Class Pets

As budding scientists, Saklan students learn to pose questions, make observations, plan and conduct experiments, and draw reasonable conclusions. Before Spring Break, each 5th grade student got their own “class pet” to observe and plan an experiment for.

No, they did not get to adopt pets from the Humane Society, but they did get something a bit smaller…  wriggly red worms! Students began by observing their behavior on a damp paper towel with a small black construction-paper square “tent” available.  Most worms wiggled their way under the paper towel or under the square, away from the light.  The students concluded that worms prefer dark places to bright places, and linked to what they already know – “Worms do live underground, after all!” said Jack Z. 

Next, the class set up another experiment to see if the worms prefer damp places to dry places, hypothesizing that they do prefer damp places, because they live in damp soil.  Most worms headed to damper areas as the clock ran out on the experiment, and then the students put them to “bed” in a worm habitat.  This week, the fifth graders began to plan and conduct individual experiments to test worm likes and dislikes.

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