Snakes And Snails And Lizards’ Tails—

Hands-On Science Lessons At Middle Gate

By Martha Coville

“He’s a wriggly one,” third grader Evan Fuches, said, as a horseshoe crab flapped out of his hands and back into its saltwater tank.

Evan is one of 38 third and fourth grade students who help Middle Gate School math and science specialist Pam Fagin care for the animals in her science laboratory.

Ms Fagin, Evan and six other laboratory assistants took The Bee on a tour of the lab. Cages and tanks line all four walls of Ms Fagin’s classroom. They house fish, snakes, lizards, frogs, crabs, starfish, a horseshoe crab, a guinea pig, tortoises, and aquatic turtles. “We used to have bunnies, too,” Ms Fagin said. “But they’re nocturnal, so they weren’t very interactive with the students.”

Ms Fagin said the her lab assistants help feed and care for the animals. It is no small job. “In September, I put out an application,” she said. “It goes to fourth graders first. They have to write a paragraph saying why they’d be a good assistant.” If there are still positions available after the fourth graders apply, Ms Fagin says, she opens them up to third grade students.

“It’s a lot of responsibility,” Ms Fagin said. “They have to come every week. If they miss a week, I take them aside and tell them how serious it is, and that I might have to replace them.”

Although Ms Fagin relies mostly on fourth graders to help care for the animals, zoology actually fits into the first and third grade curricula. “The first grade gets an introduction to all the animals,” as part of their science lessons, she said. “The first graders really the hands-on,” Ms Fagin, said. “I show them the snake’s skins before I take her out of the tank,” she said, explaining that she introduces the younger students to the animals slowly.

The third grade curriculum is more advanced. Ms Fagin said, “The third grade has animal adaptations,” in which they learn about how animals adapt to their particular environments.

Meet Spot, Esmeralda, Einstein, And Fishy Friends

Aimee Talbot and Hannah Logan, both in the third grade, were examining the skin Spot, the albino corn snake, had sloughed off over the weekend. The skin was tissue paper thin, and as long as the students are tall.

Spot himself is so long that neither Aimee nor Hannah could hold him by themselves. Aimee, quite at ease, held the snake’s head, while Hannah, equally relaxed, cradled his body in the crook of her arm. Spot seemed as comfortable as his handlers. He looked around, wriggling his head up toward Aimee, and back out toward the classroom. He flickered out his forked tongue. His pink striped skin was smooth as velvet. “It’s because he just shed,” Ms Fagin said.

Corn snakes are not venomous or threatening to humans. “We give him a frozen mouse once a week,” said Aimee.

Ms Fagin said that her tortoises, as turtles living on land are properly called, are among the most popular of her animals. Ms Fagin’s students are caring for the Esmeralda and Einstein while the family to whom they belong vacations in Florida.

Esmeralda, the larger of the tortoises, was so heavy that James Accousti, a fourth grader, grimaced under the weight of the large shell. Tim Walsh, also in the fourth grade, had an easier time holding Einstein.

“Esmeralda is the boy?” one student asked, trying to determine who was who. Ms Fagin confirmed that, confusingly, Esmeralda is a male turtle, and Einstein a female. “Einstein will let you pet her,” Amanda said as she stroked the smaller turtle’s head. “She’s always trying to escape,” she added, as the turtle stood up on her stubby back feet and flailed at the wall of her pen with her flipperlike front legs. Shy Esmeralda moved to the back of the pen, and pulled his head into his heavy oval-shaped shell.

Ms Fagin thinks the Esmeralda, who is perhaps three times the size of Einstein, is about 20 years older than her. “The family they belong to told me Esmeralda is 26 years old, and Einstein is six,” she said. Tortoises have long life spans, Ms Fagin says, and continue to grow as they age.

On the other side of the classroom, third grader Evan Fuches was chopping up some squid to feed the animals in the large saltwater tank.

 “We have a horseshoe crab in the tank,” said Evan. “He likes to bury himself.” The top of the horseshoe crab’s armor was just visible through the pebbles lining the bottom of the tank. “And there’s star fish, crabs, and hermit crabs,” he said.

“We used to have two horseshoe crabs,” Evan said. “The second one died, unfortunately. He was molting, which is a very unusual process in captivity, but unfortunately, he died.”

Ms Fagin picked the strange, prehistoric-looking creature up out of the tank, and handed it to Evan. Holding the horseshoe crab required a firm grip. It swung its long pointy tail back and forth for leverage, and slipped back into the tank.

Next up was a rough-skinned starfish. Ms Fagin handed it to student Amanda Walsh, who was surprised how rough its underside was. Ms Fagin said that the starfish do not limit themselves to their squid ration. “They do eat some of the crabs,” she told her students. “They wrap themselves around the crab shells and ‘pop!’ slide their stomachs out.”

Amanda handed the starfish off to Evan, who seemed unbothered by its rough “feet.” “I go to the ocean a lot,” he said. “I like marine life.”