MAY 17, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
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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