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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2019)
MAY 17, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3 Invisalign & Traditional Braces Customized Financing FOR A FREE CONSULT CALL 503.362.0500 www.haveagreatsmile.com orthodontics mor children, adolescents & adults Truly Amazing Smiles SCHOOLHOUSE SQUARE 5099 RIVER ROAD N, KEIZER The diverse, scaly and sometimes damp world of classroom critters BY LAURA MURPHY python. “Artemis was the goddess of hunting, animals Of No Adults Allowed and the night,” she said, “when I watch her eat, she’s There has been much debate about a pet’s place just such an amazing predator.” Which is how she in the classroom. Some teachers feel that they are landed on the name Artemis for her snake. distracting and disrupt the Elder uses the animals to classroom while other teachers teach her students about the believe they are helpful visual food cycle, evolution, and aids and a valuable teaching invasive species. “If I was an tool. English teacher or a history Mandy Elder, a biology teacher I wouldn’t have them,” teacher at McNary High she said. Although sometimes School, has not one, but fi ve in class her animals can draw pets in her classroom. She has the students attention, she said two leopard geckos, Sherlock they weren’t too distracting Holmes and John Watson. overall, “They’ll just sit and stare They eat mealworms and at her (Artemis).” crickets. “When I fi rst got them Beyond using animals to they were little kamikazes,” help teach the students, Jessica Elder said, “whenever we Graham, another biology would hold them they would teacher at McNary, uses them climb up and then jump off .” to connect with students, “I Elder also has two axolotls, don’t name them (tree frogs) Sherlock the Gecko. His partner John Watson Falcore and Toothless, “I call was feeling shy. because then I get attached them that because and they’ll die and they remind me I’ll be sad,” she said, of little dragons,” “the kids always Elder said. Axolotls give me a hard are a type of time about never salamander that naming them.” lives in the water. Graham has Like the rest of her two Pacifi c tree animals, axolotls frogs in her room are carnivorous. “If “I used to have I put anything else more but with the Falcore or Toothless. (Axlotls are hard to tell apart.) in the tank with construction start- them, they’ll eat it,” she said, “I had a huge tiger snail ing next year I’ve had to downsize,” Graham said. “Mrs. in there to try and clean up some of the algae and they Bailon brought them in from her sister’s pond or some- ate it.” thing and we raised them from tadpoles.” In addition to her tiny predators she also has a ball Graham thinks classroom pets are important for • Cows chose companions we would propose mating. • Classroom pets can be used to teach • Ostriches can run faster than horses, about a variety of subjects. and the males can roar like lions. • Frogs can freeze without dying. • A group of ferrets is • A single elephant tooth can weigh as much as nine pounds. • At birth, baby called a business. kangaroos are only about an inch long – no bigger than a large water bug or a queen bee • Dogs have more taste buds than cats. • Axolotls can regrow their limbs, skin, jaw, tails and spines. • A woodpecker can peck 20 times per second • A giant ant eater’s • Octopi have three hearts. • Tortoises in hotter environments are lighter than tortoises in colder ones. McNary teacher Mandy Elder with ball python Artemis A Pacifi c tree frog. Teacher Jessica Graham doesn’t like to name them because they don’t live as long as some of the other classroom pets. • Gentoo penguins use pebbles to consider best friends. tongue can be up to two-feet long engaging students “It gives students a sense of wonder and curiosity,” she said. “Whenever a kid is having a bad day, back when I had fi sh, I’d send them over to the tanks to look at them and calm down. It’s sorta like how doctors have fi sh in their waiting rooms.” • Humans share 70 percent of our DNA with a slug and 98.4 percent with chimpanzees. • ‘Jaws’ is the most common name for a goldfi sh. NO ADULTS ALLOWED What do you call a tiny axolotl? An axolittle What is the diff erence between a cat and a frog? Cats have nine lives, frogs croak every night
