Not every dog goes to heaven, Gertie you're such a drag

Just kidding but I needed song lyrics to keep the theme going. This blog is all about my class pet, Gertrude. She is a crested gecko. These geckos are from New Caledonia. Crested Geckos are super popular in the reptile keeping community. I actually am a reptile keeper with Gertie the Gecko, Mosby the Ball Python, and Winston the turtle. Gertie is about 4 inches long. She has very lax heat requirements so she is ideal in my classroom.

The students were required to get Gertie Certified. For K-2 that meant writing one sentence about what we learned about crested geckos. 3-6 had to do 2 reading passages about Gertie and 2 Math sheets about Gertie. They also had to write a 2 paragraph informational text with a picture about crested geckos in general. This was a month long project in the beginning but now that do certifications every so often to keep them in check.

I've found that Gertie has been a great classroom motivator. She also teaches students empathy and caring for another living thing. I let them spray her cage down and help me measure out how much to feed her. My favorite thing is when they tell Gertie they love her and ask me if I think she loves them back. Class pets may not work in every setting but I have found mine to be so helpful.

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