Over the years I have had frogs and fish as my main classroom pets. As a student myself I vividly remember my grade 2 teacher having a pet axolotls in the classroom - we were so enthralled by them but cutting up the meat was a little icky (but we loved it anyway). Another teacher I remember has silkworms - though only a couple of us got to have the silk (we were never told the truth about the poor moth!). Overall though I have grown up to love animals and be a responsible pet owner. Unlike other children though I was fortunate to also have pets at home (including a fish, mouse and cats).
When introducing a pet to the classroom it is important to have a discussion with the class about being responsible. It is not enough to put a fish in the tank and think all students will treat it with respect (even with discussions I had one kids put Blu-Tac in the fish tank - the fish survived but he had to wait two terms to earn the privilege of looking after the fish for a week.
Grade 3 example of independent information report |
Grade 3 example of frog information report - close-up |
One other task is that everyone who successfully completes the report can submit an idea for naming the animal.
In regards to the example, I was teaching a grade 3 class and we had just gotten a frog (who lives happily the rest of the time in my lounge room). This was the work completed by the student, Rachel, who also named the frog. She chose the name Tooantuh as she had researched on the internet for words that meant frog in other languages.
Classroom pets I recommend are...
* fish
* frogs
* lizards
* stick insects
* hermit crabs
* scorpion (be careful of what species)
* turtles (if you have space and a large enough tank)
Frog Graphic (c) MyCuteGraphics
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