Chi... chi... chi... Chinchilla!

This the the chant of my students now when Charlotte is brought up. Personally I came up with a new version of Mary had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little chinchilla, little chinchilla, little chinchilla
Mary had a little chinchilla, who's fleece was gray as soot

It followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day
It followed her to school one day, it was not against the rules

All the children laughed and played, laughed and played, laughed and played
All the children laughed and played to see a chinchilla in school.

They still like the play on the Chia Pet jingle better. Oh well, they are kids.

Charlotte does bring up a good number of discussion and leads to a bit of creativity. She lends herself to "teachable moments."  We have talked about using animals for fur, hunting to near extinction, animal adaptions (Why is she so fluffy? Wow is she fast!), and making up little ditties and rhymes.

One might ask, "Why would a teacher choose an exotic pet like a chinchilla for a class pet?" Well, I am an experienced animal keeper and keeping an exotic pet is appealing to me. She also had some traits that I really wanted in a classroom pet. Chinchillas are a lower odor pet compared to a guinea pig or rabbit. We have a classroom that gets very cold  over night in the winter and chinchillas are more likely to overheat than to be too cold. They don't shed very much and tend to lead to fewer allergies than a guinea pig. Chins (as they are affectionately called) are also very quiet .Although they are nocturnal she is known to be active when I first get to school and if the students are particularly quiet she likes to peek her head out.

Are they the perfect classroom pet? No. I don't believe that there is a perfect classroom pet. Guinea pigs are much more interactive, but tend to lead to allergies. Rabbits are more tolerate of petting, but also very stinky. Hamsters are more compact and easier to care for, but they are very short lived and not active at all during the day. Fish lead to zero allergies and active all the time, but are difficult to take out and play with. In fact I highly discourage taking a fish out of the tank and trying to play with it. Every classroom pet has their pros and cons.

When thinking about getting a classroom pet the most important question for a teacher is what kind of pet do you want because when it comes down to it this pet will be 60% yours and only 40% the classroom. Summer and weekend care will fall on the teacher. The teacher will be ultimately responsible for the well being of the animal.

I will talk more about classroom selection and the different animals I have had as classroom pets. I will also talk about the ways to use a classroom pet in the classroom. They really can become an active and important part of the classroom.