Tater Tot Jack & Cool App

Well, the stinkin' hermit crab survived his/her first week in our classroom. On Monday, I had him set out for the kids, all ready to go!!! You can read posts about how this whole pet thing started { here} and { here }. 

I set the video camera right behind him to get their first impressions. This was funny. Here are some of the things they said:

"Mrs. Patterson, is that all he does???"

"Oh maaaaaannnnn, we should've gotten a hamster."

"This is it!?!?!?!"

So, first order of business was to vote on a name.

And I am proud to say, our little hermit crab's name is...

TATER TOT JACK

That's right. You can't make stuff like that up.


Apparently, hermit crabs don't do anything. Nothing. It's similar to having a pet rock, probably...


They kids kept asking, "Is he dead???" since he does nothing during the day. So, we used Google to find out if hermit crabs are noctural. And yes, they are. So, we brainstormed ideas about ways to see him in action. Here were some brilliant ideas from my seven year olds:

• Turn off all the lights all day and everybody be really quiet so we can trick him. (Yeah right!!!)

• Mrs. Patterson can stay up all night and watch him. (I don't think so!!!)

We finally settled on recording him over night. We used a time lapse app on one of our iPods. This one:

And we jimmy-rigged a stand for the iPod, turned a little light on, and left it running overnight.

Here's what we found in the morning...

This would be GREAT to do with a science project, like watching a seed turn into a plant, or watching ice turn into a liquid!! And you can do it with just one device!!! I think it would also be neat to do it on the classroom and kids for a day!

Also, Tater Tot Jack has been a great behavior controller (this time of year!)!!! He loves to sit at quiet, calm tables that are doing their work. That's what he loves. ;-) 

Happy weekend everyone!!!! Yipeeee!!!!!