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Help build a Kindergarten tank

6K views 60 replies 22 participants last post by  acitydweller 
#1 · (Edited)
I volunteered to set up a planted aquarium for my daughter's Kindergarten classroom. I think it will be good for them to have a little ecosystem in their room, as well as learn about proper fish care, as opposed to the ideas of disposable dyed fish and such. I'm still only in the planning stages but so far I'm donating a 10 gal, an HOB filter, driftwoods, shrimp and some of my big java ferns. And another member of this forum already donated some subwassertang and other plants (TY!).

But what I really need to get this project off the ground is substrate. Anyone out there have some plant friendly substrate that they are willing to give away? Left over MTS supplies? MGOCPS? Little sandwich baggies of flourite or eco-complete that you are tripping over? :)

You will have the extreme gratitude of 22 funny 5-yr-olds.


UPDATE: so...I upgraded their tank to a 20gal. LoL
 
#32 ·
Day 1: Substrate

And it's begun! I had my first talk with the kids today. It's been five years since I last taught a class but I got up and talked about DIRT for 10 minutes. The kids were able to explore particle size, porosity, bacteria, plant feeding, hiding places for small critters. They helped to mix MTS with lava rock, and then proceeded to add it all to the tank. I guided them a tiny bit on aquascaping but dang, they did fine by themselves.

Many many many thanks to the people who donated substrate and driftwoods to this project. The class had a blast and are very excited to see how their tank will progress. Thanks a million to Heartnet, Joraan and msjinkzd. I didn't get a picture of the original bucket and substrate from msjinkzd but here it is in the tank:
(that's me in the background, tying someone's shoe lace *waves)







I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because we needed all hands on deck, lol. There were some mixing mishaps and hands were pretty dirty, overall very exciting...it was a ton of fun...for them!

They did most of the scaping, chose where to pour the gravel and river stones. It's like they are already experts. I have hills, cliffs, depth, drama.... I love the 5-yr old aesthetic.
Look at how lovely that is? That's the front view.


Here's the final. Needless to say, they, and I, really loved the way it turned out.
 
#34 ·
Next session will be on Plants, and I have no idea how I'm going to have them interact/or plant the tank. I think I should do it myself but I want them to own this tank too. Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated.
(And just an FYI, if there are any teachers out there that want a lesson plan for this age group, I wrote one and am perfectly willing to share. Let me know.)

My current lesson plan:
Why do animals need plants?
[food source, O2 source, roots provide structure, wood for houses, etc]

Why do plants need animals? What do plants eat?
[food source, CO2 source, provide mobility]

What are bacteria?
[very small animals]
-some can make you sick
-some help your stomach to break down food so that your blood can use it
-some live in the dirt to help break down mulm and animal poop, which is food to a plant
-can plants go find food? No, food has to be brought to them

Introduce in brief: The Nitrogen Cycle
Animals eats > everyone poops > bacteria eat/break down the poop > bacteria waste = plant food > porous substrate catches nutrients from water column and brings it down into the substrate level for root exchange > plants eat the bacterial waste


Plant Identification [Provide samples to manipulate]
Break into smaller groups
Suggested Equipment: Magnifying glasses, catch tray, water, plates
Ex. (direct observations)
-mosses - java moss, Fissidens, moss balls (surface area, dense hiding, egg nest)
-bladderwort - subwassertang, pellia, riccia (no roots, no stem, no 'leaves')
-epiphytes - java fern, anubias, bolbitis (slow growers, branch growers, thin roots)
-floaters - water lettuce, duckweed, frogbit, pennywort (non-dirt feeder, who eats these?)
-algaes - green spot, black beard, hair, staghorn, cladophora, green fuzz
-root feeders - swords, lily, Sag subulata (large root systems, large plants)
-stem cuttings - hygrophilia, myriophyllum, najas (tall, fast growing, propagation ease)

Small groups can help with plant placement in the tank. Plant the tank.

Fill or spray with water.

Discuss water conditioner: drinking-water contains Chlorine to kill off bacteria that would make us sick. However, this would also kill off the bacteria that the plants need as well as any other animals that need to live in the water. So a water conditioner is added to neutralize the Chlorine and protect the bacteria colonies, as well as the fish, worms, snails, shrimp, etc.
 
#36 ·
D'you know, the amount of adults who have an aquarium and don't understand what you have beautifully summed up in half a page is ... staggering? I mean, I could forgive it if they weren't interested in aquatics, but somewhere along the line, they purchased the tank and the lives within ... and they seem utterly stunned to find that their ignorance doesn't somehow magically shield them from the consequences. I'm so glad that you are taking the time to teach these kids these basic but very important lessons.

On a lighter note, I would like to point out that their tank looks much better than mine do ;) I have no sense of aesthetics and know better than to try and make something pretty.
 
#39 ·
Aw, thanks everyone! :D

furnfins: I'm so tempted, but will turn down your offer... I love vegetarians. And thanks for thinking of me with the bba! HA! I will bring the repashy!

aokashi: you know, I mashed it in my head for days and couldn't come up with a good way to explain a single-celled organism with free flowing dna to a 5-yr-old. So instead, I showed my daughter a video and she called them little animals... XD I'm going to ask the teacher to play this video on day of.

chibikaie: I can always send my daughter to your place, she can give you tips, you can put her to work. LOL! She was so excited and teaching all her classmates...she's a Virgo, ykno? And thanks, that's how I feel about it too.

msjinkzd: it really couldn't have been done without you. Those slopes and this level of fun wouldn't exist but for your generosity <3 Thank you so much. From the classroom's teachers too. They were stunned when I told them about how generous the local aquarists have been. This is a community built tank!
 
