Approximately 95% of the animals on Earth are invertebrates. Yet, most people know very little about them. Invertebrates, animals without a backbone, were the focus of House 46’s trip to the Harlem Meer on May 4. In preparation for this trip, House 46ers were introduced to 5 of the 8 invertebrate phyla – Cnidarians (animals with stinging cells), Mollusks (soft bodied animals that sometimes have exoskeletons), Annelids (segmented worms), Echinoderms (spiny skinned animals), and Arthropods (animals with jointed limbs, like spiders, insects, and crustaceans). They read and discussed Insects, by Rod Theodorou, and watched a Bill Nye episode about invertebrates. Before the trip, the children presented information to their classmates about the invertebrates that they studied. By structuring the assignment in this manner, each child became an “expert” on one invertebrate and became familiar with 19 more invertebrates through the research of others.