05/20/2026
Third graders in Mrs. Bogart's class got up close and personal with crayfish in their science unit: Structures of Life. The Golden Bears met a crayfish on their own comfort level. Some of the students looked, some of them touched, and some of our them picked up. The little crayfish in the photos (dubbed 'Cheeto' by the kids) is a resident of Willow Run Creek, the creek that runs through the African Rd. Elementary School property.
The students sketched and labeled the crayfish body parts, learned the function of the body structures, watched the crayfish for behaviors it exhibited, and learned all about crayfish habitat, defense, diet, reproduction and more. They learned a lot of new vocabulary like carapace (hard shell which makes it easy to pick up), pincer, swimmerets, egg pore and more.
The kids were especially surprised to see that crayfish have 4 antennae (a set of long and a set of short). Short antennae are for tasting, smelling and detecting motion. So cool! They also looked for a white circle on the bottom of the crayfish. This is called an egg pore, and only females have one. They learned that their little guy Cheeto is actually a male since he didn't have egg pore.
The Golden Bears also learned about swimmerets. A female has light feathery swimmerets on the underside; a male has 2 extra-long swimmerets on the underside with white tips. This was another confirmation that the crayfish was a male!
The kids thought it was so amazing that not only did the crayfish have 2 big pincers, but it also had 8 walking legs, and each of the walking legs has a small pincer at the end.
Their little friend Cheeto has been safely returned to the creek, but please enjoy some photos.
