I used to really not like eels. They look a lot like snakes - ew! They open and close their mouths over and over - kind of like they're about to bite something. And remember the eels in The Little Mermaid? They were evil!
When it came time to go SCUBA diving around eels, my sweet husband talked me out of being scared of them. He explained that the eels are just trying to get oxygen - which is why their mouths are always open. And the poor guys are almost blind! I felt a bit sorry for them after that and had no trouble diving with them. Not that it's okay to mess with them - we were on one dive where our dive master stuck his hand out in front of an eel and was bitten!
Anyway, my wonderful husband had to give me the same pep talk during our Wednesday morning phone call when I was bringing 27 earthworms into my classroom for my 27 first graders to observe. Yes, slimy, slippery, wriggling worms. We're studying habitats in first grade right now and worms are part of our "Underground" unit. I was totally creeped out by them. They come in weird styrofoam containers, and I kept imagining the worms breaking free. Ick! I was also very, very nervous about having to deal with the worms in front of the kids. Every time I thought about picking them up I would get the shudders. Anyway, my husband calmed me down and said that the worms were just like the eels - but the worms were actually blind! Poor little guys! He gave me just enough courage to put on my teacher face when it was time to bring them out : ) The kids were so excited! Most of them loved holding the worms:
And there was lots of screaming and shrieking as the worms started to crawl off the paper towels and even off the desks. I don't have photos of this part of course as I was doing damage control ; )
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