Investigating new wonder questions! Life cycle and natural habitat of hermit crabs!

While reading some of our "I see, I think, I wonder", post-it-notes, P.I. asked a very good wonder question!

"Where do hermit crabs come from? How are they made?" 

Everyone was pondering. This was a question that had yet to be explored. Thinking critically, the students expressed some of their thoughts both verbally and through writing.

"Maybe they have babies?" "I think they lay eggs." B.S.

"I think they (babies) grow in their tummy, because babies come out of mommy's tummy." M.P.

"They can also come out of eggs. If it has three, then they come out of mommy's tummy. But if they have one, then they come out of an egg." E.S.

"I think the hermit crab comes out of its shell and has a baby and then they try and find a new shell." K.W.

"It's like a cycle. It starts with an egg, then it hatches, then it grows into a big hermit crab, then it finds a shell and does it all over again!" C.M.

"Yea, it gets another baby. It's a cycle!" E.H.

"Maybe the baby comes out from the shell when they're breaking their exoskeleton?" G.B.

"How do hermit crabs first start out as a baby?" W.E.

To support our learning, we will read some non-fiction books, view videos of hermit crabs, and use our own theories to help answer our questions!

We learned that hermit crabs use salt water to bathe in and fresh water to drink.

Dote climbing in the fresh water dish

While reading more post-it-notes, A.M. had another great wonder question for us to explore!

"How do hermit crabs get fresh water when they're on the beach?"

The students had lots of great theories!

"Maybe they dig a tunnel and get fresh water then come back out." A.P.

"I think they dig a hole near a tree and get fresh water from the roots." D.S.

"Yes, inside the ground it's watery!" A.P.

"I think the water travels through the holes in the ground, it goes to the roots, and the hermit crab digs a hole and gets fresh water from the roots of trees." D.S.

"Maybe they find a pool near the beach and they drink from there?" W.E.

"But there's chlorine in the pool and they can't drink that!" E.H.

"When it rains the hermit crabs can get fresh water. They open their pincers and drink it. It's true! This is how they get fresh water because when I was in Cuba it rained and I saw a hermit crab!" E.H.

"Maybe people leave short cups of fresh water on the sand for the hermit crabs." C.M.

"I'm going to go to the Dominican and find hermit crabs and see if they go out of the beach to find fresh water." A.P.

Stay tuned as we explore this wonder question further!