Goldfish, Snails, and Crickets

Aquarium plus terrarium plus goldfish, snails and crickets equals ecosystem.

Fifth graders are learning how ecosystems operate by creating their own. Today they added goldfish and snails to the aquariums they built earlier.

Then came the live crickets!

Boys carefully captured the active creatures using a small fishing net and then added them into their terrariums where they could feast on the plant life that the boys had introduced.

In the end, the terrariums are joined with the aquariums to form functioning ecosystems.

I can think of no better way for our boys to learn about the interdependence among living and non living organisms and their interactions with their environment than by building their own such communities.

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