Feeding Crayfish

Procedure

Anticipatory Set:
Viewed on the Smart Board©, the students watch how a crayfish eats.  The students are able watch the crayfish eating process up close and personal through a website that shows a crayfish eating a goldfish.


Input:

  1. “All living things need a couple of things in order to survive in the natural world and our created environment.  What are some of the things that are needed in order to survive?” Some are water, air, food, shelter, etc.
  2. We will feed our crayfish so that we have a better understanding of humane treatment toward our crayfish.  Crayfish can go about a month without eating that is why we have not feed them as of yet.  The teacher waits until the crayfish are ready to eat so that the students can feed them and be able to watch them eat.

Modeling:

  1. “What do you think the crayfish will like to eat the best?  How do you think they eat…or sense their food?”  The teacher will have canned corn and lettuce to feed the crayfish.  The students do not have to worry about finding food for their crayfish ahead of time the teacher passing out the food during class. 
  2. There are two groups at each table one group of students has corn the other group has lettuce.

Checking for Understanding:

  1. I ask the students as I walk around what body parts the crayfish are using to eat.  See what they notice about when the crayfish are eating.
  2. The students write their prediction on the page of how the crayfish eat. 
  3. Then the students write down what food they tried with their crayfish and the results of feeding them this. 
  4. The student then make a conclusion on what they are eating and how.  Explain why they do this or like this food from what we already know about our crayfish.

Guided Practice:

  1. As a class each pair of partners gets a crayfish (Partner A comes up and get the crayfish and then return it when we are done.)  The pair either gets some canned corn or some lettuce to feed to their crayfish.  They take notes on what they observe and find out what the crayfish like to eat.

Independent Practice:
(Homework) Crossword-body parts (Appendix 9)
 Due Thursday in the morning


Closure:
Ticket out the door: the students will hand in their Post-it notes which they have written some type of food that the crayfish may also like to eat.