Total Pageviews

Friday, September 9, 2011

Where Art Thou, Water Bear?

Rod came in again yesterday afternoon to work with the hay infusion we had created during our first microscope lesson. Right away the kids made their wet mounts and got to work looking for microscopic creatures.


And guess what we found? Water bears! In fact, the very first time Rod used the camera scope he found a water bear immediately. Unfortunately, it was such a big bear that it had been smooshed with the cover slip.
But then...we found one on the move!
Here it is on a higher power. It was an active little bugger, wriggling all over the place. We could see the teensy little claws and the strange back legs that look like an inchworm. We saw paramecium, bacteria clusters, nematodes, amoeba and all other manner of organisms. It was totally awesome! I am in love with our new microscopes, and am developing a soft spot for the little tardigrades, too. Watch out, kingfisher, we might have another mascot in the running!

1 comment:

  1. These unique little Water Bears have got to be one of the most fascinating of all creatures. It isn't difficult to love these little guys. Thank you for sharing the Water Bear lesson with the world. I for one, have learnt a lot.

    ReplyDelete