw

ice a week or m

ore.T

he more

a toad eats, the faster it grows. D

uring the winter

beef liver or chicken liver can be dangled fromtw

eezers in front of the toad. If you can dangle thefood so as to sim

ulate the movem

ent of a livingthing, the toad should eat it.

Keep the cage betw

een SO° and 65° F.

(See p. 39.)T

he toad will then eat less and live longer.

It may

be necessary to warm

the toad to get it to eat.It

can be warm

ed by holding it in your hand.W

henyou pick it up, it m

ay elimate w

ater,but this is

harmless.

It is an interesting behavior characteris-tic for protection.

The liquid tastes bad and w

ouldm

ake an animal drop the toad from

its mouth.

Obseive:

I.E

ating behavior:T

his is dependent upon thetoad's seeing m

ovement.

Place a hungry toad onthe table and set m

ealworm

s in front of it.W

atchthe use of the tongue to catch food. O

bserve thetoad's use of the front feet to position food in them

outh.

2. Movem

ent and use of legs.

3.T

hat quality of the skin which prevents the. toad

from drying out. C

ompare w

ith frog or salamander.

4. Sex differences: Males w

ill usually croak orpeep w

hen grasped with fingers behind the front

legs, and females w

ill not.T

he male has large

thumbs on the front feet. T

here is no other simple

way of telling sex.

S.E

yes: Eye sockets extend into roof of m

outh.E

yes are used to force food down w

hen swallow

ing.

6. Where are the toad's nerds (nostrils)?

7.D

oes it have teeth?(Y

es.)

8.D

oes it have toenails?(N

o.)

SAL

AM

AN

DE

RS

Tiger salam

anders and their relatives arc easiest tokeep, but other salam

anders also live well in the

classroom. L

ike toads, they require little attentionand eat w

ell. They m

ay be kept even cooler thantoads (35° F.)

just don't change the temperature

very rapidly: Salamanders require up to one inch

k-14

CID57

of water in the bottom

of the moist

cage, but other-w

ise should be treated exactly liketoads.

(Seep. 56.) Salam

anders are usuallya little m

ore ag-gressive. T

hey will eat liver better than toads

andthey m

ay learn to take food without

its being dan-gled.

RA

TS

The laboratory rat is one of the

tamest and m

ostpredictable of classroom

pets foryoung children.

For school use they are much better

than mice.

Their soft fur invites

handling, and their largesize m

akes them less vulnerable

to injury.A

lso,they have far less odor than m

ice.T

hey arerarely inclined to nip, as

a hamster does,, and

they do not move w

ith quick,unpredictable

motions.

A cage for rats should have

a removable tray and a

hinged top.U

nless you are especially handyat

making things

, you would do best to buy a standard

laboratory cage. Cleaning m

ust be doneevery day,

or odor will build up. A

proper cage for 'easyclean-

ing has a wire grid bottom

that allows

droppings andurine to fall through. W

ash thecage w

ith soap ev-ery w

eek. Provide the rats with

a water bottle, not

/(

58

a dish of water.

This can be m

ade according to thediagram

below or bought from

a pet shop.Provide

shreds of paper for bedding.

Test tube a

Glass O

r

One-holed

rubberstopper

copper tubeW

atering Bottle

for Mam

mals

Feed rats standard rat food, called "labchow

."T

his is a balanced diet, and since itis a dry, pel-

leted food,it w

ill keep cage mess at

a minim

um.

Rats w

ill eat almost anything

a human w

ill (and afew

other things besides),so other food can be of-

fered occasionally as a treat.

The rats you obtain from

a pet shot'f biological

supply house should be youngones.

,Rats m

ature atthree to four m

onths andare old at one and one-half

to two years.) T

o tame

young rats, you should han-dle them

every day.If you handle them

gently and

CC

)

never tease or hurt them,

they will enjoy com

ingout of their cages , especially if they are given asm

all treat each time. R

ats, especially young ones,m

ay occasionally leave droppings when taken out

of their cages and handled, but they are much better

about this than mice.

A m

ale and a female rat can be kept together in one

cage successfully.B

ut the male should be rem

ovedw

hen the female has given birth and during the tim

eshe is caring for the young. B

e sure to handle them

ale daily to keep him tam

e.D

o not handle the fe-m

ale until the young have their eyes open and arescam

pering about.

The cage is the rat's hom

e territory.If anything

is poked into the cage, the rat, like most rodents,

will bite it.

He thinks that it is food, or he as-

sociates it with an irritant.

Be sure that the chil-

dren do not poke anything, whether fingers or food

or pencils or sticks, through the wire, to avoid

training the rat to respond in ways that m

ight make

the animal unsafe to handle. T

each the rat to come

to the door when you open it, by offering a treat

each time.

Then w

hen you want to take it out you

won't have to reach into the cage to grab for it.

GE

RB

ILS

The easiest laboratory m

amm

al to keep is the gerbil,a desert rat from

Asia.

Gerbils have very lim

itedliquid w

aste, and their droppings are dry and verysm

all and have almost no odor. "T

herefore, the cageneeds cleaning only once a m

onth.

One draw

back for young children is that gerbils arcvery quick, active anim

als, and are hard for cnil-.-dren to handle. B

ut they are Bch m

ore fun to watch

than most rodents.

They ar-- never still a m

inute,and they are extrem

ely curious.

