Cavies in Classrooms

I agree with you on some points, but I know that for example my daughters school heck I think the only time it is noisy there is at recess and lunchtime they are not loud in the class rooms. I think it is a good learning experince for the children, and reading is great but I dont think it is enough. That is just my personal opinion on the whole matter. If the teacher was going to take full responsibility for the animal, and make sure that they get fresh veggies every day, and as long as the parents and kids and school are ok with it and as long as the animal is not being neglected I dont see where it can hurt, but every school and every person is different. Just had to state my 2 cents.

Thanks and Take care,
Amanda

happimommaof2 said:

I agree with you on some points, but I know that for example my daughters school heck I think the only time it is noisy there is at recess and lunchtime they are not loud in the class rooms.

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You have some good points. However, I've yet to come across a class that sit in silence! 30 children talking in a class, even quietly, is loud for an animal. Noise is not necessarily shouting or talking loud - think about them talking in groups, singing and shuffling chairs. Lots of noises.

Thats true and I agree with you on that but you would really be amazed and my daughters school it is called Fort Caspar Academy and it is not a private school but people around here claim it is like a boot camp very strict and very structured. So they really are quiet they have to pull tickets if they are not. But I do agree with you and I am trying not to debate so much and to listen more (that is so hard for me!) Wow we dont have that many kids in are classes my daughter has 23 kindergarten kids.

Take Care,
Amanda

happimommaof2 said:

Thats true and I agree with you on that but you would really be amazed and my daughters school it is called Fort Caspar Academy and it is not a private school but people around here claim it is like a boot camp very strict and very structured. So they really are quiet they have to pull tickets if they are not. But I do agree with you and I am trying not to debate so much and to listen more (that is so hard for me!) Wow we dont have that many kids in are classes my daughter has 23 kindergarten kids.

Take Care,
Amanda

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You should debate more and stick up for what you believe in. I could use some tips on keeping my class quiet sometimes! 33 is the max class size allowed in my area (it's different for nursery/kindergarten, though). My class has 30 pupils aged 9 and 10.

Well what this school does is they have I think it is 5 tickets for each child in all grades K-6 and all the kids are numbered each class starts off with the number 1 . The children will get one or two warnings first, and then if they continue to disobey then they have to pull a ticket and after the 2nd ticket then they have to stay after for a few minutes and the more tickets they pull the harsher the punishment like calling parents meeting with the principle. Um kindergartners get a little lee way when it comes to dress code, which is if you have belt loops you need to wear a belt, they also have to have there shirts tucked in if they are long enough unless they have ruffles at the bottom. uuhh the girls in all grades are not allowed to wear makeup or the pants with writing on the butt, boys are not allowed to have earrings, no funky dye in either boy or girl hair it is big on education and if the child is wearing something like that than other kids will notice and take away from there education. Granted they are very strict but my child needs structureofftopic . But as for pets in the class room for show and tell and for student of the week they can bring there pet but they have to have a certificate of good health, and dogs have to have proof of recent rabies shots. I know I do stand up for what I beleive in I just try not to jump the gun, and listen to all sides but it is very hard for me to not say what first comes to my mind. So I will continue to stand up for myself but I am going to try to be a little more considerate of other peoples feelings also.
Thanks Take Care
Amanda:relieved:

I agree completly. A classroom is no place for animals. They cannot recieve the same care and attention they get from being a family pet at home, their lives are disrupted by the kids as there is no continiuaty (apologies for spelling) in the person caring for them and occasionally mistreatment by children that don't really know what they're doing. If a child is mature enough to be able to take care of a pet then it's the parents call to sort it out. We wouldn't have this problem if kids went to wildlife santuarys on their school trips instead of disneyland!

Not saying kids shouldn't have pets or fun by the way.

