Hermit Learnit Begins!

 We have let our hermie friends enjoy a couple weeks of (mostly) uninterrupted "quiet time" to help them relax, destress, and become comfortable with their environment as we have been gearing up for our big project: The Hermit Learnit. Mrs. Derringer was inspired to take on this project as a way to connect STEM and Language Arts by a pin she found on Pinterest (of course!) based on Tennessee teacher Kyle Hastings' awesome project, which you can find if you click the following link and move to page 2: http://www.maryville-schools.org//site/default.aspx?PageID=3890 This teacher blogged about a similar project he completed with his third grade classroom, and we decided to adapt this project to match our interest and grade level standards for 4th grade.

We gave our hermies some quiet time to allow them to be in peak condition, since they will be the stars of the show! Our goal for the project is two-fold: first, we want to find out what makes an ideal crabitat, and second, we want to share what we have learned about hermit crabs and their care!

Here is what we have done so far:

• Names: Students worked in groups of four to determine a group name and the name of their crabitat.
• Building: One of our class parents put his engineering skills to the test and saved Mrs. Derringer from accidentally chopping off her hand in constructing this structure- THANK YOU! Our terrific volunteer drilled air holes in the tops of each crabitat, cut openings in the sides, created connecting tunnels, and assisted in the building of the project structure. Awesome!
• Plans: Students used research materials, such as nonfiction readers, pet care guides, and nonfiction articles to design their versions of the ideal crabitat. Creativity was OF COURSE encouraged- the restrictions were: no metal could be used; each crabitat had to contain a standard (control) amount of coconut fiber, salt water, conditioned water, and food; each crabitat had to include at least one hide.
• STEM Connections: Groups were assigned a geometric prism on which to base their hide creations. Students measured the volume of their hides, and added this information to their data sheets to help with predictions and data collection. Groups also measured and added a standard amount of coconut fiber to each crabitat. As the experiment progresses, students will collect daily data, create graphs to represent their data, and form scientific conclusions based on their research and data findings.
• Language Arts Connections: Students began working on four Language Arts activities designed to showcase students' skills and share information: friendly letters to current third-graders (future caretakers of our hermies); diagrams using specific text features; poems incorporating figurative language and content vocabulary; and a "free choice" assignment.

On Monday afternoon, we will place Mr. Crabs, Home Run, and Ranger in the middle chamber. This crabitat contains only coconut fiber- no water, no food, no hides= no fun for hermies! We predict that the hermit crabs will seek food, water, and shelter. By providing a standard amount of water and food in each crabitat, we predict that the hermies will spend the most time in the crabitat with the most engaging environment and hide. Students will collect data Tuesday-Friday mornings. We predict that the hermit crabs will be found in the morning sleeping in one of the hides. We will make observational notes on environmental changes to help us track their activity, such as hermie tracks in the coconut fiber, items found in a different position from when they were left the afternoon before, and- of course- hermit crab droppings!

We are excited to learn more about our crab buddies- will they behave as we predict, or will they surprise us by doing something different? What if they go to the same crabitat every day? What if they decide to stay in the main chamber the whole time? We will keep this important quote in mind, and allow the scientific process and our love of learning to lead us in new directions if needed: “Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” 

― John Dewey

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