Gerbils are m

ost easily caged in an unused or leakyaquarium

or terrarium fitted w

ith a screen top.In

this way they can be easily w

atched but are protect-ed from

teasing. The m

ore room they have, the hap-

pier they will be.' Put an inch of w

ood shavings onthe bottom

and provide paper or cloth for bedding.(T

hey will shred it them

selves.)G

erbils like toclam

ber over and under objects such as paper tubes,tin cans or boxes.'

Provide the animals w

ithE a w

atering bottle, not aw

ater dish.(See p. 58.) K

eep the cage dry. Feedthem

"lab chow" (see p. 58.) and supplem

ent itw

ith a mixture of seeds such as ham

ster food. Give

59

,occasional treats of other foods suchas potato chips

and dry breakfast cereals.

Buy gerbils from

a reputable dealer,of.pets,w

ho will

guara -itee that he has sold you ayoung m

ale and fe-m

ale.(It is hard to tell the.sex w

henthey are

young.) At three m

onths ofage, gerbils are ready

to mate.

It takes 24 days after mating for the

youngto be born. T

he male m

ay be leftin the cage w

henthe young are born.

He w

ill not bother them.

Do

not handle the females

or the young during the peri-od of nursing, w

hich lasts aboutsi., w

eeks. Tile

family group m

ay be kept togetherindefinitely if the

cage is large enough.A

gerbil may live one and

ono-half to two years.

-OT

HE

R A

NIM

AL

S

Several other animals

may also prove to be good

classroom riots.

If you wish to experim

ent,w

e sug-gest you find out about

some of th62 follow

ing:ti

hydrasW

ater fleas (daphnia)Spiders (w

eb weavers)

Blow

fliesB

rine shrimp

Parakeets (budgerigars)Z

ebra finchesA

merican cham

eleons (anole)1

nestersS nn

60

TE

MPO

RA

RY

HO

USIN

G FO

R T

RA

,k1SIEN

TS

There-are anim

als that youT

ay want to keep' for +

afew

days for a particular lessone'en thous h they

are not suitable for extended staysin the classroom

.T

he general rule is to keep theircages as rruch

their natural habitatsas possible.

Ants:

Keep in-a jar filled w

ith n,.oist soil.Sot the

jar in a basin of waterso that ants

cannot escape.

Beetles:

Keep in m

oist soil. Cover the container

with w

ire screen, or with a.v,rell-punctured

jar lid.

Earthw

orms:

Put in flov.'or pots oc terraria.T

heyw

ill burrow dow

n, but shouldcol-f,e to the surface

again if you water the pot.

l'rogs:U

se a largo container,in w

hich jou ca:-:place w

ater ancla rockor other (Iry silrface for the

frog to .sit on. Cover w

ithscreen.

Tadpoles:

Keep in pondw

ator or aged .'ater.T

heycan be put in your aquarium

with your fish.

Feedw

ith boiled lettuce.(Sec under Parw

:eciucn,3 -..%

)

I

WH

EN

CH

ILDR

EN

BR

ING

TH

ING

S IN

Chi ldfen often bring things to show

at school, eitheron their ow

n or with som

e encouragement.

These

are often living thingsa butterfly, an unusual

seedpod, a cocoon, a leather.Shells and rocks

are often collected by childr.en, and a -child may

bring to school all or part of his personal collec-tion.

When a child brings a specim

en to class, how m

ightyou take full advantage of the situation for the edu-cational benefit of both the child and his class-7rnates?

This section contains specific suggestions

on how to guide the child in m

aking his report to theclass, how

to stimulate class., discussion and=

spec-ulation about the specim

en, and how to help'the

children get further :information about it.

The section deals separately w

ith animals: plants,

and racks and fossili.

t

El M

I 3CD

WH

EN

CH

ILD

RE

N B

RIN

G A

NIM

AL

S INT

O T

HE

CL

ASSR

OO

M

When a child brings a living anim

alspecim

en toschool, the follow

ing questionscan serve as the

framew

ork of his report to the class:

IN W

HA

T K

IND

OF PL

AC

E W

AS T

HE

AN

IMA

LFO

UN

D? (W

et, dry, sunny, shady, etc.)W

HA

T W

AS IT

DO

ING

WH

EN

YO

UFIR

ST SA

W IT

?

WE

RE

TH

ER

E O

TH

ER

S LIK

E IT

TH

ER

E?

Have the child take the specim

en aroundso that

every mem

ber of the class can have a close look atit.

If the specimen is very sm

all, providea m

agni-fying glass. W

hen the children have hadtim

e tow

atcn how the anim

al breathes,m

oves, etc. , ask:

HO

W D

O W

E K

NO

W T

HIS A

NIM

AL

IS .):AiL

IVE

?

WH

AT

IS TH

E N

AM

E O

F TH

E A

NIM

AL

?

On p. 63 you w

ill find a key to picture chartsthat

may help identify the anim

al.If it is still unidenti-

fied, see the Bibliography for, further help.

Bear in

mind that identification is not

a goal in itself butserves as a load to further inform

ation.

WH

AT

OT

HE

R T

HIN

GS W

OU

LD

WE

LIK

E T

O K

NO

WA

BO

UT

OU

R SPE

CIM

EN

? (How

it eats, how it

cioans itself, how it spins

a web, how

it laysec)qs, how

it builds a nest.)

If part of an animal, such as a feather,

a bone, theskin shed by a snake, a pupa case,

or a shell isbrought in, ask:

62

WH

AT

PAR

T O

F TH

E A

NIM

AL

IS TH

IS SPEC

IME

N?