Personally, I don't think pets need to be in classrooms at all. Even if a teacher or student can take them home every weekend, is it worth it to stress out the animal to bring them back and forth every week from house to school, or possibly to a different house every weekend? If the animal runs out of food or water or gets sick over the weekend, and a student has taken it home, is the school going to reimburse the student's family for the expenses? Food and water might not be bad, but a vet bill can run hundreds of dollars. Even worse, what if the above things happen and no one is there to replenish the food or water, or take the animal to the vet? What happens if a student who didn't know they had an allergy to a certain animal or food or hay suddenly has an allergy attack, is the school going to pay for the treatment since they put the student in that situation?

If someone has a plan in place that will address all of those issues, then please, let me know. Until then, I'm going to remain a firm believer that pets belong at home, and there are other ways to teach students about animals.

I don't like the idea of classroom pets, this is coming from kind of personal experience. My guinea pig Maggie was once a classroom "pet". The people that I got Maggie from, their daughter recieved Maggie at the end of a school year from her teacher. Actually she "won" Maggie, I guess the teacher picked the name of a student for who was going to keep Maggie. That just makes me sick, giving a guinea pig to whoever won!:yuck:

Also while living in a classroom she wasn't taken care of very well. She lived in a small rubbermaid bin with ceadar shavings, there was also a tube in the bin, so there was hardly any room at all in there! She also didn't recieve any hay. There was also a lid to the bin with three holes in it, I sure hope they didn't keep the lid on!

It didn't get any better when the daughter got Maggie, because she didn't take care of her any better, maybe even worse. Many times when I came to their home it looked liked the cage needed to be cleaned out and the water bottle was always low or hardly had any water in it! They also didn't give her veggies on a daily basis. Many times I would go over there and give her fresh veggies, change her cage out, and fill up her water bottle.

Then the Mother thought she might be allergic to Maggie so they put her in the basement, wich was pitch dark! That was the final staw! That's when I decided I needed to get her out of there!

So no I don't like the idea of classroom pets, they can too easily become neglected and in this case also end up in a negectful home. I'm not saying every classroom that has animals is this way, but my experience has put me off on the whole idea.

We used to have a bring youre pet to school day in 2nd grade. It was realy fun to see the other kids pets. Note that this was held after class and everyone had a choice to go or not. I was 8 so I dont remember the animals reaction to all this. Although I do remember seeing my first guinea pig, he was so cute.

When I was in year 2 and 3, we had fish in the classroom. They were ok, but since we were too young, the teachers looked after them.
In year 4, we had this budgie in a tiny cage in our classroom. It was filthy, and I complained to the teacher to at least get a bigger cage. The bird died a couple of years ago, so it's probably a lot happier.

I am a preschool teacher with 20-plus years experience. What drew me to this site in the first place was a desire to provide my two classroom piggies (who are foremost my pets) with the best care and environment possible, and I imagine many other teachers have found their way here for similar reasons. This site, plus a variety of other factors, have changed my feelings about having classroom pets, as I will explain in part below.

Evening and weekend care: This requires not only the purchase and maintenance of an appropriate cavy carrier, but the time and work of making sure the car heater is warmed up, draping the carrier with a towel or blanket for additional warmth when toting them to and from the car and into the school building or home, and of course subjecting the pigs to the experience on a daily basis. The stress factor? I can't know for sure, but they were used to it. No one has mentioned the obvious and unnecessary potential risk of car travel to cavies traveling unrestrained (though inside the carrier) in the first place, though it occurred to me a number of times as I fastened by seat belt.

Vet care: I was totally on my own. Our school has an arrangement with a local vet, who provides limited exams, antibiotics, and other uncomplicated small animal care for free, but isn't licensed in exotics. I chose a cavy-savvy vet instead at my own expense.

Other ongoing expenses with which I received no help: Daily veggies, unlimited quality timmy hay, quality pellets, and bedding. The latter came to be an unmanageable expense, because I had to switch entirely to Carefresh in the classroom for child allergies. No one had yet said anything about the hay/allergy potential, but I'm sure it was only a matter of time, and of course my piggies had to have their hay in unlimited amounts for good health.

