9-30-11

Friday, September 30, 2011

Hi, Folks,

Warning: This note is for parents only...sensitive topic below:

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Setting: The Interrogation Tank
Suspect: Rainbow Shark Gonzales
Crime: Murder in the fish degree
Victims: Rosy Barb and Bottom Feeder Steve

Last Friday Ms. Erin and I hit the Pet Supermarket to purchase some fish for our new aquarium. We felt that Shark Gonzales, Rosy Barb and Speedy Gonzales (our Zebra Danio) were ready to branch out and make new friends. Ms. Erin spent all afternoon on Friday setting up the aquarium, complete with rainbow rocks, a bamboo bridge and hut, and a castle.

On Monday morning I came in and found poor Rosy floating. I think Ms. E took it the hardest; she’s actually had Rosy for 4 years. The kids were sad, too. We gave Rosy a proper burial outside with our other class pets. Erin has a wonderful ritual to say goodbye to our pets: we stand in a circle holding hands and everyone has the opportunity to say something about the animal. Then we lay them to rest with our other precious critters from years past, under a tree on the playground.

We weren’t sure what had actually happened to poor Rosy. Maybe the new tank was just too much for her. Maybe she didn’t get along with one of the new, semi-aggressive fish? We were concerned that maybe the new tiger was being a bit aggressive, and kept a watchful eye on the tank for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Tuesday morning I found our new sucker fish, Steve, belly up. I have to be honest; for a minute I thought about telling the class that I had taken him home to my own children (especially since we knew that one of our students was going to have to say goodbye to his cat on Wednesday). But we told them the truth, and they handled it really well. At that point, we noticed that the rainbow shark was being really aggressive and chasing tiger. So we removed Rainbow Shark Gonzales, and put him in a smaller bowl (the “Interrogation Room”).

On Wednesday, everything seemed OK in the big tank, and we debated about what to do with Shark G. Should we take him to the pet store? Should I take him home? Sadly, he took his fate into his own hands when he leaped from his fishbowl and into a child’s cubby.  Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. At first we thought maybe a child had put him in the cubby to punish him for hurting the others, but there was no evidence of water around the bowl.Thankfully, we noticed him before any of the kids did, and we were able to cover it up. This time, though, we just couldn’t handle the truth. As far as they know, he has been relocated to my house...Serious, serious bummer.
RIP Speedy G.


Though we, the teachers, were pretty distraught over these events, we decided to get some more fish and try, try again.

Here is round 2 of the beautiful new aquarium:
It’s hard to see, but there are 4 fish and a snail in there!


As hard as losing our beloved pets was, it is actually one of the reasons we like to have them in the class.  What better way to explore the life cycle first hand with children?   Death can bring up complicated emotions. If a classroom pet dies it is upsetting to kids, but it can be used as a valuable teaching experience to prepare them for harder things that they may face down the road. Of course, the more positive benefits include the endless variety of science, math, language and even social studies activities that can be explored through the pets. Not to mention, what is more of an awesome engine helper than watching fish swim ?





It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though...

Jennifer delighted us by bringing in Pinchers, her hermit crab, for a visit. He didn’t stay long, but we loved him so much that we were inspired to get our own crabs!  

Introducing:
ROCKSTAR and SUPERSTAR!



Rockstar, Superstar, Ms. Erin and I all wish you a happy weekend!