WH

AT

IS ITS JO

B?

These questions should generate activity

of two

kinds:farther observation and reading.

Observation and experim

entationm

ay be canied onin the classroom

.(See p. 90 for

museum

exhibitsof living things, and pp. 42-60 for

discussions ofspecific anim

als.),, To obtain certain inform

ation,further observation in the anim

al's natural habitatm

ay be necessary. In this case have ti.child w

hobrought the anim

al take it back to where it

was

found and observe it and others likeit there.

(This

might be an assignm

ent for a comm

ittee.)

The B

ibliography syggest$sources for further infor-

mation about anim

als the childrenare m

ost likely dobring into the classroom

.A

lso check the index forother references in this handbook.

If the animal.brought in is a pet, classroom

discus-sion m

ight follow this pattern:_

WH

AT

BR

EE

D O

F AN

IMA

L IS IT

?

HO

W O

LD

IS IT?

WH

AT

DO

ES IT

EA

T? H

OW

IS IT C

AR

ED

FOR

DO

ES IT

HA

VE

SPEC

IAL

usr.6?

See p.to help von decide w

hether 'iou want to

}:cep a partcular animal in the classroom

s, or send ithom

e.

KE

Y: W

HIC

H A

NIM

AL

IS IT?

CO

UN

T T

HE

LE

GS

.

See Index forinform

ation andbibliographical references

Illustratcti onD

oes it have no legs?par:es

If its body is covered with scales it is probably

..

a snake71

If its body is naked (no hair, no scales) it is probably.

a worm

69

If it has no legs but does have one "foot" it isa m

ollusc70

Does it have tw

o legs and feathers?If so, it is

a bird

Does it have tw

o legs and hair?If so, it is

a mam

mal

Does it have four legs?If its body :135 hair, it is

.a m

amm

al72

If its body is covered with scales, it is

a reptile--71

If its body has neither hair nor scales, it isan am

phibian71

Does it have si%

legs?If so, it is

an insect64-t,8

Does it have eight legs?

If so, it is probablya spider

69

Does it have fourteen legs?

If so, it may be

a sov., bug. h9

Does it-have m

any legs and does it look like a worm

?If so, it m

ay beor it m

ay beor it Ina Y

be

a centipedea

n illipedean insect larva

6(1

-:a

63

1-71\TS7T

LIrrC

YC

LE

S 1

Egg

Larva

PupaA

dult

Golden-eye

Lacei.vind

)

1

(.- t IF;in.)

,(

,,

in.)li

,_ ,.-.-

in.)

'''

.,1/4\_

,

...

44.

i

1;1.)

NIonarch B

utterfly

(1 i 1 . )

f,(t t>

2 in.)

,.14.

...Pie

f1

1

((

'1

1:.),

1.

....-%,

.;:i 1.4411111iiii.

.1. ;1

ta1 it.

..7t":111ilikk 1/4\

''''cVIIPillt,

0tili

iAlat:Pilibk,N

ik,,.%

,ipp.-__...edillills.k794..-4-....18.%

0.......

.

'.1,-)c;p,4%

)

-,'.i .:,'

AO

/4A°

tit..,

li.

,' ti

42t..

.&'..'

(tj1

Ir..)

+,

%

0K

.gr,."''

\ ".?,4,1.., ../

/..,

,

y/:fr.:: ......

C''.

'1

,

. -..

-,

1 ri . )

1

/:.

ill'/

ik i

,.

1.i t

f -12li".

6'1* N

o nie,wurem

ent

Ci;

Larva

Pupa

Tent C

aterpillar

,....,,,,

,X

e',; .s,

"../%

.-'

*-$1!

.

.,.1

(J n. ; .I.

'g,,--

in.)

,

, 'A

' ...t...,

i't:-_,2 in.)

,,..

V

i.

/...,,. ,

----:a,

--

'.

...,' -,."

--::̂,

....:-

L..

in.)

.... --.,z.- c

..----

.....--.-4.--..,

\ -, ,1'- q\N)

''....

-i.--)ni l'..

1;0,-trf

-.''t''''I'll'i' 44'

I`1.

'' P1

".

.

' V

( t.

'

I

i :: . )

...

--.

,,,....

,...

..

,..

-_

,..

.

;;:441k.4,- '''"..:.--

t:\444

l,

V704),

r-il!.

,,

,)

s t%

M.::,..4

:.. 0 I.

S..A

..., I.'°/..f...,*(.'"

41j...,

. '

,..v

..

-..

.. .

, -

/ ..°. s/.e

*---.....-.....-.....

.V

........-..r.1

........c...-:..-...__t_,,........

..

.-i",.

, ' :'

-1-

.......-1-,f,

, /2

',...;

...

e

'.(

,,.....,....-..--..

...!..

0 U.

I. Ul

11011

.

Egg

Larva

PupaA

dult

Mosquito

Mill N

il 1111111t

......-.4

.k : 4i4.11-;

\ 1. 44,....--:--,4: x-ii....-----

...

r.-

......

_(toin.)

1)

'440W0t*

(toin.)

in.)(-tingle egg _5

in.)3

House Fly

c.-- ..............,----

( -i-1)

..,

in.)

-4

1

in.)

---7(

.v.,.13---,...1

-.. --7:-.1

AIL

-1/4.,,,,,.,,p,,,,,,,

6,422:-:7-qiii:4114,-,

,,

1

in.)

