by Erin Yorke

Created on: May 20, 2007   Last Updated: May 21, 2007

The class can work together to learn how to care for the pet while learning to communicate with it and how to cooperate as a class. You can teach them about biology and the importance of environment by talking about where this animal close or distant relatives live or lived. Talk about how different animals have different adaptations and needs. Point out how some habitats are threatened and how this kills the animals that live there- without food and shelter, they cannot live. Pets need us more directly because they get their food and shelter from us instead of the wild.

Children learn that animals have feelings too, and that they have the same basic needs as humans- food, water, shelter, bodily functions, and most of all respect. Having a pet means feeding it, watering it, cleaning up after it, and even catching it if They can get scared or happy When need reassurance, just as a human would. Children often feel small and scared themselves because they are physically smaller and more naive than adults. This is true for caged pets, also, which tend to be prey animals such as rabbits, birds, or mice. Although the pet might be scared of the children at first, it will come to like and trust them if they are gentle to it. The teacher should make sure they treat it well. So the child learns to feel empathy for the creatures and learns to feel it for other humans as well. A pet can be a very calming influence in the classroom. A stressed child may settle down if they can stroke or talk briefly to the pet and feel unconditionally accepted by it. Without a class pet, some children would never get to experience this. When I was in grade school, we had a class rabbit named Lester. He was very friendly and gentle, and he never bit because he was so used to people. On nice days, a few of us would get permission to take him outside at recess and play with him. Fortunately, he was tame enough to not run away and caged up enough to not be able to run very fast even if he did. Then when I was 9, my parents asked me if I wanted a little pet. Without hesitation, I said I wanted a rabbit because I knew I liked them.

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