Frequently Asked Questions
Question:
What do I do if a student's plant does not grow?
Answer:
Plant a few extra cups of each plant so that you can switch those for a growing plant. Another option is to transplant one of the plants from the class set of plants.
Question:
What should I do if the animals or plants die?
Answer:
If they die during the first lessons and students have not gotten to observe them yet you will need to reorder. Usually biological supply companies are willing to send replacements express but you may have to pay for that. Often they have been willing to send one replacement with no charge but check with the biological supply company to be sure. Pill bugs are easily found in flowerbeds and under rocks and leaf litter. Guppies and snails can be purchased from pet or aquarium supply stores. The seedling, moss and millipedes/ Bess beetles are not easily available locally as a rule.
If organisms die in later lessons, that becomes a good teachable moment about life cycles. A great book for helping students deal with death is The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst.
Question:
The aquarium smells really bad and the water is cloudy. What is the problem?
Answer:
Students are probably feeding too much fish food. They only need to put a small pinch in every day or even every other day. The snails are able to cope with small amounts of algae and decomposing organism matter but too much food is beyond them. If it is too smelly or cloudy, remove the fish and snails along with the water plants and replace the water with fresh, conditioned water.
Question:
I have students that simply refuse to touch the pill bug and Bess beetle/ millipede. Should I insist?
Answer:
Encourage but don't insist. Over time they may become more comfortable with the idea as they see classmates hold the organisms. You could hold the organisms in your hand and have the reluctant students place their hand under yours to get an approximation of holding the organisms. If the teacher is uncomfortable with touching the organisms this will often be telegraphed to students making them squeamish, so be sure you are comfortable with them.
Question:
The moss is yellow and the tree seedling is brown what should I do?
Answer:
They are probably not getting enough water. Set a mister near the terrariums and allow students to mist the terrarium once or twice a day. Students should not water so much that they make the soil muddy. A water cycle can form inside the terrarium in which case the terrarium "waters itself". Check them to see if this is happening as it doesn't always do so.
Question:
The pill bugs are eating the tree seedling. Why?
Answer:
They want plant matter to eat. Put in some lettuce or a slice of potato for them to munch on.
Question:
My students' labeled diagrams and observations are not very thorough or well executed. How can I help them be more accurate and thorough?
Answer:
Model diagram drawing and labeling for your class in the next lesson. Also model some of the things they should be noting as they observe the organisms and habitats. Sometimes students get so excited about what they see that they forget to write their observations or take care when drawing and labeling diagrams. Sometimes, however, they don't have the words necessary for a well written observation or a sense of how to make their pictures look like the things they are observing. Take time to model these things and remember that primary age children will not necessarily produce the same quality as scientists. It should be well done for their age.
Question:
Are their any lessons that I can skip? Can I choose to do some lessons and not do others?
Answer:
The Organisms Unit has been carefully developed, sequenced, and piloted by classroom teachers. Each lesson is designed to build upon past lessons and set the groundwork for future lessons. While lessons involving living organisms may need to be rearranged to accommodate the arrival of plants or animals, none of the lessons should be skipped. Look carefully at lessons before and after the ones where living organisms are used to be sure that the sequence still makes sense if you need to rearrange a lesson or two to keep the organisms healthy. For example, you cannot observe the aquarium if it has not been assembled yet!