-__..---1'

..

low.-

.-gliK

aillalalliPift611Z

alpM

OO

111111W:1

4 Lk7-?'

in)

Caterpillar

,

llunter,

,o

.* 4

.

/_......,

,....`,":1

"--..

.

(t 0 2 in.)

r,,,

1''4

r

(to1

in.)

,

.--ie.

\

1

(1-41 ri . )

,,

'%

\-

.

66* N

o moa3ureniont

Egg

Larva

PupaA

dult

Ladybird B

eetle

*

- ,....7:4.1411,*,.-

,. .,1

1

q''. in.)

,

(1,

S.,

( 1in.)

4

.

(1 in.)8

_...

. . ..-- . .....--.%

--.

_-"-

.,,,..%;_

June Bug

'-:-.4.: A. ,1, .-

01,"14/1/1/',:

.44

/10141l

1 ' 44% .,

--.

*

likir

1

( ;7-

!in)

0N.:, 40

"eliSAV

I ..0'..40411W

(toIin.)

.

(to1

in.)

, / -,

...71,I

OP

Carpenter A

nt

Cat

Iin.)

S 0 0i

G---%

-F(to

in.)1

(tc.in.)

(tcin.)

.\1.4X

0,-,,,

Vtr-.I

* No m

easurement available.

the insects on this page donot go through lar-

val and pupal stages. The

young are callednym

phs.T

hey usually resemble the

adults,but are often w

ithoutw

ings. We show

nymph

stages here only if theyare very different

from the adult form

s.

LA

ND

INSE

CT

S

i.phid (toin.)

I 0

Wing i(-2,:;

fcsifia lev.'intt(,(1 ft-;: ,t1(

:; hoppf

&.,"'

ill..,,k..,

47 V:.

i

I.)

)

FOU

ND

IN O

R A

RO

UN

D PO

ND

S

ii71,1r11

V: tx r

(-=-:

SPIDE

RS

(WIT

H 8 L

EG

S)W

OR

MS A

ND

WO

RM

-LIK

E A

NIM

AL

S

--.............. ,-1

ii

)'

Crab Spider

/\/Ilar.Testrnan

(Daddy T

onaleqs)

Spiders' scale:life-siz.e

\1-

.

.t 7

"riT

arantula

.4.

4 .4\ \

'4 /\ IV

/1(.01\.

Garden Spider

0'

'h

.-11/ 2/

-...

i---

'.

.,

kl&c,

.1\i'

Earthw

orm(up to 11 in.)

IP

Pond Leech

1

(-2to 4 in.)

t'__...

4?5: -4

t

,,tt....--r,

.

...,......\

MA

NY

-LE

GG

ED

AN

IMA

LS

SoB

I1C1 S

.,3

(toin.)

5

g'--.A

_----

Millipedes//I

,

I

I 1;,,,..::::, \

1-1-9015 17.-.'

'10,-P---.:-.

Tiou.,

ccriti )c.f:,(1 Ir.)

70

Quadrula(9 in.)

MO

LL

USC

S

White-lipped L

and Snail(I

in.)

7

Garden Slug (3 in.)

-,..;;L v.; ;-

Disc Pond Snails (I

in.)

Mystery Snail(I-28

in.)

Tadpole Snails (4 in.)

Fingernail Clam

s (4 in.)

Croat

S,:na iI

(

AM

PHIB

IAN

S AN

D R

EPT

ILE

SSale : life-size

Leopard Frog

Tiger Salam

ander

Painted Turtle

7f

72

San Bernardino

Chipm

unk

MA

MM

AL

S

Thirteen-lined G

round Squirrel

Am

erican Harvest M

ouse

Golden H

amster

Guinea Pig

( Scale : one-half life-size )i'"

WH

EN

CH

ILD

RE

N bR

iNG

PLA

NT

S INT

O T

HE

CL

ASSR

OO

M

When a child brings in a plant or part ofa plant,

the following questions can serve

as the framew

orkof his report to the class:

WH

ER

E W

AS IT

FOU

ND

?.0*

WE

RT

SOR

T or PL

AC

E W

AS IT

?(Sun

,shady,

moist, dry.)

WE

RE

TH

EI1E

OT

HE

R PL

AN

TS L

IKE

IT IN

TH

ESA

ME

PLA

CE

?,

Have the children take the specim

en around so thatevery m

ember of the class can have a close look at

it.(A

magnifying glass is often helpful.) T

he chil-dren *lay be curious about w

hat is insidea speci-

men. Fou should have 'a knife available to cut open

fruitsto peel stem

s or cut across them. A

sk:

WH

AT

DO

YO

U T

HIN

K T

HIS IS?

WH

AT

JOB

DO

YO

U T

HIN

K T

HIS PA

RT

OF T

IMPL

AN

T D

OE

S-(A

bsorb; water, carries seeds,

attract:, insects, etc.)

Pages 71-0 contain questiohs pertaining to particu-lar specim

ens. These questions m

ay helpyou auide

class c'iscussion.

After the child has m

ade hisrc-cf)ort and after tin,class has observed -zrtid discussed the speci;:;en,1.'oti m

ight_

HO

W C

AN

WE

FIND

OU

T l\lO

RT

: AB

OU

T O

UR

SPEC

IME

N?

The reference colum

ns on pp. 74-80 suggest kooksthat m

ay help identify the specimen or give

rrore 3 n--form

ation about it.If the specim

en brought in is aotincluded aroonci the item

s listed, consult the Biblio-

qraphy.