#42 ·
virgos are the best ;)
I do love Virgoes. I am surrounded by them. They keep me grounded.

I filled the tank afterschool yesterday:


Close up of Mattenfilter mod, I should have cut only the nook out of the foam. So I had to wiggle it up a little to stay above water level. The outflow was extended with a cut up piece of plastic, one of those glass hood extenders.


Child labor


Here are ALL the plant donations, including my own. Just dumped into the tank. Must have been about 10 sprigs of camboma in there, lol.


I took pics of it planted, but it was just too dark. I will wait until tomorrow.
 
#47 ·
Oh, yea? Here are the best of the lot:
(don't mind the floating driftwood, it refuses to sink, lol)




acitydweller: I hope you're teaching your little H! XD Our kids will be experts. You should make her classroom a tank too.

Lowe: you are too kind :D :D :D but I feel bad asking people to ship. I'm sure there's a classroom in your area that would LOVE your contributions. Thank you so much!!!

SpecGrrl: me too
 
#51 ·
I sure with I had this kind of fish tank in my classrooms... :(
Would you believe it, a teacher in my middleschool actually thought a 2.5 gallon tank (those very fake cheapy ones with all sorts of ornaments in them) with 5 feeder goldfish was a presentable tank!
Of course, she wasn't even my teacher, so I didn't tell her off. Looking at this, those kids sure are lucky....
 
#54 · (Edited)
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/12/vyve5a5e.jpg[/IMG

Do you still need shrimp skin? My amano just shed his shell... it's pretty big

I've thrown it in a container of rubbing alcohol. :P just incase you want it[/QUOTE]
YES!!! Please :D I just pulled a molt out of my tank too but it's tiny. Rubbing Alcohol is a good idea? I wondered how to preserve it. Thanks for the brightening, lol. I'll get better pics today, haha.

And furnfins: that's AWESOME!!!!!!!! That makes me so happy. I do just want to say that if you have mutliple tank syndrome, this is a GOOD way to get it out of your system, lol.

The other Kindergarten classroom has already asked me to build their tank. They have an empty 10gallon, and the teacher plans to ask the parents for funds since I used all the supplies for this tank.

Cokers: so much for the educator being educated. >.< You should go back and tell her a thing or two.

Monster Fish: It's 13" high. I couldn't fit ptr's big sword nor one of MeowKitty's big sag.subulatas, lol.

I was at Ridgewood Aquarium yesterday, the ADA store in NJ, and the owner was so nice. I only bought a timer for this tank, but I walked out with algae samples :p , a magazine for the kids to peruse, and an ADA book. And talking to him, we learned that he and his co-owner both grew up in Ridgewood, so they're giving back to their community. I love those kinds of people. They also had a picture another Kindergarten class, to whom they'd donated a betta. I love it!

And I started a tank journal for the kids, so they can track progression over the year:
(link removed)
I'll be removing this link after a few days, but you can still PM me for it if interested. This thread gets the more candid updates tho. :fish:
 
#53 ·
The tank looks great! did you know that B.A.S. just got a check towards putting a tank into a classroom. I think they might have started already. They want to have tanks in all the schools eventually. A brooklyn councilman came to that last meeting and present the president of the club with a $1500 check to get started. That would be so wonderful for all the kids.
 
#56 · (Edited)
Thank you :) And you should definitely consider it. It's a good way to sneak yourself into class to see how they run it, too. LoL

BTW!!! Does anyone have 22 transfer pipettes that I could pick up before Monday? OR know a place where I can find them? There are 22 kids in the class (EDIT: done)

I got a lot of nice algae samples yesterday at the BAS meeting (thank you!!!11!!!!1!)
Here are the samples collected thus far:
Bladderworts/Liverworts:
Subwassertang
Mini pellia
U. gibba (also from aokashi)
Riccia (from sonicpath and acitydweller)

Mosses:
Fissidens fontanus
Java moss (from sonicpath)

Algaes:
Diatoms (from Ridgewood Aq)
Hair Algae (some also from ^)
Black beard algae
Fuzz Algae
Cyanobacteria (only to smell)

Floater:
Frogbit
Salvinia
Duckweed
Giant duckweed (from acitydweller)
dwarf lettuce

Epiphytes:
Java fern
Anubia (from Heartnet)

Stems:
Myriophyllum
Cambomba
Hygro tiger
Najas

Root:
Sword

---
I don't know whether to make them break into groups, each with a sample, or have them each at a 'station' where there would only be bladderworts, or only stems. And then gather then to talk about what they observed? Or just let them bring their books to each station and draw what they want?
 
#57 ·
I am SO behind with pictures. :D Still needs some tweaking but so far so good. I finally saw some diatoms today. Gonna start adding bugs and inverts over the next two weeks. Shoplight for now, Heartnet donated a long hood light but I have yet to figure out how to implement it XD

Today:


Joraan was kind enough to donate some lovely plants from his magic tanks that were just added:


 
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