Class pets. Students love them and so do teachers. Some schools have many animals, but here at Louisville there are only two and one more may be to come.
Most people only know about Strawberry, Mrs. Frahm-Krick tortoise, but there is another reptile around the school.
Mrs. Cozad, one of the school's special education teachers, has a small leopard gecko named Dotty. But Dotty isn't the only reptile Cozad has; she also has a bearded dragon named Mango that she used to bring to the school. “He's getting a little bit older, so I haven't brought him this year because I think it would just be too much for him,” Cozad said.
As pet owners others could understand not wanting to put pressure on an aging animal, so for his safety he stays home. People often believe that it can teach children to care about the feelings of others and gain a sensitivity and awareness around that.“I think that it’s important for kids to see some of the responsibility that it takes to take care of a pet, but it's also social and emotional.” Cozad believes it is important for students to learn responsibility and class pets can help teach that.
There is another teacher at the school who also believes class pets can teach responsibility. The Spanish teacher Mrs. Hendrickson doesn't have a class pet but she is very open to getting one.
Most teachers believe that class pets teach responsibility, especially if it comes to the class working together to care for the animal.
Hendrickson also said, “It can help with stress relief and help build empathy because they have to care for something else.”
Hendrickson has done research, using petsintheclasroom.org, on how class pets help students and she believes that it would be nice to own one. Class pets can also teach other social skills like sharing, communication, and more. If there were to be a schedule for people they would learn to share and take turns with caring for it. They would also need communication to know whose turn it could be.
Almost every high school student knows Strawberry, her owner is one of the high school science teachers, Mrs. Frahm-Krick. She is the school's tortoise who lives in the classroom over the school year. During the summer Strawberry is taken home with Frahm-Krick and has an outdoor enclosure.
Similar to Hendrickson, Frahm-Krick agrees with the statement on empathy. She said, “I think it teaches kids empathy, a skill set some of them don’t actually get.” All of these teachers agree on responsibility and empathy so hopefully these pieces of evidence and input help others in the school and in other schools understand why class pets are so important.