Hosting those little creatures, who more resembled giant bumble bees than birds, has been quite the experience. Between keeping them fed and watered, warmed by the heat lamp, and just generally providing crowd control from all the little people who wanted to see them, they occupied a good deal of time in my life this week. But you know, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Having live animals in my classroom for 3 days this past week has been an interesting sociological experiment for me. I knew their presence would make a difference but I was surprised to see just how many "good" things came from it.
One of the greatest things I observed was how children, especially the ones who at times might present the greatest of challenges to me as a teacher, reacted to the birds being there. Most of them loved holding them in their tightly cupped hands and even the older boys holding them didn't mind one bit that my hands were securely wrapped around their hands. The birds had a calming effect on all my students, thus for that 3 day stretch of time, I experienced few problems with discipline or paying attention in general. What an amazing sight to behold~21 baby quail, who altogether wouldn't weigh one pound, being able to affect whether or not a kid had a "good" or a "bad" day. I'm thinking we need more animals in school.....just a thought!
Our original brood of 24 appeared to be quite healthy when we put them into their box at school on Tuesday evening. I did notice 3 of them who appeared to be a little smaller, perhaps a little weaker than the others. I had hoped that all would be well when I returned to school on Wednesday morning. When I opened the door and heard their loud cheeping, it was like "music to my ears." But when I peered over the top of the box, I found the first "casualty" of the bunch. There it was, a little tiny quail now "belly up" in the box. Dang it!
The trip to the dumpster to dispose of the carcass was the first of three. Thursday morning, two more died within an hour of one another. This time a group of kids was there to witness it and when they yelled over to me, "Hey Mrs. Miller, another one is dead!", I really didn't believe them. But when I looked in to see fatality number 3, I realized that those 5th graders do indeed know what a dead bird looks like. Thankfully Mark, a good friend at school, came to my rescue and quietly slipped in and out of my room to transport the newly deceased birds to the "dumpster cemetery".
And out of the "mouth of babes", maybe even the more important lesson those quails taught us.....I noticed a young man, a 4th grader, standing by the box at the end of our reading rotation time. He called over to me to look at what was then happening in the box.
"Look Mrs. Miller, they are picking on that one!" All of the rest of us, 7 in all, stood looking into the box, witnessing one act of "bird unkindness" after another. I asked the kids to just take a moment and watch what went on. When asked, they were quick to tell me all of the signs of "struggle" that they had seen. Birds pecking at the ones that were weaker, pushing birds away from food and water, birds that tended to stay off to the side by themselves. I believe those fourth graders began to see themselves in those little birds.
Finally, one of them commented....."Mrs. Miller, I think that bird is a bully! He won't leave the others alone. They try to mind their own business and he just keeps pecking at them." As so those 10-year olds learned the life lesson, that even in the world of birds just like in the human world, the weaker ones can sometimes find life to be a very hard and difficult struggle.
By the time Friday morning rolled around, I almost dreaded arriving at school to see the current death toll. I had this sick feeling that there would be at least one more dead one in the box. I knew it would be a happy day when the first words out of my mouth were "Yeah! You are all still alive!" which gives some credence to the fact that it takes very little to make me happy these days!
When we return to the classroom on Monday, it's gonna be awful quiet! 6 more weeks of school and then everyone gets to head home for the summer. So much time, so many resources have been expended to educate the children of our school, Lincoln Elementary. Teachers will pack away the books and the lesson plans will have been completed for yet another school term. Most likely the 250+ students won't remember everything that we teachers have taught them, but I venture to say that there will be one thing that they don't forget~the day that 24 baby quail came to live with us. Gives a whole new meaning to "It takes a village...."
Enjoy the beautiful weekend family and friends!
Baby quail from last year's project at Lincoln Elementary. Can't help but love these little guys!
Having live animals in my classroom for 3 days this past week has been an interesting sociological experiment for me. I knew their presence would make a difference but I was surprised to see just how many "good" things came from it.
One of the greatest things I observed was how children, especially the ones who at times might present the greatest of challenges to me as a teacher, reacted to the birds being there. Most of them loved holding them in their tightly cupped hands and even the older boys holding them didn't mind one bit that my hands were securely wrapped around their hands. The birds had a calming effect on all my students, thus for that 3 day stretch of time, I experienced few problems with discipline or paying attention in general. What an amazing sight to behold~21 baby quail, who altogether wouldn't weigh one pound, being able to affect whether or not a kid had a "good" or a "bad" day. I'm thinking we need more animals in school.....just a thought!
Our original brood of 24 appeared to be quite healthy when we put them into their box at school on Tuesday evening. I did notice 3 of them who appeared to be a little smaller, perhaps a little weaker than the others. I had hoped that all would be well when I returned to school on Wednesday morning. When I opened the door and heard their loud cheeping, it was like "music to my ears." But when I peered over the top of the box, I found the first "casualty" of the bunch. There it was, a little tiny quail now "belly up" in the box. Dang it!
The trip to the dumpster to dispose of the carcass was the first of three. Thursday morning, two more died within an hour of one another. This time a group of kids was there to witness it and when they yelled over to me, "Hey Mrs. Miller, another one is dead!", I really didn't believe them. But when I looked in to see fatality number 3, I realized that those 5th graders do indeed know what a dead bird looks like. Thankfully Mark, a good friend at school, came to my rescue and quietly slipped in and out of my room to transport the newly deceased birds to the "dumpster cemetery".
And out of the "mouth of babes", maybe even the more important lesson those quails taught us.....I noticed a young man, a 4th grader, standing by the box at the end of our reading rotation time. He called over to me to look at what was then happening in the box.
"Look Mrs. Miller, they are picking on that one!" All of the rest of us, 7 in all, stood looking into the box, witnessing one act of "bird unkindness" after another. I asked the kids to just take a moment and watch what went on. When asked, they were quick to tell me all of the signs of "struggle" that they had seen. Birds pecking at the ones that were weaker, pushing birds away from food and water, birds that tended to stay off to the side by themselves. I believe those fourth graders began to see themselves in those little birds.
Finally, one of them commented....."Mrs. Miller, I think that bird is a bully! He won't leave the others alone. They try to mind their own business and he just keeps pecking at them." As so those 10-year olds learned the life lesson, that even in the world of birds just like in the human world, the weaker ones can sometimes find life to be a very hard and difficult struggle.
When we return to the classroom on Monday, it's gonna be awful quiet! 6 more weeks of school and then everyone gets to head home for the summer. So much time, so many resources have been expended to educate the children of our school, Lincoln Elementary. Teachers will pack away the books and the lesson plans will have been completed for yet another school term. Most likely the 250+ students won't remember everything that we teachers have taught them, but I venture to say that there will be one thing that they don't forget~the day that 24 baby quail came to live with us. Gives a whole new meaning to "It takes a village...."
Enjoy the beautiful weekend family and friends!
Baby quail from last year's project at Lincoln Elementary. Can't help but love these little guys!
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