SANDPOINT — With smiles, excitement and hands that had obviously done some dissection before, Northside Elementary kids dug right into their squids — literally.

"I found the ink sack," said one excited second-grader, though many of the ink sacks leaked during the dissection, leaving an inky mess across the dissection areas.

The first task, though, was for the kids to remove the sex organ, which, when polled, about half of the squids donated by Yoke's were female and the other half were male. Ella Flynn, a 7-year-old second-grader, said if the sex organ is yellow it is a female, and if it is white then it is a male.

Sixth-grader Riley Adam was excited when she discovered the heart, which was a difficult organ to find in the slimy interior of the squid. As it turns out, and Riley found out the hard way, the squid heart can explode pretty easily in an attempt to remove it.

Squids actually have three hearts, which is one difference when compared to a human, said Jayne Sturm, sixth-grade science teacher at Northside. As part of their cardio unit, the students recently dissected a pig heart, then compared it with the heart of a mollusc.

As part of the sixth-grade exit standards, Sturm said the class is concentrating on comparing and contrasting parts of the human body with different animals like the squid.

"We both have a cornea, so that's a similarity, and we have a backbone and a squid doesn't — they are an invertebrate — so just similarities and differences, and then having the skills to be able to not only have us master all the parts of the squid, but for them to be able to teach a second-grader," Sturm said.

Sturm's class is paired with Steve Smith's second-grade class, and part of the sixth-graders' grade is determined by how well they teach the second-graders. The second-graders helped with the actual dissection by placing the organs on a labeled chart, as well as tasks like cutting the arms and tentacles from the body of the squid.

Sixth-grader Brooke Knepper easily explained the difference between the tentacles and the arms of the squid.

"The tentacles are a lot longer and have suction cups on them, and the arms are just kind of there for support," Brooke said.

Sixth-grader Kaylee Bennett explained that the shell of the squid is called a gladius.

"It's like a backbone, but they don't have a backbone," Kaylee said.

"I've never seen a squid," added Kaylee's second-grade buddy, Bailey Mohler. "It looks creepy."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.