Eventually you an

the class will face this problem

:

W !lr\ i

(-11TI,D

WE

DO

WIT

H T

HIS SPE

C,IN

IET

\YP

HA

WK

I:NA

T:II:Y

ET

-) 177_\: Dcr?

If it is in suitable condition for keeping alre,you

may'w

ant to 1:eop it inyour classroom

garden;)

.It m

ay he a ciood specimen for your m

useuiqIt 1.av he appropriate to send it bacl: hone w

ith thechild, or it m

ay be ready for discard.

While children should be encouraged to brine th,y1,-;

to school, they should he cautioned a-lainstrfq- y shonld alw

ays asper-

ission to collect fs,omproperty.

should not.::ol-1,-et sPecin,ensin public each:.;.

r-_taiu IrlT

n ts, such asippi. n-7

cot..,ct4law

and should never he piled. Oth(_rs .-;T

h(mld

rut:ollected hec.ua;e th&

are poisonous

in all collectini, children shoal d helood con.lervation halats.

.

Plant or Plant Part.

Questions to G

uide Observation

Maintenance

(

References

Cones

IWL7

-way,V

.

-',\ yN

.,-......,,......;,

11-

--V.-

itfoeIttiv,604,71140

-ii.

lot,4412,

At-III s\i,/f...

rk,. '

7,/Y

igaili

zelt''

lttk!../

.,:..i,

_,.

Where w

as it attached?A

re there shiny lumps on it?

What are they?

(Resin.)

Trace w

ith your finger the patternm

ade by the scales.(T

heyform

a spiral.)C

an you find seeds?(Y

ou cansee seeds or places w

hereseeds w

ere on insides ofscales.)

Store dry inbags or boxes,

G.4

Corm

ack: The First

Book of T

rees

Zim

: Trees

4

c.pr?i-ris

\4

II

.., Na'

, *:.,N; i

1 71)1,1111.?"

4.?'4

t%

S.,),ifW

>>

1 4%1

;ilk. s''-:3.1-.."

i.''i.

\-

,-..,,-*.-.1=

--- -;',>"

)i

\`

--l \,...,'

-itN

>,

di''..,"'(.`

.111'

:x4;,-,,-;

It .Iloalof,.

,

Describe the leaves.

(Cut, irreg-

ular, curled, etc.)W

hat sort of a place was it

grow-

ing in?(D

amp, cool, etc.)

What is on the backs of theleaves?

(Brow

n spots.)W

hat do you think they are? (Look

through a magnifier; consult

areference book.)

z/

If fronds, putin w

ater.

If whole plant,

put in terra-rium

.

Encyclopedia

Dickinson: T

he Firstbook of Plants

Sterling: The Story of

Mosses, Ferns

and Mushroom

s

Zim

: Non-flow

eringPlants

iM

owers

VP

Pr

,.,',.9

.,.

IW,, N

.,4.

1111P1

.-,--...-..,t

-- de.1

141. -,

,s

14,41 1 et

ki

f,,

0,,

t ,-i -* Is'%

',..

.0;4.,,,,,.

4, 1=

----...V

Is it a single flower, a spike, a.

head, or a cluster of flowers?

What color is the flow

er?A

re all parts the same color?

What kind of odor does it have?

Do you find som

e yellow dust'

Do you find a sticky place in the

middle?

Cut dow

n the center. Do you find

tiny seeds?you find?

What other parts do

1\,lake now cut

across sternand place inw

ater.

If whole plant,

pot or put interrarium

.

Seed or Nursery cam

-logues for identifica-tion.L

ane: All A

bout theFlow

ering World

Parker: Flowers,

Fruits ar..d Seeds

Zim

: Flowers

74

Plant or Plant PartQ

uestions to Guide O

bservation 4M

aintenanceR

eferences

Fruits

....t...

--,_0

_ip.

/\dlig,

',7iitc, ,4

,- 4.e.,

`,,,,x,,,,

.

/:!)

.

it:'/'`1-111'.

,./

Ilea,:1,...:

.1

What is it?

(Apple, orange, etc.)

How

was it attached to the plant?

(Look for a sm

all stem.)

hat do you think a fruit is?"'(T

heW

-,.

part of a plant that containsthe seeds.

Note that this in-

eludes nuts, cereal grains, andsuch "vegetables" as tom

atoes,

squash, etc.)W

hat is inside?- How

many parts

can you find?(C

ut it open tosee skin or shell, flesn, seeds.

,

.

Refrigerate.

Seed cataloguesFenton and K

itchen:Plants that FeedU

s--

Selsarn:: Plants We

Eat

Fungivie

,t

.,.x/1

V",

,-..

ilN

.-..s.:j

7''',

-V

""1,4-N

tLi

....,

.--

..,--,-

I»-

.,i,f,i

.i

,9/":

,49c, a., .

Ili-:.

--.4.--,

-----7---,..,;..1.-

...f...-

.

.

What kind of place w

as it growing

in?(C

ool, dark, etc.)W

hat was it grol.ving on?

What is it like inside?

.."(N

C>

te V, C

i rung on p. 2.1.)

Refrigerate or

keep as dryspecim

en.

Ifa

mold,

transfer tobread or fruitand

keepm

oist anddark

.

Encl.clopeclia

Dickinson: T

he FirstB

ook of Plants.

