My mom wants to be a "hip" teacher!?

Question

Like I said my mother wants her students to enjoy themselves. She teaches a 3rd grade! The school year hasn't begun yet, so she's thinking of decorating the class a bit! She's thinking of getting a tent, to put inside the class and the students would be able to read in it when they had extra time. She also wants to get a class pet, she's thinking of a guinea pig, bunny, or hamster..are those okay? Can you please give me any other ideas on how to make school life better? Are my mother's ideas okay?

Answer 1

yes your moms ideas are okay, my mom is also a teacher. remember though that the class pet will have to still be taken care of on long vacations like summer, and spring. Shes going to have to buy food and stuff for it a lot and cleant he cage a lot! be sure you think about that because my mom has a fish tank for her class, and she has trouble taking it home over the summer in the car, and over winter vacation she has to run up there and feed them or get one of those feeder thingys for a long time

Answer 2

the tent is a cool idea i remember a reading playhouse in kindergarden it was great. anything to get them to read..

Answer 3

She should have a classroom theme.

My first grade teacher had a cow theme going on. My 6th grade teacher had a bee theme going on (Bee nice, Bee on time, etc. and she rewarded us with "bit o honey" candy).

I love the tent idea! She should put pillows in it so it is comfortable. and have a basket of books so students can pick books out of the basket.

I think a big floppy eared bunny would make a good class pet. Hamsters can be mean, and smaller animals are easily killed if a kid accidently drops them (seen it happen with a guinea pig). And the floppy eared bunnies are just so darn cute! The only problem is they require a slightly larger cage, but since they are larger you can let them hop around the room during freetime (assuming the classroom door is CLOSED)

She could also do something with a point system. Situate the students desk so that they are in groups of 4 or 5 and then put something on the board that has "group 1" "group 2" etc. Let them pick names for their group.

Then, during class, if one group is being extra good and participating nicely and being quiet, they get 1 point. If a group is being loud or disruptive, they lose 1 point. You can do little quiz competitions between the groups for points too (like asking questions and the first person to raise their hand and answer correctly gets 1 pt for their group). At the end of 1 month, add up the total points and the group with the most points get some extra reading time, free time, play time, or gets to pick some prizes from a prize box. Then, move the kids around into new groups and start over.

(don't forget to take the class pet home with you or send it home with a student for weekends and vacations)

Actually, the corn snake thing is kinda cool too! My 9th grade teacher had a frog (now my brother's frog, since she let him keep it at the end of his 9th grade year). Whichever pet you have, make sure you enforce "washing your hands after handling it" since amphibians and reptiles can carry salmonella, and furry animals can cause allergies.

Answer 4

My kids white playroom walls are covered with their friends handprints, done in bright colours, with their names and dates written underneath.  Maybe the school would be happy for her to do this?  I like the tent idea.  I wouldn't go for rabbit or guinea pig - too big.  Hamsters die too quickly.  One of my teachers (when she worked in US) had a corn snake as the class pet.  Ideal cos they are rarely visible so won't distract but will give her a great rep as a cool teacher.  I have a corn snake and my kids friends are always round to see him.  They are so easy to look after too.

Answer 5

That sounds nice, except for the tent. I'd get a guinea pig for a class pet.

Answer 6

Maybe she could have like a story time kind of circle

fun activity games that teach time tables or something?

maybbe put some coool type of fabric on the ceiling

stripes or polka dots on the wall?

make the classroom bright colors like - red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink

let the students take the class pet home for a weekend and she picks from a hat who each week, but make sure to take names out after she takes them out.

but remember to make sure the students aren't so distracted from the room that it takes away from their learning.

hope i helped

(pick me for best answer please)

Answer 7

That's awesome!

Only thing is, her being hip should not detract away from the education she is providing to her students.

A guinea pig is probably more exciting to watch than your mother teaching them timetables, no offense.

Tell her to be careful not to introduce to many things that will attract attention away from her.