16. Animal CareTakers
10/10/14
This year 10 wonderful 4th graders have been helping me take care of the animals in the morning before school starts. Every morning they arrive at 7:45 am, feed the animals, play with the animals, clean their tanks as well as make lists of supplies that are needed for the animals.
During First semester our caretakers are: 1) Zoe A. - Chinchilla 2) Nico C. - Chinchilla 3) Dean M. - Fish & Fire Belly Toads 4) Richard C. - Ball Python 5) Christian A. - Ball Python 6) Andrew A. - Parakeets & Finches 7) Luzviviana G. - Parakeets & Finches 8) Raul S. - Juvenile Leopard Geckos 9) Yaiden K. - Greek Tortoise 10) Evan O. - Rats |
15. 5th & 6th STEM Zoo Visitation Hours
10/01/14
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Many of the 5th and 6th grade students have been asking for visitation hours to the STEM Zoo. I have sent sign ups to each of the 5th and 6th grade homeroom teachers. It is a first come first serve basis. Up to 7 students from each class may sign up on the available dates to come and spend their recess with me in the lab (every other Friday- twice a month). We have had over 40 students visit during the month of October. November and December sign up dates have been given to your teacher so feel free to sign up and come pay us a visit!
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14. Students spend time with Our STEM Pets
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The students spend as much time with our pets as possible, whether it be learning from them during a lesson, getting one on one time during Wacky science day or simply recording observations about tank temperature, eating patterns or frequency of shedding. Students love spending time with their pets and ask to do it as often as possible! STEM students love their pets!
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13. Meet our Finches: Peggy and Pete
10/27/14
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Peggy and Pete are the newest addition to our STEM Zoo. We recently adopted these two lovely finches earlier this week. Peggy is a Society finch which is a man made species and not found in the wild. Pete is a Australian Zebra finch. He has beautiful colors and a lovely song which he sings to Peggy every morning. They seem to be best friends and converse with our parakeets every morning. Their diet consists of seeds, bananas, leafy green and fresh water. They enjoy taking bird baths and spraying each other with water. They are significantly smaller than our parakeets and many of our students finds that to be very fascinating. Peggy was born with her left foot tucked under and so it appears that Peggy does not have a left foot to stand on. She has adapted and uses her beak to help her hop from perch to perch in her cage. She enjoys flying and resting in her bamboo nest. Pete on the other hand prefers to fly in circles in his cage causing the students to stop and observe his beautiful polka-dotted tail and lovely red beak.
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12. Meet our Beautiful Fish: Albino blushing X-Ray Tetra, Black Neon Tetras, and Dalmation Mollies
09/20/14
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Our amazing Albino Blushing X-Ray Tetra are some of the neatest fish around. Due to their unique translucent scales you can see all of their internal organs. You can even see their air sacs which is what keeps them afloat. You can also see their spine, swim bladder, gills and the gonads (the sac that hold all of the eggs). It is a truly one of a kind experience to watch they swim through the water. Another interesting fact about these fish is that they love to swim in schools just like our Black Neon Tetras. A school is a group of fish. Finally we have our Dalmation Mollies, which are our largest fish. They are a beautiful blend out white with black spots and black with white spots.
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11. Meet our two Chinchillas Squeak and Sassy!
05/10/1
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Through your generous donations we raised roughly $400.00 to purchase two very loving female Chinchillas. Squeak is an Ebony chinchillas who is 5 years old. She is already a mother of 3 litters. Her playmate is a Standard Grey named Sassy. She is 7 months old. They are both very loving and curious. They are nocturnal animals and so they spend most of their time awake playing at night. They are rodents whose teeth continuously grow. Due to this we must provide them with ample chew toys made of pumice stone and wood. It helps shave their teeth down and keep them healthy. For fun, relaxation and cleanliness we provide our two Chins with a dust bath. The dust is made from pumice stone and helps keep their fur clean by removing all extra oils!
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10. Meet our Leopard Geckos: Speedy, Leo and Lenny
04/20/14
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These three wonderful reptiles are a lot of fun. They are hunters by nature and love nothing more than to chase down their prey. They can be a wide variety of colors. Speedy is a full grown adult leopard gecko and he is yellow. He lives in a tank by himself becasue he is used to being alone and would not appreciate Leo and Lenny always bugging him to play. He was donated to our zoo by a wonderful family here at STEM. Leo and Lenny are brothers and are in a separate tank of their own. Unfortunately Leo bit Lenny's tail and so it fell off. in time it will grow back but it will not be the same. Leopard geckos can loose their tail as a defense mechanism to escape predators when being attacked. We are giving him extra food and monitoring him closely to make sure that our two brothers are done fighting! Like our other reptiles they are cold blooded and must regulate their body temperature. They also have ear holes and excellent eye sight!
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7. Meet our rats: Tashia and Evita
01/31/14
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These beautiful and curious creatures were donated to us my a lovely family here at STEM. They are sisters and were born during winter break of 2013. Tashia is the grey rat with the white belly and Evita is the white rat with grey patches. They are eager for attention and are incredibly playful. They enjoy a diet consisted of pellets, seeds and nuts. They also enjoy shredded carrots. Like our chinchillas, Tashia and Evita have teeth that never stop growing so their cage is filled with toys to chew on. We make sure to give them chew toys make of wood so it won't hurt their digestive track. They like burrowing and hiding treats for each other later in the day. It has become quite a fun game!
