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Pets in the Classroom has created a new video that gives a great overview of the program and includes interviews with both teachers and students regarding classroom pets! Please take a look and share it with your friends!
Say hello to this cute little guinea pig Cinnamon! Ms. Reichmann used a Pets in the Classroom grant to get Cinnamon for the Structured Autism classroom at Campo Bello Elementary School. Cinnamon has helped her 2nd and 3rd graders learn how to care for a pet and be gentle with it:
Ms. Reichmann commented:
Cinnamon has helped my students learn how to care for a pet and be gentle with a pet. There are three other structured autism classrooms that also come and visit Cinnamon. He is an award for a lot of the students. I have spread the word about the grant to many colleagues. I am hoping that more teachers get class pets because they do so much more for the students then I think people realize.
If you have received a Pets in the Classroom grant, please share your story with us (and pictures too)! You can contact us via our Facebook, Google +, or Twitter page!
Say hello to Snowflake and Midnight! A Pets in the Classroom grant provided these gerbils to Miss Kathy, a preschool teacher at Joyful Noise Preschool in Pennsylvania.
Miss Kathy commented, “I couldn’t do what I do without your help and the animals sure do make a positive difference in the lives of the kids they share my classroom with!”
Thank you Miss Kathy, for passing on this picture to us! Please feel free to pass on your own pictures on your classroom pet by posting them on our Facebook, Google +, or Twitter page!
Pets in the Classroom wants to thank the grant recipients who have chosen to share some pictures of their classroom pets with us! We love to see the cute creatures that our grants help purchase and support, so please share your pictures with us as well by posting them on our Facebook, Google +, or Twitter page!
Sara Malchow, a 1st grade teacher at Glenbrook Elementary, shared this picture of her classroom aquarium:
Sara also wrote on her blog, Reflections on Teaching, Learning, and Technology:
I can’t say enough about this organization and the joy it has brought to my class over the past year. My kiddos have become very responsible in helping to feed our fish and check the temperature of the water and have acquired a love for our pets. On a daily basis you will find kiddos over by the tank checking on the fish, reading to the fish and even writing to them!
Thank you Sara for sharing your picture and your story with us!
Money Raised at Pet Expo to Impact 2,500 Students
With the help of the World Pet Association and other pet-related businesses, the Pet Care Trust raised over $8000 for its Pets in the Classroom grant program.
Bel Air, Maryland – In an effort to promote pet responsibility at an early age, the Pet Care Trust, with the assistance of the World Pet Association and other pet-related businesses, raised over $8,000 for the Pets in the Classroom Grant Program during America’s Family Pet Expo, held November 3-4 in Puyallup, Washington. The money raised will go directly to helping approximately 50 teachers enhance their classrooms and curriculum through the aid of classroom pets, impacting nearly 2,500 students.
The World Pet Association, host of America’s Family Pet Expo, donated booth space to the Pet Care Trust at the annual event held in Puyallup, Washington. At the Expo, the Pet Care Trust hosted a betta fish toss, aquarium raffle, and discounted pet store to raise funds for their Pets in the Classroom program, a grant program supporting responsible pet care in schools by providing direct, no-hassle grants to teachers to purchase or maintain pets in the classroom.
The betta fish toss booth, which gave attendees the chance to win a betta fish by throwing a ball into a cup, raised $1,329 for the program. The fish and supplies were donated by Hikari USA.
The raffle, which was held at the educational exhibit called the “Aquatic Experience,” allowed attendees to purchase a raffle ticket for the chance to win a treasure trove of donated aquariums, stands, fish and aquatic supplies. $988 was raised through the raffle.
The Pet Care Trust store, which sold donated pet supplies at a discounted price, raised roughly $6,000. The store was made possible through the donation of goods and resources from the following pet suppliers and organizations: CaribSea Inc., United Pet Group, Aqueon / Central Aquatics, Seachem Laboratories, Hikari Sales U.S.A. Inc., Fluval / Rolf C. Hagen, U.S.A., Inc., Terrascapes, Cobalt International, Segrest Farms, Sea Dwelling Creatures, and Bio Bubble Pets LLC.
“The Pets in the Classroom program has awarded more than 20,000 grants, allowing more than 1 million students to experience the joy of a pet,” noted Pet Care Trust executive director Steve King. “The support we have received from WPA and the many companies that donated products and prizes has been instrumental in the continued growth of this wonderful program.”
To make a contribution to The Pet Care Trust to support the Pets in the Classroom program, visit http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/donations/. A $150 donation will support one classroom pet, or you can support three classrooms with a $500 gift. Please help us reach our goal of reaching 5 million kids with a classroom pet.
Do you want a little more information about the Pets in the Classroom grant program as well as a teacher’s account of the classroom pet experience? Take a look at the article, Pet Care Trust Brings Four-Legged Friends into Schools, published on Zootoo.com, an online community for pet-lovers.
The article articulates well the goals of the Pet Care Trust’s educational grant program and the details of the grant options while also telling the story of one teacher’s journey with classroom pets beginning with her time as a student through finding the grant information, obtaining her classroom fish, and implementing them in her classroom.
Please take a look at the full article at http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/pet-care-trust-aims-to-bring-four-legged-friends-into-classrooms-2030.
Pets in the Classroom wants to thank PetNaturals.com for recently publishing a blog post about our educational grant program on their blog! We greatly appreciate the support of the pet community in helping us spread the word about the program!
The blog post by petnaturals.com describes well what we do and why we do it. One excerpt from the blog states, “When children have pets or an opportunity to care for them, beautiful truths emerge. Pets enrich our everyday experiences—including learning.”
This is so true! If you have not had the experience of having a pet in your classroom and seeing the children interact with them, we hope you will think about getting one!
To read the full blog post, Pets in the Classroom: A New Kind of Education, visit http://petnaturals.com/blog/pets-in-the-classroom-a-new-kind-of-education/.
Pets in the Classroom is on Pinterest! Do you follow our boards? We have some fun, informative and educational boards set up specifically for teachers, so please take a look, follow our boards, and pin away!
Here are some of the boards we have created:
Please take a look!
Having pets in the classroom is a smart move, and we’re not the only ones who think so! A recent article published on WorkingMother.com comes to the same conclusion we have…having pets in the classroom can help make learning fun, develop relationship skills, and improve behavior and performance. Please take a look at the article, “Pets in the Classroom—Smart Move,” for an expert’s opinion on classroom pet benefits as well as practical ideas on how to use pets in your curriculum.
Happy New Year! 2013 is a new year with new opportunities, one being the opportunity to introduce a new classroom pet to your students! And Pets in the Classroom is here to provide you with the educational resources (and funding!) to do so.
If you are thinking of introducing a pet to your students this year, here are a few Pets in the Classroom pages and past blog posts that may be useful to you:
Of course, we highly recommend applying for a Pets in the Classroom Grant as well if you are going to purchase a new pet for your classroom. The grant is available to pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade teachers in public and private schools throughout the U.S. and Canada, and can help relieve you of some of the financial costs that are often associated with a classroom animal.
Happy 2013!
Support your fellow teachers by participating in the Pets in the Classroom Google Grants Ad program!
