Questions for teachers with tanks in their classrooms

Hi all,

My husband will be graduating college in December (hurray!) and he will be a certified elementary school teacher. Lord willing, he will be hired quickly! We've been thinking about how he wants to set up his future classroom, and if at all possible, we'll probably include an aquarium. (Unfortunately, some school districts don't allow them.)

So, I was wondering if there are any teachers on the board who have tips/suggestions for successfully keeping an aquarium in the classroom. One thing I've particularly been concerned about is what to do with it over the summer... is there any alternative to taking the whole thing down and hauling it home for three months?

Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome, thanks!

Amy

Thanks for the responses, and for the well wishes steph! And you're right Knoxx, this is a tough time to be an educator. However we're older (late bloomers LOL) and we feel good about his chances of getting hired. There are several good school districts in our area, and male teachers are often preferred in elementary schools because so many children have no positive male figures at home. My dad was a 4th grade teacher for 15 years before he passed away, but he wasn't interested in having fish or other pets in his class. (And actually now that I think about it, I was never in a class that had a pet!)

Honestly, fish are my "thing", not my husband's, but he agrees that there are tons of things that kids can learn from the fishkeeping experience. So I already have small (5-10 gallon) tanks that we could use, and of course I have guppies and similar livestock that can be donated to his classroom cause...

I guess I might be just looking for an excuse to get a new tank but I think the kids would love it! There's so many scientific things they can learn about too, from the life cycle of fish or inverts, to the nitrogen cycle in the water, to aquatic plant growth.... *sigh* LOL

I just wondered if there are any tricks or tips or even teaching lessons that an experienced teacher might have to share. Or any ideas at all really!

Amy

jpappy789 said:

Small tanks are pretty easy to just pack up, bring home, and place on a desk or counter top. Unless he would be able to go back every week or two (at the very least) for maintenance during the summer, or longer breaks, I would suggest getting something no larger than a 10 gallon for that reason alone. Also, it makes water changes and other maintenance fairly easy during the school year since he would be dealing with small volumes of water.

Click to expand...

That's an excellent point about water changes during the school year! I had only been thinking about the size in terms of bringing the tank home for the summer.

So much will depend on where he winds up teaching... there are schools that are 5 minutes from our house, but then again he could be hired somewhere in a small town 30 minutes away... Also some classrooms have their own water faucets, which would sure help with tank maintenance!

Mgamer20o0 said:

keep the soap away from the tank lol

Click to expand...

LOL Oh my... yeah he's teaching kindergarteners right now!!! There's no telling what might wind up floating with the fishes with kids this age!!!!