Aquarium Filler

I had an empty fish aquarium but didn’t want the hassle of keeping fish, so each week I’d pick a different animal to feature in the aquarium. And by animal I mean a stuffed animal or some other kind of toy. For example, I might put a plastic hermit crab inside. Then I’d add things you’d find in a hermit crab’s habitat: a sandy background (printed and taped to the back of the tank), empty shells, a water supply and maybe even some small pebbles. Outside of the aquarium I’d set up a basket full of books all about hermit crabs. With the exception of some great literature, I try to stick with nonfiction but it depends on my class and their unique interests. No matter what, they consistently love books that tell about wild animals or how to take care of pets (like hermit crabs). If changing your animal each week feels too overwhelming then change once or twice a month. You can turn your aquarium into a center and incorporate themed writing, math or science ideas too.

The Virtual Class Pet

When I was in school I LOVED having class pets. My favorite year was fifth grade, when we had bunnies and black corn snakes. When I became a teacher, however, I couldn’t even begin to understand how other teachers could actually manage to keep a pet alive and healthy in a classroom full of wild animals students. Who feeds it? Can it survive in school over the weekends? What about spring break? What happens if we have unplanned snow days and I can’t get into the school? What if it starts making noise during a test or if it, God forbid, DIES?! I get heart palpitations just thinking about it.

Instead, I came up with a new idea to satisfy my students’ desires for a class pet. A virtual class pet!

We can check in on it every day, we can write stories about it and draw pictures of it doing silly things without any of the worries that accompany live class pets. (Did I mention my overwhelming fear of it dying in class?) Because of the fact that the animal doesn’t need to be in my classroom, my students have class pets much more exciting than a goldfish. We’ve had pandas, penguins, sharks and gorillas. This year we’ve even watched a pair of local bald eagles take care of their babies before and after they hatched!

We’re learning about things like animal habitats and conservation efforts and I don’t have any of the stress that comes with having real class pets. Have you ever had a virtual pet? What did you do with yours?

Invisible Dog: The Easiest Classroom Pet

I have had fish, hermit crabs and a turtle. Many other teachers have gerbils, mice, snakes, hamsters etc… I have found real creatures can be REAL maintenance. And what do you do with them over the long breaks? How about the unexpected snowstorms? Not to mention, schools are revisiting health and safety policies that won’t allow certain animals in schools anymore.

So one year I got an invisible dog and allowed the kids to name him. He had a visible bed, toys, food and water dishes. He was well behaved and never had accidents. My first graders adored him. They took him to recess and even on errands to the office. I put books about dogs (both fiction and nonfiction) by his bed, in case students wanted to brush up on their canine knowledge or read him. 

You could also let your students take the dog home over the weekend with a dog journal. Each family could experience the joy and ease of having an imaginary pet.