Parker: Dependent

Plants

ofM

osses, Ferns

:i and T\riushroO

r.'.s

N1

Zit

o:n-T

fl 11 oev.: et ro ir 1:-

Plant-

Galls

1,..

17

-..)i

,

\.1".,,

0W

hat is ItsaLtached to?

Is there anything inside?(L

ookfor larva or w

inged insect atvery center.)

0

Is there a hole in it?(T

he inscrthas com

e out.).....

/leo!) as dryspecim

en.

F.ncyclopecha

Parker: Depenc't

Plants

.-3Z

il:: Ictctns

75

Plant or Plant PartQ

uestions to.Guide O

bservationM

aintenancec

:'}t-'...k rci c.,-,L:

Leaves

...-

I'L-'1-

::,....../

-

-,

Is it Ileedle-i,haped or wif1,-

Are the edges sm

ooth or wa 'y''

Does the leaf have lobes orpoints',

Arc there hairs on the leaf.'

Trace the pattern of the veins.

Are there spots or holes on the

leaf",W

hat do you think made ther:','

(Insects, disease, injury.)W

hat tree is the leaf from?

(Seereferences.)

Soriletimes leaf :-:1,-letorw

>aers

fOU

nd.ri-H

,!,1-, dre the v.,u(-_-,d,,parts of the .,vater c ongnot i pasy,:;teili w

hich appear:, an

;ntric :it's,y.%

toin of vein:;.

Keey in w

titer,

orPr<2.3:3 and dry,

orTrG

ri 1.Act".'.'(.211

sh.;:f.ts ofi.:j..:

p ,;;

T.Jal-r leaf rui-

Lij(;!,,,i

i A -

L,,

i

2,i :, ,:

I, ref.

...-'.----,------

.."1vi

.

iI

t:1

),

.,ii r,

"i.'e,

i..,

--z---

-,

/

.

Lichens \.C

44P11.-770

'- !,

P-.liftr"

,Ptiltr*-40 .r.s..F-A

2

;YV

TO

it1A

10,,-;,,

I

1

_it-tq.1

IiI(

1

i1i

What kind of placu w

as itgrottang

in"'(D

amp, dry, shady, slit,-

ny.)W

hat color is it"C

an yon see growth rings

on it 'C

an you see tittic cups or (11'1'.;;on it?

(Psi, dilagnifi, T

.).

et, a:-,, gc,':A

itsci t,in,

oy

PIA ili

0,:;tt..norii::(:-:;,-,, :,

,,,)

'CI e.-(. 4'11,1

.)1,-..,i,':o::

'.,,-I-

1--.'ti,.),.;. ot i'L

l: t:1

i'irt.L ii

,i_.),:f_

i'lwat:-.

7,1,":.,J1---

rt

_r__,....,...-,cr.,

76

Plart or Plant PartC

)nestrons t) Cinide O

hser-atl'on:alt

-,

Mosses and I iverv:orts

AlcN

146E.

I),,g,

.....-.."(..11 '

.'7114,..4..--,

.,

,I..t

...vlie

0.,Irs.,..

k,,1":e f

',

'-04r

',left

..-,...

..-

.

2

What kind of place w

as it carov:inoin-

(Dam

p, shaded, etc.)W

hat v:a :-..at orov:ino on

(Soil,

hark, rock.)T

tov: a..aric,7 parts can you find-(M

):.:.1=3:

tiny leaflets and roots,,-dp:illie.

l Pu.erwort: tiny roots,

Ircer. 1:23fv stnactures.)

-.

plita-.a H

O :t

tcTrariul.:.

(See 1').i 1.)

ri,c-c1,-,!..,.ila

1..)i'cLinson:

i'cli..P...r..-1t.

Pool.: of Fla -.ts

Sterlir,(1:ink.

Str..4.. o,I\.:osses. Fer.--.::,..u:11,,-oo:.

:r4t,',:7:sor - H

oy:,Plal.t.,-;

Pon(. -itor Plants.

14Q

V.4. ,

f o o ! : for:T

iny floatin(a pPun; (duc'i.v.fee(l *,...O

.': ii.t.,(1.

dr.,,T

.l..a;I.,.,,).

\'O5- Ii

pl.int.; Hiniaiii(i to rock ;;.

and wood (akido).

Roo lJd. lodf,, pldnts (-dttail:;,

sel-

.

,l t 1, O

h1,/' Iriii!

.

,d, ;i'o?

csaP,,..),

(`T.C

, a,-'

S%:...Itn:

.))01.14!

11:11V/

' hirt.; ('.111 'IOU

1ri W

I)11

)1

IItfrW

-;'1, V:,--lt,'C

Ii lit'0

(In) !Ai-1

,i4: ')11 pPint '-

Al

po..,..iiill., looi.it

..:i..,.,,

;.,idotr,_

Hn(1,-.r a a. r T

O

,,

i,

.

ININ

II4

1

,ii ,, I,

i'

):.

,' 1,

,

\',

,ti

II,'

,1',

';'

1,

,,,

.1,*

,,

i

:,.,

,:,:

1...

,]t

itt,,

..

.

.c-'4

"It

MI

I/

II

1

ft

-,t.

--,-, -

.4:144'0"L

.

;.,41,+

,..,..,

'i-14F'

''4'11"1.'

,.,

,

..__.

..

;'

,.

,,

.',,,

Plant or Plant PartQ

uestions to Guide,O

bservationM

aintenance

_ -eds A

ttached to Plants

2,4

Some plant parts that are techni-

cally classified as fruits arecom

monly called seeds and

are included on this page.

