Terrariums for Teachers and students

I got an email with pictures from a teacher who did terrariums with her students. I think this is a great learning tool. Her name is Karen Attaway and she is a 7th grade science teacher. Here are the pictures and what she has to say about the project of making a terrarium with students. And a big thanks go to Karen for submitting to this website!

Hi! I used your website in the spring to create several terrariums with the help of my students. We were learning about habitats and in particular microhabitats. I used one gallon apothecary jars that can be obtained at Target or on-line from Amazon. Next year, I plan to use the two gallon apothecary jars because it doesn't take long for the plants to get tall. One advantage to the apothecary jars was the wide mouth which helped my students get their hands in there. I also found that the best terrarium plants were at Cornelius Nursery. Lowe's sold some but they tended to be too big for the one gallon jars. I was able to get the cute jaguars along with small rainforest frogs and butterflies from Learning Express. For many of my seventh grade students, it was their first experience in making a terrarium. They really seemed to enjoy it.

Karen also has some great tips for teachers:

I would help Texas teachers out by including the fact that doing a terrarium project covers the following TEKS: TEKS 7.10 A & B on organisms and the environment and TEKS 7.3C on identifying advantages and limitations of models. When I'm looking for what to teach, I frequently search for the specific TEKS and it is amazing how much easier it is to find classroom resources. The terrarium project could also be used to talk about the water cycle and how matter is recycled in nature.

Terrarium as a Learning Tool

A terrarium can be a wonderful learning tool for students for a few different reasons. First off, it is very nice for them to get a hands on project where they make something.

There are three distinct aspects to this:

Stewardship of the Earth
Lifecycle of Plants
Interaction of eco-systems

I have a complete article about this right here. I give you information about these aspects of children and students making terrariums. Terrariums as a learning tool

Lookinng for Plants that are suitable in a terrarium? I have a list right here: Terrarium Plants

Looking for accents for your terrarium projects? I have a page with all kinds of fun miniature figures from wild animals to people and even goblins and fairies: Terrarium Accents

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