The biggie: Space. In order to place a 2x4 C&C in the classroom, I absolutely would have had to sacrifice space in another area, and would have been deficient in meeting all of my required classroom center areas. In between seeing my boys cavort in their 3x6 nights and weekends, and having to keep them in an environment smaller than I liked during the day, I came to believe it wasn't in their best interest to be in the room.

The noise? Not as big a concern as you would imagine. The hum of a classroom is pretty consistent, and they would typically ignore the goings-on: lounging outside the pigloo, standing up to eat from the hayrack, and occasionally wheeking and standing on the grids to wheedle me for veggies. By contrast, sudden unexpected noises cause them to scurry, whether they be blocks falling down at school or the vaccuum cleaner being turned on at home.

Handling by the children? Not worth the time. I am the aforementioned teacher who would "crush" any child mishandling a pet, and there has always been a strict "hands off" policy in my classroom. It is understood from day one that I am the only one who may open the cage (which I latch anyway), and laptime with the animals was done with the children sitting on the floor, petting them in cozies under my direct supervision. I feel it does stress the animals to be passed around consecutively to each child in the class, so I limit the number of children who can pet them to a few at a time, which is a huge hassle for me because it creates a situation where the children whine and complain about wanting a turn (as if the pigs were toys) and I must keep track of who gets turns next time.

Regarding allegies: It is probably a matter of time (and maybe not long) until regulatory authorities ban classroom animals, solving the issue anyway.

My piggies no longer reside in the classroom.

All in all, I concede that classrooms are poor places for guinea pigs, though with considerable effort a teacher can improve it considerably. The point that remains, though, is whether the educational benefit to the children outweighs the pigs' experience and the teacher's workload and expense; in my opinion the answer is no.

I originally considered guinea pigs for our family when my son started Kindergarten. I know and still keep in contact with a Kindergarten teacher who has had guinea pigs in her classroom since I was in elementary school myself, and I remember going down to help her care for the pets. I wanted that same experience for my children.

Now mind I know that what this dear teacher does for her pets is ANYTHING but the norm for classroom pets, but I truly admire how she is able to introduce so many young children to the fun & responsibility of having a pet. Their cage is a 30" x 6 foot spot of countertop, walled off with plexiglass. She has always had a pair of female guinea pigs, and they really & truly do receive proper care. They live with her on weekends & during the summer. I remember as a child being allowed - two children at a time - to climb into a space that must have been 6'x8' that was used as their floortime run, and being instructed by her on how to properly hold & pet them. She was always right there, and would not allow the rowdier children into the run unless they were literally sitting in her lap. (this was 25 years ago & teachers were allowed to do things like this) I also remember each child being allowed to bring in the piggies' weekly veggies - kind of like a "treat bucket." She would send the child home with a small cooler that had a list of acceptable foods laminated to the top, and we would store them in a fridge under the countertop. And I remember several times when she would literally stop class & say "Class, we must remember to keep our voices down so we don't hurt Flopsy & Mopsy's sensitive ears." The children were responsible (with help) for cleaning out the cage, feeding the piggies & keeping the bottles full.

At one time she also had a pair of hamsters in the room. One of the hamsters had a problem with her eye & needed an operation. The school would not fund this, so she did so out of her own pocket. When the poor thing died, the entire kindergarten class grieved & made a beautiful memorial to her in the garden right outside the kindergarten window. She used it as an example of how to deal with the passing of a loved one, and even as a 4th grader just visiting the classroom at the time, I remember the impact it had on my life to this day.

So I do feel that classroom pets can be a great thing. Some children may never know what it's like to care for someone smaller than them otherwise. I do know just how special this teacher is, and that her example is anything but normal. But I see nothing wrong with what she does, and admire the example she sets in each one of her students on proper pet care. No, I can't stand the idea of a poor pet stuffed in a wire cage in a corner of a room that children can poke pencils at. But I can & do see the benefit of having a well-cared for pet within the classroom.