Are

they 'attachedrow

s`'(G

rass1 corn.)A

rethey iattached

heads?(D

andelion, sunflower.)

Ilow are tl ray attached"

(Pullsom

e ofof.

Note tiny stem

;scar.)

Stare tir.: or

Do they; ha,,e attache,Isuch his dow

n or hooks"W

hatcola,-

arethey''

Can you L

ind patterns on the,,, -W

hatis

thirW

hat parts can you flnii"(17a1,*'

apart to see seed coat,plant, stored food.)

%%

That shape

it-does

itopen

De3ci W

e the oJitsIde:-

ture,hurdnes.3.

:;(*rIH. thf

V. ,A

tI:,

co L_)1

,t*' ;t110,'"

Art.

th, r.tr,inr."

1:An

tot:t,

I %H

opatta4-htfi

:=;tor.,

.7',)1+h .

tat

;1

nc.csS

Pat r:

ci);-

76

Plant or Plant PartQ

uestions to Guide O

bserationM

aintenancer;,_fk rt

,

.....-- ScornsW

ith

killi

s,...

and Ti.vigs

Leaves

/0411IINN

/1",....

9.. \

if),..01.3'..w

. NO

r:.f.

How

arc,the

lecy?

'es arranged(opposite,

alternate,

Detach a leaf.

Loo': at the scar

itleft.

look for thcI,ud

aho"e the sear.A

lso secL

oalic;:,,,,, P. 7()..

Keep fresh in

water, or

Press, dry, orN

I tk,e rubisiritr,.or -zp.itt e!print,,,_

r_________---

Pio',-,it,

1

(il,:,.1

:wn),

4);

.;t,,;(it

.

l',

kmoi1.0 g

1.,__.,..

4;ti.0lir(

and Tw

igsL

eaves

1

)1,

I

.,1

,1

--e

4111W

SternsW

ithoutW

hut IllaiL, do ','0,4

St " ' "A

r,, th( se 1'i/-1

:-:In a pattet H

unthe

.:;t.,.;)''

(0111k)-;ite, alt,,t-nit,

v.'h,-)1 h,i ,)

''.at ,11,' t-}."''

(1) .411

,;.,--11-.1.1

V.Ilat (o_lier

,iflo.sale. theo,-

(,(.1-.-it,hs,little

p.)i, - .,.vril[:,1(

,.)V

. hit 1. atof e

4;,i:

!hi;,t,-

V.:1, ce -1:..

.1f,t1,4 re

1,n

''.'iritl'

,tii,t')(

H,,,1

s:,:he1

;t 11,

1,1i:

Plant or Plant PartQ

uestions to Guide O

bservationM

aintenanceR

.-14- renccs

Ilk

A.tfitl

kWNbi4,

Iltb

11l

4

1

i I I\, ,i(-A

ablt: s

,,'''.

-\

-,

.4%141)

-%*-

N,

,..(

,

I

F

aa.,77:

.i,*.,

ip,\

*11,:t-v.-

N.,.../,'

I

co-'

tif refV

4,15:.

":,.r:...,I

4tti-4,4..

.:

....,

,';-`,..,

.

What

partof

theplant

isit?

("Vegetabik" is a gener..ii t, c'..

'Including fruit L-,,, leaV

Q:3

,StctliS. ,

roots, seeds and btill.s.)W

hat is inside?(Slice across to

see seeds, nosh,/ parts or .I....a-ter ducts.)

Mink O

f SOIne leaV

eS %70

(',:it.(L

ettuce, cabbage, spinach.)W

hat fruits do vicusi.ally

callV

C.(10t31)1C

;:,' ?( r(T

h at0(:;_i1,41 ,-.

pers, Cltellr,hcl-L

,, (-aril, :cluash,et.:.

Se('l`ruits, p. 7 ;.)

What

:.;,( 44 4IL; do w

4-44 ',it '

(k, 'WI:,

,4.4'1;; ,

l'4.14:; ,4 I_C

.),\.,,,:,,. :, ,,I.,:,...,,

,si.ti,_ir_

pins, (4,-1,:r.,/, ,....,H1, potat,,,,)

Viiiat r:)ut:; (i,') v:o (',It."

0 :Art-t..

1-1,.,-,1,,.,,:.;'..'.',,t

tio*,_,_11-_,..w.,,

't'-'.)w

hat i,, b):; d-.,.%

'.,,,at '

((h.), i:,.)

R,--friar,rat,..

A slic,:, fro

tl,, t.)!.of

,.<icrot,3,b.,,

(n..ra, ':,.; 'I

:-,

,...iii-n,r0 ,t

If,;,4

1

,01' _,,

s,-.,,(tcat,110-y,cz;

l',,-r,toi, arir'. -itclo-n:Plants that

r(-_,criU

s....._

S-Hatl :

Plant::: V,",

1-, it----

Et

:,

...,-,',,,,,

11,1

I

yi

'/r

IVI

--,....

'i kil

lit;

iII

ti,,, if,"

I

.-'

k,

A,

;',/,'1

I

,

.

I

.

et

,

III.r.

Po s.,.,It

v-itli-,) '1

?I.I, t;,/,!.

(V.ou,i ,-1,

,,

I iar, ;,,)'1.)

rt,i,,t I," 1),Itfil tn.

