#keepingthingsalive
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annavkelly.bsky.social
127 lithops (technically 129 as there were 2 pairs of them sharing roots) added to my classroom. Is it too much? Yes. Will they all survive? With my track record, no. Will at least half of them make it? Hopefully. Am I crazy? Duh. #succulents #keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom
127 lithops planted in groups of 9, mostly, in small square pots
February 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I took a photo of my hydroponic plants before many of them get cut down soon when 1st graders learn about growing plants from nodes. #scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive #hydroponics #plants
Tall/long pothos and philodendron plants rooted in fish tanks, climbing up a classroom wall
March 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I've moved my garlic sprouts from my little classroom garden to the top of one fish tank. Most roots have grown out quite a bit, and the leaves are longer. Most bulbs have grown slightly. I am still not sure if this will be a success.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #hydroponics
garlic sprouts growing hydroponically over a fish tank
February 14, 2026 at 5:08 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I was pretty sure my shrimp population had crashed, since I barely see any of the ghost shrimp around. I assumed I was out of #neocaridina #shrimp. Last week, I caught sight of this one and hoped there's more in the thick moss. #keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
blue neocaridina shrimp on moss
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I was looking into my shrimp tank and found this one apparently enjoying the air bubbles coming out of the sponge filter. I thought it was cute & it made me wonder if this is common shrimp behavior.

#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
That's the spot!
YouTube video by Anna Kelly
youtube.com
August 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I was trying to get the ramshorn snails out with a cucumber slice, but the shrimp loved it too. It took a day to get some snails on it. I thought for sure, the mystery snails would finish off the cucumber before I trapped any ramshorns.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
one blue and one red neocaridina shrimp feasting on a slice of cucumber held in place with a skewer in a fish tank
August 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
ellawi.bsky.social
I don’t have a green thumb, but yet… producer

#maidenhairfern #keepingthingsalive
February 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
How it started & how it's going, old pic w/ 2 empty pots, 127 plants, 2 were actually 2 pairs of plants, so 129 total. It's 1 1/2 months later, 125 still alive, 3 of them producing a pair each, so 128 technically. Not bad, but maybe I've jinxed it. #succulents #keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom
127 lithops planted in groups of 9, mostly, in small square pots 128 lithops planted in groups of 9, mostly, in small square pots
March 18, 2025 at 4:07 AM
annavkelly.bsky.social
My classroom sowbugs are thriving. I wish I could say my pillbugs are doing the same. #stem #keepingthingsalive #science #bugsofbluesky #pets
January 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Peperomia flower spike...longest I've gotten so far

#scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
Peperomia plant with a very long flower spike on top
June 7, 2025 at 5:24 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
This is Elvis who escaped the snail jar (or "left the building", thus the name) last summer for 3 whole weeks, after which I found it in the first place I looked. Somehow it managed to survive out of the water for that long.
youtube.com/shorts/w5ihV...
#scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
Elvis in the Guppy Tank
YouTube video by Anna Kelly
youtube.com
May 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
A 5gal tank replaced with 10gal, all guppies in 10 gal; snails in right jar will be redistributed, jar to be retired; left 5gal tank has ghost & red cherry shrimp, & a few boraras; middle jar was to be retired, but I saw a tiny little CPD fry today, so no. #scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
various fish tanks and jars in a science classroom, with aquaponics
April 15, 2025 at 2:35 AM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I watched to see if the assassin snail will do the job it was bought for...it didn't. Another ramshorn snail lived to see the weekend.
#scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
Assassin snail not assassinating a ramshorn snail like it should
June 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
There was a rare sighting of my 1 blue shrimp. I took pictures of the snails for kindergarten, thumb for scale. I will be getting more mystery and ramshorn snails; hopefully they'll be more hardy than the last batches I got. I want more shrimp...
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
March 28, 2026 at 3:06 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I am waiting for this one to pop. I haven't seen some of my berried shrimp lately. I hope they were just busy hatching eggs.

Newer phone has a much better camera...yay!

