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Classroom critters help to teach responsibility, respect — and literacy? by Emily McFarlan, The Courier-News ELGIN — Kelsey Hamblin trailed behind Hercules and Houdini as the two box turtles made lazy laps around special education teacher Randy Monger’s classroom at Otter Creek Elementary School here. Almost immediately, the 5-year-old had reasoned which was “the mommy turtle” and which was “the baby turtle.” “He’s following the mommy, and that’s the mommy over there,” she explained. “Wait for me, turtle!” A boy in teacher Kelley Thomas’ early learners class, which visited Monger’s classroom last month to see the turtles, asked if “Percules” was sick because it wanted to go to the doctor. Kids are funny because they like to assign roles like that, Monger said. But classroom pets do more than stretch students’ imaginations and powers of reason, agree teachers in both school districts U46 and 300. Classroom pets help students learn responsibility and respect, among other lessons that don’t always come in textbooks, they say. “Sometimes you have kids who are bullies with other kids, (and they) are gentle with animals,” said Michelle Soland, a third-grade teacher at Westfield Community School in Algonquin. “It teaches you a lot about how to treat people. It has a lot of benefits.” Soland has kept animals in her classroom for the past 14 years, starting when a student asked if his turtle named Casper could be the classroom pet. This year, some parents offered to buy a pet for the classroom. Their son wanted a lizard, but they preferred it stay at school, she said. That’s how Rex, the bearded dragon, joined Soland’s class in October. Rex has grown from 6 inches long to nearly 2 feet and molted several times, illustrating science lessons for the classroom, she said. And the third-graders have taught lessons about the lizard to younger students at Westfield, she said. “They get that sparkly look in their eyes because they’re in charge,” Soland said. “It builds their self-esteem so much to be a leader.” Furry friends “I think it’s a great way to motivate them to read while they work on their fluency with a furry friend,” Lakewood fifth-grade teacher Jana Davis said in a written statement released by Community Unit School District 300 earlier this year. The Carpentersville-area district allows animals to be brought to school facilities “for educational purposes,” according to the district’s board policy manual. Those animals must be “appropriately housed, humanely cared for and properly handled,” and students must not “be exposed to a dangerous animal or an unhealthy environment,” the manual says. Elgin School District U46 has no policies or procedures regarding classroom pets, although spokesman Tony Sanders said a teacher can take on the expense of a pet in his or her classroom. When it comes to what kind of pet to choose for a classroom, Otter Creek’s Monger said “heartiness” is an important quality. His class had been through fish, gerbils and hamsters before settling on the turtles four years ago, he said. One of the rodents still might be around the school, too, he said, although it escaped from its cage long ago. Soland said her class had a Chinese water dragon at one time, but it died. Students voted on what kind of lizard to get next, and the bearded dragon won after someone at the pet shop told her it would be more resilient, she said. Her third-graders also tried to hatch ducks in an incubator this year, but the eggs didn’t survive, she said. The farmer still brought four ducklings for the class to care for during the last few weeks of school. Even then, she said, “It’s kind of hard to learn about death and everything, but it’s part of life. It’s probably a good introduction before they encounter it with family members.” Conquering fear And there’s the responsibility lesson: Now that school is out in District 300, a few third-graders have asked to watch Rex over the summer break, Soland said. Others have asked to come back to her classroom next school year to teach the new third-graders how to care for the classroom pet, she added. Still, third-grader Brock Lewis, 9, of Algonquin, said he might like the ducks more than the lizard in his classroom. Rex “has sharp claws, and sometimes he can poke holes in your shirt,” he said. But the ducks are more “careful.” “Sometimes they do things that are funny that the lizard didn’t do,” Brock said, such as the time he and his classmates got to put the ducks in a kiddie pool on the classroom floor. They dove straight for the bottom and splashed water everywhere, he said. Thomas, watching her early learners follow the turtles around Monger’s classroom in Elgin, said pets such as Houdini, Hercules and Rex also build responsibility in less-tangible ways among the littlest learners. “Classroom pets are such good responsibility,” Thomas said. “Seeing Mommy cares for you, but you can care for the pet, is good for them.” |
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