We’re getting
a fish tank!
Hello families,
In September I was studying clay with the children
and I could tell they were pretty familiar with the material. A lot of the
children showed strong interests in animals, whether they were saving a spider
in the classroom or making a home for a toy frog in the clay. I decided to roll
with this idea of homes for animals and now as a class we are exploring
different habitats.
We have been
looking at habitats of people and animals. Specifically the habitat of fish in
a fish tank because we are getting a classroom fish tank! Mrs. McAuliffe wrote
a letter to Pets in a Classroom for a fish tank and they said yes. The fish
tank was completely free of charge. The fish tank arrived, but first we need to
learn more about how to care for the fish before we can have them in our
classroom. For the first exploration on fish, we read the story, Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian.
Then the children drew their ideas of what we should have in our classroom
freshwater fish tank.
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Holly’s
drawing of a fish tank.
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We went to
different classrooms throughout our school to observe their fish tanks. We were
looking at the different aspects of the fish tank, such as the number of fish,
the plants, and the statues.
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Leila
and Wafic observing Ms. Stine’s fish tank.
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Next we are going to compare
our body movements to fish movements, so the children can see the perspective
of the fish. To strengthen our classroom
community we are going to work together to find the best place for our fish
tank within our classroom. We need to make sure we have room for storage and
room for children to observe the fish tank whenever they please. Children are learning organization skills and
how a fish tank can be a part of our habitat.
Sincerely,
Ms. Cagle
acagle@umich.edu
How you can help us:
If you have a fish tank at
home, you could take a picture of your fish tank and email it to me or one of
the teachers in our classroom. Then I will invite your child to share about
their fish tank if they would like.
If you have ever had a fish tank and you have
any extra supplies you think would be useful to our fish tank please send it
in! Any supplies will be helpful. If you have questions or concerns we are
always just an email away.
Curriculum
Night: November 12, 5:30pm