Yes, I cried when Charlotte died, too. But it doesn't hurt for kids to learn the hard facts of life. I can see the teacher trying to explain this--"Octopii only live four years, and Aurora is a very old octopus. We don't know how long she'll live, but they're feeding her and she's still waiting to see her babies hatch..."

My sister teaches second grade. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it for 25 kids--and then another 25 next year, and THEN--