Grade 6 Students Dissect Squids

Last week, our Grade 6 students dissected squids in Science class with retired teacher Mr. Jeff Toogood.
Vanessa Bobechko '26, 6S
When I first saw the squid, I was surprised and kind of disgusted. I was surprised at how big the squid was and unimpressed by the squid’s appearance. I was not wanting to touch it with my bare hands, but at the same time I was very intrigued and the squid looked interesting to learn about and feel. At first, I was hesitant to touch it but I went for it, for the learning experience and for my own interest. I started to poke it and eventually got used to the feel of the squid.

I ended up picking it up a lot, like when we flipped it over or picking it up to cut the head off or even when we put our finger in the siphon…I was the first one to do it! I got comfortable touching the squid and the experience was very fun. Even though the smell is awful and makes me not want to touch it even more it was very fun and a great experience to dissect it and write in squid ink. It was also cool to batter it, cook it and then eat the squid, even though I didn’t like the feel of the squid in my mouth, I’m proud of myself for trying it! Overall, I think it was an amazing experience and I’m so glad Mr. Toogood, our presenter, could come and teach us about squid!
 
Parker Emanoilidis '26, 6R
This is my honest reaction of the squid dissection. At first, when we entered Mrs. Street’s room the smell hit me. It was like the smell of a kitchen from the show, Kitchen Nightmares, but eventually I got used to it. When we got our squid, I was certain I was going to throw up just looking at it, but I decided to pick it up. It ended up being really fun. First, I thought it was cool how the eye of the squid can see all around. The pupils are big enough so they can see in the dark. Then when we cut open the squid, I was amazed at how strong the squid skin is. No wonder they don't have too many predators.

Then we saw this tube-like thing and cut it open and white goo came out which apparently means it is a male squid. When we pried the beak out, I was amazed at how sharp it was. No wonder the squid can grind up its prey to eat. Then we cut open the ink sac and I got some ink on my hands, but it was still cool. I also found it amazing how the organs were so jiggly and they had their own space so they won't all fall out. When we took out the cartilage - the backbone of the squid, we put it in a cup along with the ink sac. Then we wrote our names on a sheet of paper using the backbone and the ink sac. Finally, Mr. Toogood grilled squid and made calamari. It was okay, but it stayed on my breath all day. And that was my experience with the squid dissection that we were fortunate enough to have.
 
Nikolai Abramov '26, 6R
On October 29th, the Grade 6s participated in a squid dissection and these are my thoughts. My favourite part of the squid dissection was when we got to take out the beak and take out the lens. The reason why I picked these things was that I really enjoyed poking inside the eye because it was squishy and it felt like I was poking around in slime. I also enjoyed taking out the beak of the squid. It was cool just how sharp the beak was and how we could reassemble it.

I also found it interesting when we found a suction cup inside the stomach. The squid ate a smaller squid and didn’t fully digest the smaller squid. My least favorite parts of dissecting the squid was the smell. The smell was terrible and I thought I was going to throw up. I also didn’t like it when we had to clean the squid because I had to hold the squid and it was very slimy and slippery. It was also very hard to get the skin off and I had to pick at it and some of the skin got stuck in my fingernail. Overall, it was a good experience that I won’t forget.
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13415 Dufferin Street King, Ontario L7B 1K5 
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Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.