I am a Montessori teacher in a public charter school. Montessori is famous for a hands-on approach and I am the upper elementary lead teacher. My classroom is multi-age with students grades 5 and 6, which includes special needs, on grade level and advanced children.
A Montessori classroom normally has pets for the students to develop practical life skills.
This is a low-income Title I school and many of the students have the opportunity to experiment new activities or go places because of this environment. I am just trying to make them see that education can be fun and challenging. They love caring for the pets and right now I have 2 leopard geckos, 1 beta fish, 1 anole lizard, and recently we got a wonderful donation of 4 axolotls. We will need a bigger tank for those, they can reach a foot long!
My Project
Having pets in the classroom it essential in a Montessori environment. Students learn practical life skills by feeding, watering and cleaning them. They also learn empathy and character development. We have many pets: 2 leopard geckos, 1 anole lizard, 1 Beta fish and got a donation of 4 Axolotls.
They are fantastic creatures and students learn that scientists have been studying this species because of the amazing property of limb regeneration.
They could see this in class. One of them grew the paw back again. They also are carnivores and really cute to see.
Our tank is 10 gallons, but each Axolotl grows up to 1 foot long. We have 4! Students know we need a bigger tank. Students care completely for the animals, change water, wash the tank and take them home when we have big breaks. Students also are aware that I spend money buying food and supplies for all the pets, so we are selling Creamies ice cream in the class and the money helps buying food for them. I have an accountant who takes care of our balance and tell me how much we have to raise to cover all the costs.
I also added a new water pump, because the one we have is for a small gallon and it was donated by one of the students. We will need a better pump/filter that goes with a bigger tank.
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