Pets in the classroom
As a child, I remember having a pet hamster in my classroom. But there are many teachers who are against pets int he classroom. Sure, the hamster was smelly sometimes, and it peed on my hand more than once, but I still liked having it in the room. Now that I am on my way to becoming a teacher, I’m beginning to think about things like classroom pets. At first I wanted to have a fish tank, but while I love fish I didn’t love the idea of a tank in my classroom. It didn’t seem to excite me enough. I wanted to put one of my many newts in a 10 gallon in the classroom, but there’s a lot of problems with that, too. Newts and other amphibians all have salmonella on their skin and I worry that that would prevent me from being able to bring them into the classroom. It might worry parents and principals. Turtles are cute, but again they have salmonella. I thought of a reptile, but the care of such an animal is demanding and plus, they have teeth. There’s always a chance, no matter how slim, of it biting a student.
I thought about fuzzy animals, too. But hamsters can bite if they have a bad temperament, and rabbits need a lot of space and care, too. I think fancy mice are neat, but they present the same biting problem as the other animals.
So what should I do? I was really looking for an animal that could become a part of the classroom community. I even envisioned children being able to “read to” their classroom pet as a way to boost reading skills (kind of like with the therapy dogs). Any suggestions?
