Classroom Pet

Classroom pets?
In middle school?
YES!!!
I would like to introduce you to mine....
He's cute, He's furry, He squeaks!
He's.....

Sir Salvador the Squirrel!

 

Sir Salvador is preparing for his journey to middle school. 

Last year I had a pet unicorn and tried to make some kind of reference to a unicorn everyday in every class. 

It might have been incorporated into my grammar lesson...

Identify the dependent clause in the following sentence

The pink unicorn pranced through a field of wildflowers while singing I'm a Little Teapot. 

Or used to split up groups, "If you're a number one, you will go to the unicorn table!"

Or used to get a students attention, "Brandon!  Are there unicorns outside my window?  If so, wave hey for me and then come back to our lesson!"

A couple of weeks in you will start to get comments like, "Mrs. Kepley, do you like unicorns or something?"  Usually I answer (with a super serious, straight face) "I don't know what you're talking about." And move on with the lesson.

Then the pictures of the class pets start to roll in.  This year they were torn out of coloring books, hand drawn, doodled, etc.  I even got a canvas painting of a colorful unicorn this past year.  

It builds community.  It makes connections.  It's fun!!