Tuesday, the students in my Biology class, brought their pond cultures they collected the week before. This is what my samples looked liked. The water had been “stewing” for five days. You really can’t see the different. I think it was the egg jar that you see foaming here.
Let me tell you, this smell was worse than last year! I thought one young man needed to leave the room, but he kept saying he was fine. He looked very green to me. Most of the time the kids had their noses covered. lol
Each jar was to be opened and some culture (pond bacteria) was taken out with an eyedropper. Six jars opened at one time, made the room smell lovely. 
A drop of the culture is placed on a clean slide and then covered with a cover slip. To learn how to prepare a wet slide, please read here.
Notice where this young lady’s hand is. Over her nose! 😀
The smell was bad; really really, bad. Next thing to do is observe under the microscope. See the girl on the left? She was in my class last year, came in for a visit, and then participated.
We had great success with seeing bacteria, this year. Besides seeing the three basic shapes of bacteria, we also got to see Protozoa and Amoebas.
It was a great day, smell and all! 🙂
APPLIE'S PLACE 
I can smell it from here! Gross!!!!
Awesome! Can’t wait until tomorrow….maybe I should show up with nose plugs and see if they get worried!
I see lots of jars.
Did each student gather their own pond water?
Hey Marty, Yes I had them get their own pond water. For these reasons:
1. It gets them out into God’s creation.
2. They love it.
3. The parents complain of the smell at home.
4. It gives us cultures from different areas, so we have enough to share in case someone’s pond water lacks critters.
5. There’s enough to spread the aroma throughout the co-op. We like to share.
It’s a good thing. 🙂
Ok, you know I laughed on #3. 😀
And so glad y’all like to share. hee hee!
Thank goodness for smell-0-vision :p
Awesome microscopes!! Your class looks so wonderful! You are probably tired of me saying that. But that is what I always think when I see the pics and read your blog.
Thank you. 🙂
Seeker, that’s exactly what I think! I love Applie’s posts. 🙂
Thank you Marty. I like your posts too. It is fun to see how others do the modules.
That looks so cool. Unfortunately, I live in the desert. So no pond water anywhere nearby. If I lived closer to you, I would enroll my son in your class. 🙂
yep. i had to do this for my biology class too. i had water samples collected and everything, but then didn’t make it to class. let me tell you, those jars were deadly!