March Study: Pets

If there is one thing this group of Bananas loves, it is animals! They love reading about them, looking at them, and talking about them. This was a major motivation for choosing this month's study and that is...PETS! So many of you have wonderful furry friends at home and I thought this study would be perfect for diving deeper into why we have pets, their features, and how we take care of them. 

As we first started to explore the topic, we surveyed the students and found out how many of them had pets and how many didn't. This is a great way for us to make a graph and talk about the data that it gives us. We also talked about what makes a good pet. Many of them were disappointed that giraffes, whales, and lions don't make good pets, but rather we need to look at smaller animals that are safe and happy inside of a home. 

The first investigation looked at the characteristics of pets. For this reason, it was super helpful for us to look at photos of our pets. What things do they have in common? How are they different? What are they covered with? We were able to talk about vocabulary words such as scales, fur, and feathers. We talked about animals with four legs, two legs, and even no legs. This gave us an awesome opportunity to practice sorting and classifying animals and the students really enjoyed that activity. 

The next investigation examined where pets live. After all, it probably isn't a good idea to put your puppy in a fish bowl. We talked about the word. habitat and what that means for us and for our pets. What kind of things keep them in happy, safe, and healthy in their habitat? How do we keep their habitat clean. We also watched a video about an animal shelter and how this is sometimes a place for pets that are waiting for their forever home. We looked at the Wake County animal shelter website and talked about a habitat that might be appropriate for the pets we saw. I make no apologies if your child came home asking to go adopt a pet! 

Investigation three was all about what our pets eat. If we like to eat Ms. Barbara's pizza for lunch, why isn't that healthy for our dogs at home? Why do our pets need certain things to eat? We talked about how to safely feed our pets and the materials they might need at mealtime. We looked more closely at the terms carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore and put pets into each of those categories. 

Our last investigation took the previous two studies and took them a step further as we talked about how we take care of our pets. While we agreed that our pets can't talk like you and I do, we did discuss that they can communicate or give us messages about what they need. For example, if our dog is whimpering, it might mean he's hurt or if our cat is hissing, that probably means she is saying 'stay away!'. We talked about brushing or bathing our pets and what that looks like for different pets. We also talked a lot about veterinarians and how these community helpers are a big part of us taking care of our pets. We watched videos about vets and throughout the month, the students got to pretend being veterinarians in our dramatic play center. 

The last week of this study is also when I surprised the students with our very own class pets! My neighbor generously donated a large fish tank and we are now proud owners of six little fish and a snail. The students helped us write about what we need to feed them, how we are going to keep their habitat clean, and ways that we can keep them healthy. They also got to name the fish! Each student got to suggest a name and the staff voted on them during a teacher work day. This helped us develop another graph and helped us talk about ordinal terms, such as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. If you are ever passing by, please don't forget to say 'hi' to: Midnight, Sausage Man, Michael Jackson, Schoolfish, Nemo, Mango, and Water. The snail is still waiting for the perfect name! 

Overall, this was a fantastic study and the kids really enjoyed it! We learned so much about pets and how to take care of them. If you have a pet at home, I encourage you having your child help in their daily care. This might mean having them brush, it, help with giving a bath, or making it a chore to have them feed the pet each day. These small acts help your child feel a part of the family and develop a sense of pride and responsibility. 

Carly is working on 1:1 correspondence with pet manipulatives

Rowan is playing in the sensory table with birdseed

Dr. Hendrixx is taking great care of the pets at the Frankie Lemmon Animal Clinic

Sebastian is counting out beads for a dog leash

Tallulah is using peanut butter to make treats for the birds in the sensory garden


Through all the pet-tastic fun, we still made time to learn some new letters. Please help your child retain their learning from school at home by watching these videos and reviewing the letters and sounds in the car, during play, and while reading. 

Thanks so much for all you do!

🍌Miss Susan . Miss Tia . Miss Carolina 🍌