1,-Y

, )1,tkit- ,C

U.11,11

T1I1,,,

f1,,t-

kit,

;)ti'1'1

\.' ,),)(i-,)f l,

l',)101,plt,f..(1..

I

,11!i

:;,., h,t1

I.:,,

t,

I to,,,,-;It

i).',.

'.,,,),i

li'-,i()(.1''(P

;.

p,'11-1-it,./i

II 0011, %.'1)1H

I1

)A

IIIII:;}1.):/t,I

If,II)

II.II?.II

IHIIII

V ')41I:

frAI

/IA

l'Illf f,

,

..,

' 'C'r' ,W

'.:1'

-I(1 li 't

-..of

L'ec,-

''r:

r: ,,,.____

_ ____T

r, ,,,,

.!'t,

:-----

(01

WH

EN

CH

ILD

RE

N B

RIN

G IN

RO

CK

S OR

FOSSIL

S

A child w

ho brings a rock or a fossil to class shows

it off proudly and is an:-:ious to know w

hat it is.A

n adult with som

e knowledge of the subject m

ighttell him

, "Quartz," but in nam

ing the specimen the

adult runs the risk of closing off the child's curiosi-ty about it.

It is important not to do this.

The

child should ho stimulated to focus on the prop-

erties of the specimen, because the properties of a

rock or a fossil reveal its history.

A particular

of conditions produced the ..pecircenand m

ade it look uit does.

ilov: can tlise condi-tions be determ

ined':V

ast, the properties ot a rockobserPed.

l'he place inhich it vs,a;..i found

play pro.:ide additional clues. Men im

agination mud

be brought into play in trying to Ireconstruct the con-ditions that produced the specifficln.

The follow

inh questions are for an initil discusston

s e the hAenttfication guide on the follow

ing paie:to help e::tond observation.

WI !E

RE

1)11) YO

U PIN

) YO

UR

SPEC

INIE

7,.'.'(Peach,

C V

I dhottot; of a cliff., etc.)

t IOW

1)0 YC

Y17 Il iii; 11' t1oT

TE

L1. T

HE

, ciAss w

il/vr YO

U T

IITT

\LI,

I.I'ST

EcIA

I-L

v Ps: l'CR

LSFIN

C, A

BO

UT

IT

c.:AN

VO

IT 1/I:SC

,Rw

r voirp spucroElvs fo U

S'

o 11L1 C

t.-40r; prcenco IJi .411,1rpSpeck.ieF,

A very effective w

ay to help the c'ailjfocus G

nproperties is to have him

corupai-'hi

:;!,._c11; (1,w

ith another you already have in the classroo!'.

Have the specim

en taken around the cla:-;s for :\?.(r '-one to see.

Proslide a r.agnityirg alas..

rncol'r-acm

e the children to speculate on what !I ?gilt accou-`,:.

for each of the properties that are nottO

trquestions they m

ay asl: can :-zer,,c as I)a:n;; for frr-tiler ,stilO

y.['or

IS IT V

AL

UA

B1,1;

r AR

CsroT

s-

HO

W 01,1) IS IT

"

WI lA

r IS I(' (71:1-)1-OR

''

1{0\71't I

ial;;.;ii sa

th+!t,t

tlini no on, to a 1[.()rea :-Isitar

iSon the H

entilicatiol; uuvle on thel't n..1117 refer L

I),c.hildren to 1.0(,1.:;

to

'};thc Jr

(Se(' hibbograohy.)"or; Iftely to a3:. qui:sti.ous tor %

.:h)ch1,r,11L

11,01tal...1";:, but .1i. cit, H

` a :;o1,1(1.:,-

10111,. rather f.hali tri,strAtitkn for H

olo tl,fr

1,f

IDE

NT

IFICA

TIO

N G

UID

E FO

R R

OC

KS A

ND

FOSSIL

S I

Children should feel free to pick

up a rock, tosqueeze it, scratch it, try to w

rite with it on a side-

walk, look at it under w

ater, and (with perm

ission)try to shatter it.

(See p. 84 for precautions.)T

heyshould find how

different the surfaces ofbreakage

can look in different rocks.T

hey should discoverthe different w

ays that different rocks soundw

henclicked w

ith a fingernailor another rock. ,T

heyshould look and touch r:nd test and

compare freely

to discover all the properties they can.O

n the following

pages we describe several typos

of rocks and the kinds ofenvironm

ents that producedthem

. The discussion is focused

on easily observ-able properties.

Traditional term

inology in rockclassification is intentionally om

itted here.T

erms

such as igneous, metam

orphicor sedim

entary dodescribe the environm

ent thatproduced a rock.

But

when a child learns first to

identify observable prop-erties and then to interpret their significance, he

isequipped w

ith a process that is more reliable than

mem

ory of terminology. T

hus, the "right answer" to

a question about a rock is not so important

as thesteps of observation, interpretation and speculation.A

reference book will finally give the

rock a name,

but it is the child's prior observationsand analysis

that gives the name a m

eaning.

SMO

OT

H, R

OU

ND

ED

RO

CK

S

These rocks have been subjected to the action of

water, tee, w

ind, or ill of these.If you w

atch wa-

82

ter flowing in a brook br tow

ard a sewer after

a rain,you can see how

the water lifts and carries pebbles

and grains of sand, bumping

one against the otherin the process. Suggest that the next tim

e the chil-dren see w

ater carrying pebblesor grains of sand,

they try to find out where the pebbles or sand

carpxfrom