Betsy Betta

My students are nosy. I suppose most people are because it's just our nature. But I have a few very nosy students. They must have been snooping around in my teaching plans and somehow discovered a way to beat me at my own game.

And that is the short, vague description of how we got a class pet. 

They had several discussions of what pet to get.... fish, tadpole, snake, cat, dog. One little boy is allergic to pet dander so cats and dogs were out. (Although, I don't know when they were ever in) 

Our most recent writing unit is persuasive writing. So as a perfect tie-in I had the students write me a letter about what our perfect class pet would be. Most voted for a fish or tadpole. One voted for a gorilla. One for a baby pig. Another voted for a dragon... I told them it didn't have to be a real suggestion. 

My favorite entry featured a straight line labeled "snake" and read: 

A. It doesn't have fur 

B. It's NOT a cobra 

C. No one is afraid. 

I'm not sure all his points were correct... that line looked awful cobra like. 

My assistant and I also discussed what animal we would be able to tolerate. We both vetoed snakes right away. And hamsters/rats/guinea pigs. Neither one of us is paid enough to chase one of thise around the school. A parrot was also tossed out and then we both laughed and laughed at the idea of adding another chatterbox to our classroom. Another coworker was also trying to push her seemingly immortal newts on us. 

We both took the weekend to do some research and think things over. While a turtle would be fun, it would also be quite costly. And while a turtle in Morocco was easy to maintain, the same is not necessarily true in a cold, dark climate. 

Betsy Betta

So it was announced, Class 3F would be getting......(drum roll)..... a fish. 

They were excited. Thankfully. I was trying to push the new addition until forever  after the February break, but I was asked almost Daily when the fish would come. So on Thursday I stopped at the mall and went to Dino Zoo (fantastic name for a pet shop, btw)

They had Betta fish kits featuring everything but the water and the fish. Perfect! I grabbed the larger one (which is still small) and asked the girl for a fish. There were several red fish, blue fish (one fish, two fish) but I chose one that was more of a white-slightly pinkish color. She also gave me an extra bag of water for the fish. 

After a very fast, swervy, heavy on the brake taxi ride to the apartment, I put 'fish' in a jar so the next morning I could seal the lid and get to work without worrying about a flood and flopper. 

I assembled the little fish home at school and left it sitting empty on the counter. My students were so excited until they realized it was empty. I figured 'fish' had been through enough at this point, it didn't need little hands and eyes attacking it just yet. 

After the big reveal, many "awwwwwws!!!" and several "look, it's a fish!" I gave the students yet another assignment. Two actually. The first was write another speech convincing their classmates of a name for 'fish.' The second was to do some research and learn how to take care of it. As they promised they would (and Kristine and I know they likely won't). 

They wanted Betsy next to the ocean,
in case she misses home

Many of them suggested "betta" for the name, so we decided that could be the surname. One student suggested naming the fish Mikyla-- because "then Miss Mikyla and the fish could be twins." 

The front runner names were Hi!, Betsy, Pencil, and Charlie. If based on the best speech, 'Charlie' should have been the name. But the class vote went to 'Betsy' because "the fish is a lightish color and would be good as a girl" So, Betsy Betta joined our class on February 6. 

They did a good job researching information and started writing it all on the board. They are hoping to train Betsy to do a few tricks... we'll see how that goes.