Crazy about Crayfish!

My kids have gone crazy for crayfish!  We needed to learn about Animal Adaptations, so we decided to study crayfish.  We ordered a variety of live crayfish from Carolina Biological and set up tanks for each table.  Did you know crayfish breathe in using spiracles on the sides of their body?

We did a few live crayfish labs.  The kids got to "meet" their table's crayfish by making some observations.  We also saw how the crayfish reacted to bubbles, different colors, covered and uncovered tanks, and how they breathe.  All of these labs can be found in a low price pack here.

We also researched crayfish and created report posters about them.

The kids created their own layout and used diagrams, pictures and headings to organize the report and make it informative and eye-catching!  Each one is unique!

We also used this great crayfish flip flap book!  You can grab one from Simply Skilled in Second for under $5!  The kids had a BLAST creating the flip flap book and they looked great displayed in the hallway.  

At the end of our crayfish study, we dissected preserved crayfish I got from BioCorp (NOT the live ones we have in our classroom).  If you are interested in dissecting them, you can click here for the link to the lab pack.  Crayfish a really great little creatures to keep in the classroom and we hope ours stick around for awhile!