#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
Berried glass shrimp on a young lily leaf
August 30, 2025 at 7:03 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Newer mystery snails are growing (visually obvious), Elvis looks like he got hurt (foot a bit folded & shell scraped), monstera is growing in lava rock & water in an upcycled soda bottle), some shrimp are "eggnant" (maybe 2 ghost, 3 cherry, 2 blue dream). #scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
3 mystery snails whose shells show when they came and got different water parameters and diets...shells looks better now mystery snail showing possible injuries, foot is slightly folded and the shell shows scrapes on one side young monstera plants in lava rock, planted in 16.9oz Coke bottle cut in half, with the top part inverted and inserted in the bottom half for watering I don't actually have this many "eggnant" shrimp, collage of neocaridina and ghost shrimp with eggs
July 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Did I do my water change at the wrong time? I've never seen them even get close to each other before. I don't know their sexes & there isn't enough space above the water line to lay eggs anyway.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
2 mystery snails, one riding on the other 2 mystery snails, one riding on the other
October 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Life goes on in the Science classroom in the summer. Tiny little bean pods emerge from leftover bean plants, and Elvis has a new friend.
#scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
Small bush bean plant left over from student experiments, with a tiny bean pod Big mystery snail, old resident of the tank, meets a smaller newer mystery snail
June 14, 2025 at 12:21 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I ordered 100 lithops in January, got 127 w/ 2 "twins" (129). Yesterday, I counted maybe 96 w/ 9 twins (107) & 2 that confuse me--on 1 side a normal leaf, & on the other, a "twin" (lower right area). How is that even going to work later on?

#succulents #keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom
Lithops repotted in lava rocks in 4 rectangular pots
July 26, 2025 at 1:09 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I wasn't sure if my isopods were stuck/trapped or not, but I decided to move things around a bit to free them from that little space & allow them to crawl back up to the surface of the soil.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
A group of isopods apparently stuck between the side of the glass jar and the netting separating the soil layer from the charcoal layer
January 24, 2026 at 3:51 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Plants & animals growing (see alt texts), and cardboard chair (kindergartners challenged me to make) disassembled now that I have to start sorting & packing for my move to 5th grade...background blurred to cover up the mess.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets #stem #stemeducation
Last 2 stages of darkling beetle: pupa, newly molted beetle (bottom & top), beetle a day after Mealworm pupa, 2-day old darkling beetle, painted lady chrysalises, brassica rapa seed pods growing Cardboard chair I was challenged to create by kindergartners after we talked about paper as a material. I was allowed to use only staples, no tape or glue. This chair has been disassembled and recycled.
May 9, 2026 at 4:47 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I had a thriving shrimp tank last summer; it crashed. I am trying again with a tank of ghost shrimp, neocaridina, some snails, & 3 neon blue rasboras. I just moved them from a 5- to a 10-gallon; that was nerve-wracking. Ghost shrimp were especially tricky. #scienceclassroom #stem #keepingthingsalive
7 shrimp...6 neocaridinas & 1 ghost, very hard to see Berried ghost shrimp, 2 more blurred in the foreground Red cherry shrimp upside down, hanging on to the underside of Amazon frogbit leaves, reflection making it look like there's a shrimp above the surface of the water
June 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I managed to get a decent pic of my 1 shrimp. I saw a sowbug that looks like 1/2 of 1 kind and 1/2 of another in the bin. My 4th & 5th graders played a prey-predator activity ("poor vision" + noisemakers) that's always fun to watch.
#keepingthingsalive #scienceclassroom #classroompets
Blue neocaridina shrimp, the only one in the tank at this time, hardly ever spotted, but photographed a lot when it happens Sowbug that looks like it's half-brown and half-bluish gray, most likely an offspring of 2 different variations...there are "cookies and cream" and "powder blue" sowbugs in the bin, so this may be a mix of those. Students doing a prey-predator activity where all animals have poor vision...predators have jingle bells on their ankles, and prey animals have noisemakers that they use to find another of their kind so they can be "safe".
June 6, 2026 at 8:07 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
I know I keep posting about my shrimp, but I'm excited to have at least 2 berried females. I'm resisting the urge to buy more & instead wait for the babies to come. #keepingthingsalive #classroompets
August 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM
annavkelly.bsky.social
Because of her smaller size, I know this isn't my original shrimp that I named Bigfoot. I've seen Bigfoot but she's not berried (I wonder if she's getting too old for that). This is a different one but a berried one! I worry about the fry because I have scuds, too.
#keepingthingsalive #classroompets
A berried or pregnant blue neocaridina shrimp
August 22, 2026 at 2:33 PM