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8. Meet out Greek Tortoise: Isaac Newton Jr.
10/31/13
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We were fortunate enough to have someone donate Isaac to us. He is a very timid and gentle tortoise who enjoys chowing down on collard greens, kale, romain lettuce, shredded carrots and the ocasional apple. He likes to take longs walks around the room and enjoys finding a cozy spot underneath the cupboards to catch his breath. He has a pool in his tank for drinking water, taking a dip and sometimes using the restroom. That is why it is essential for his caretaker to clean the water twice a day!
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7. Meet our Anoles: Jade and Lilly
04/30/13
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Jade and Lilly are incredibly unique reptiles! They have the amazing ability to change color in order to help them camouflage! They can have their scales turn brown or green. They also have sticky toe pads that help them climb and stick to the sides of the tank. They are hunters by nature and enjoy hunting their prey which is often gut loaded crickets and tasty mealworms. Jade and Lilly are from a tropical ecosystem and so Ms. Lohitsa sprays their tank with warm mist at least three times a day. This moisture in the air helps them shed their skin. It is an amazing thing to see! Another really fascinating thing about Jade and lilly is that they are cold blooded (just like the toads and Mr. Scaley). This means their body temperature changes. When they need to warm up they sit under the lights and when they want to cool down they take a drink from their pond or hide in the shade. Neat stuff huh?
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6. Meet our Fire-Belly Toads: Ferdinand, Ginger and Blaze
04/20/13
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These three friendly toads were our third pets here at STEM. They have very unique coloring that help them camouflage in their tanks. Camouflage means to blend in with their surroundings. These toads can either have green or brown skin. When a predator comes near the toads jump up on their hind legs to expose a brightly colored red and orange underbelly. This warns predators that they are toxic and poisonous. Our frogs love to burrow under the ground. This helps keeps their skin cool and moist. They also lay eggs in shallow water. We have seen two sets of eggs since adopting these amazing toads but sadly none of them ever turned into tadpoles. Their diet consists of gut loaded crickets dusted with a sprinkling of calcium powder. The powder helps their bones grow.
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5. Meet our Ball python: Sebastian Scaley
04/15/13
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Ball Pythons can live to be 30 years old. He is a very docile creature and started out much more scared of us than we were of him. He has a wonderful pattern of brown, black and white scales all over his body. Being that he is a reptile, he has very dry scaly skin. He has small earholes on the sides of his head and does NOT like it when people touch his head. He does not have fangs but he is a part pf the constrictor family. When he feels threatened, nervous or tired he curls himself up into a ball. He does like to wrap his tail around things to keep him safe as he slithers around his tank for pleasure and exercise. As he has gotten bigger he requires larger meals. We started feeding him pinky mice when he was a hatchling and now we feed him small rats- Delicious!
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4. Meet our Parakeets: Seraphina, Luigi, and Azul
02/29/12
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We have three beautiful parakeets names Seraphina, Luigi and Azul. Seraphin and Luigi are both green and yellow parakeets. we have had them for two years now. Azul came to us late last year. He is a beautiful shade of blue which is why we names him Azul. All three birds live in our lovely bird condo. Their diets consists of fresh greens, broccoli, shredded carrot, strawberries, apples and seeds. They are very social and spend their mornings singing in the science lab. We are hoping to breed Seraphina and Luigi in the Spring of 2015. Our pet care-takes make sure to socialize with them and give them plenty of water.
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3. Starting the STEM Zoo!
01/15/12
This year we will start developing our very own STEM Zoo! Students learn the most by making first hand observations. I will be sending out surveys to see which animals students and families would be interested in bringing here to STEM!
2. Fourth Grade Animal Caretaker applications!!!
Fifth grade students may apply for a monthly position to take care of a pet in the lab. Below is the letter and document for parents and homeroom teachers to sign. Application deadline is Friday October 10th, 2014. Criteria is as follows:
- Students must have A's B's & C's on their progress report or report card.
- Students must have their own latex gloves when handling the animals (the type used to wash dishes is necessary if working with the snake or birds).
- Homeroom teachers and parents must sign off on the students application.
animal_caretaker_applications.docx | |
File Size: | 104 kb |
File Type: | docx |
1. Helping our STEM Pets!
Thank you for considering helping our STEM Pets. We have many animals and they require quite a bit of materials and resources in order to stay alive and healthy. One thing that we are always accepting is crickets!!! We have several animals that eat crickets and therefore we never have enough. Crickets can be purchased at both Petsmart and Petco. We can also use fresh produce like shredded carrot, chopped apples or chopped romaine lettuce and kale. Please only send sandwich sized bag amounts of these items due to the fact that they are small animals and can only eat small portions at a time.
stem_funding_letter_2014-2015.docx | |
File Size: | 135 kb |
File Type: | docx |