So you say you want a classroom pet, do you?
Isn't that right, Igor?
First of all these little guys are amazing at creating empathy.
and empathy is that understanding of how
others feel and a pet does so by allowing you to think outside of yourself.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Igor that you obviously did not like 20 kids
touching you at once. Another great part about having a classroom pet is you can do a
lot of awesome curriculum with them. So first of all there's language skills.
Igor, you're really heavy. And you're white and you're gray
So allowing kids to make lists and learn vocabulary
words, then maybe taking them from that and saying "you can't use the word grey"
or "you can't use the term white" and having them explore other words.
You can do other things math and science. So for math you can say "I wonder how much Igor
weighs? And you can take guesses, have the kids pick him up...
What are you, like a pound? Pound and a half?
Any other guesses from the crew? He looks at least two pounds.
Laura, what you got? I'd guess 3, 3 and a half...
Ji, what about you? 3 pounds? On the money for 3!
I was off. So 1.5 pounds is less than 3 pounds. Look how easy that is, insert some math, insert some
less than, greater than and call it a day, you got a curriculum going right there.
Other great things about having a classroom pet is that they are amazing
at fostering responsibility. When you have a pet you can go ahead and say
"who's going to feed Igor, who's going to clean Igor's cage?" — but you do need to
know that as much as you would love it if the kids actually took care of the
pet you're really gonna be the one responsible. We had a "pet cleaner" in our
class we had a wonderful guinea pig named Miranda and not a single child ever
cleaned said cage. It really all comes down to how much you're willing to take care
of it. And keep in mind the bigger the animal the more expensive it's going to be.
There's food, there's bedding, there's the cage, there's vet visits.
And there's also a lot of toys. Toys can be really expensive.
another big downfall in having a pet is that it is a full time commitment.
It's not a one-year deal. You may have one class that was extremely gung ho about getting
a pet but you know what, what about the next class? The next class may have allergies
it's a little tricky bit of a situation when you have to realize that this is a
multi-year commitment. We do have breaks. You may not have a parent that wants to
take it home which means guess who's taking that pet home? You are.
I'm so sorry nobody Igor, nobody
wants to take you home so guess who gets to spend all summer with me and my two kitty cats.
You won't be traumatized at all.
The other thing about pets is as amazing as they are, they do die...
If a pet was to pass away on your time during the school year
it's really important that you're extremely honest
with the kids. Please never ever ever say they went to sleep and they didn't wake up
The idea is something that is extraordinarily frightening. We had a pet
pass away once in class and you know what, they were upset but I allowed them
to ask questions. "Is professor Cookafish going to come back?" I was like, "no Professor
Cookafish is gone, he was old, he lived an extremely long happy life but now we're
gonna flush him down the toilet. And the kids all went into the bathroom he
saluted and sent it off to sea. And you know what we talked about it later it
was it was alright, they made peace with it.
It's ok, you're not going anywhere. You're nice and young and healthy.
And you know what, as great as it is to do curriculum
around them, is it worth having a pet that you're gonna probably maybe be
stuck with a long time? I can say for myself it is as somebody who had one
guinea pig, two hamsters, and three fish all at one time. We couldn't imagine our
class without them. But I knew the risks, I knew the pitfalls and you know what it
worked for me. So whatever works for you because you because getting a pet is No
Small Matter - isn't that right?
Thanks so much to the Chicago Children's Museum and
our new friend Igor for helping us out for today's spot.