BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - Between the guinea pigs, a chinchilla duo, rabbit, hedgehog, gecko, turtle and tank of sea monkeys, some of the halls at Bloomington Junior High School are starting to resemble Noah’s Ark.
“Sometimes, school isn’t the place all kids want to be. Having pets in the classroom gets them excited about coming to class,” said sixth-grade teacher Kelly Rosendahl.
Rosendahl’s classroom is home to two chinchillas, Moe and Larry, and two guinea pigs, Billie Jean and Pretty Mama.
“It’s a great way to teach kids about research; what the animals eat, what kind of homes they live in and what they need in their environment,” said Rosendahl.
Rosendahl said guinea pigs are ideal classroom pets because of their mild temperament.
“They let the kids hold them. If kids are having a hard day, they can sit in a bean bag chair, hold an animal and calm down,” she said.
After one lunch period last week, sixth-grader Alex Kimmel explained how she plays with and feeds the guinea pigs before class starts.
“They’ll come up to the cage in the morning and look at us,” said Alex as she held Pretty Mama to her chest, feeding the guinea pig a handful of carrots. “I want to learn more about chinchillas. I know they have floating rib cages.”
Sixth-grader Morgan Masters eased Billie Jean out of her cage and began wiping her belly and paws clean with a cloth.
“Pretty Mama likes people and food,” said Morgan. “Billie Jean doesn’t really like people.”
Even though he has pets at home, Sean Ndorongo said there’s something different about having animals in the classroom.
“You can’t pick up a dog like this,” said Sean while playing with the guinea pigs.
The students also helped Rosendahl give Moe and Larry a dust bath. She shook some dusting powder into a plastic tub and the students held it up to the open cage. Both rodents hopped into the tub and began spinning in the dust, coating their fur.
Rosendahl said a high cost can come with classroom pets for such things as food, bedding, items for the cages and cleansing dust for the chinchillas.
“That’s one downside: it can get really expensive,” said Rosendahl. “We do use some of our classroom budget or buy things ourselves.”
Rosendahl said her past and present students have hosted fundraisers to collect money for pet adoption fees and supplies.
Jen Swiderski said the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to having a classroom pet. A Holland Lop rabbit named Harley lives in her sixth-grade classroom at BJHS.
“There are lots of benefits for students with a traumatic past,” said Swiderski. “They really form relationships with the animals and it always puts a smile on the kid’s face.”
She utilizes the rabbit during teaching time, especially for science research projects and math problems.
“A lot of kids shut down for math, but if I can tie the bunny into a word problem, they want to answer it,” said Swiderski.
During summer and winter vacations, students in Rosendahl’s class have to fill out applications to take the pets home and care for them over break. The applications must include why the student wants to take the pet home, a parent’s signature and a letter of recommendation.
Swiderski said in order to take the rabbit home, her students must have good grades.
“I tell them, ’If you can’t remember to turn in an assignment, how will you remember to feed the rabbit?’ The kids get really excited about taking care of them,” said Swiderski.
Many other schools in the Pantagraph area are using classroom reptiles, rodents, fish and therapy dogs in their teaching curriculum.
For 20 years, Britta Armstrong has kept mice as pets in her kindergarten classroom at Prairieland Elementary School.
This year, the little rodents are Nora and Bianca, named after characters in the book “Noisy Nora” and the children’s film, “The Rescuers.”
“A lot of them think mice are icky, especially in kindergarten,” said Armstrong. “By the time the year is over, they think they are cute and will pet them.”
Armstrong said she uses the mice to teach students about the needs of living things. The mice are also used as incentive for good behavior.
“We use the mice to talk about how all living things need water, food and shelter,” said Armstrong. “It’s something fun they will remember.
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Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, https://bit.ly/2c76cR3
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Information from: The Pantagraph, https://www.pantagraph.com
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