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Corn snakes in the classroom...periodic updates to my Chgo classroom donation :)
- Thread starter Cegninedorf
- Start date
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
Yes, you are right -- we are going to the Lincoln Park Zoo, as it is wonderful and free of charge to all and great with helping out educators. 
chibitamalove
New member
I'm thinking it's free for educational groups.
chibitamalove
New member
Oh, sorry, she said that it's free to all.
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
Y'all are too funny... Yes, the Lincoln Park Zoo is free of charge to all...you literally just walk on in through one of its gates. No one will look askance at you if you did... It's not an enormous zoo, but it's actually done a lot of improvement work and outreach work and there are a lot of really great things going on there. For a little zoo that is funded through donations and I'm sure city funding, it's quite a lovely, educational and interesting place to visit. Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL I'd visit, if I were you.
(There is also a lovely plant conservatory right next door to it that was free, as well, the last time that I visited. Just ideas if you're traveling through...)
Yes, the Lincoln Park Zoo is free of charge to all...you literally just walk on in through one of its gates. No one will look askance at you if you did... It's not an enormous zoo, but it's actually done a lot of improvement work and outreach work and there are a lot of really great things going on there. For a little zoo that is funded through donations and I'm sure city funding, it's quite a lovely, educational and interesting place to visit. Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL I'd visit, if I were you. (There is also a lovely plant conservatory right next door to it that was free, as well, the last time that I visited. Just ideas if you're traveling through...)
Duff
New member
Great story and it's awesome what you're doing there. Not much is better than a dedicated, interesting teacher, in my book. Hope it continues to run smooth for you and your students.
Just one thing that I'd like to say, as a parent. Unless the parents have given you explicit permission, it might not be a good idea to post photos of the kids with their names. Not trying to start anything, but I know I would be a bit upset if I found someone had posted photos of one of my kids along with their name without my permission. I know there are no last names, but a last name isn't needed to get a kids attention out on the street or playground. And yes I know, this is being a bit paranoid, but I'd rather be paranoid than sorry when it comes to kids.
Just one thing that I'd like to say, as a parent. Unless the parents have given you explicit permission, it might not be a good idea to post photos of the kids with their names. Not trying to start anything, but I know I would be a bit upset if I found someone had posted photos of one of my kids along with their name without my permission. I know there are no last names, but a last name isn't needed to get a kids attention out on the street or playground. And yes I know, this is being a bit paranoid, but I'd rather be paranoid than sorry when it comes to kids.
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
I absolutely agree, regarding the photos of the kids -- and normally, I take the photos into Photoshop and blur the faces (as I did even in my M.Ed portfolio and powerpoint presentation...the only time I didn't blur faces was in my Kindergarten class photo from 1982 that I used... ) -- but this time as I know the mom personally, I think that it's ok...otherwise, I do have signed permission forms from the parents that are officiated through the school. I would never want to put any child in danger due to any negligence on my behalf. I completely understand where you are coming from.
) -- but this time as I know the mom personally, I think that it's ok...otherwise, I do have signed permission forms from the parents that are officiated through the school. I would never want to put any child in danger due to any negligence on my behalf. I completely understand where you are coming from. 
SnakeAround
Formerly Blutengel
Very cool things going on there!
I am wondering though; do you take Fritz home every end of the day and bring him back in th enext day? Your story about grabbing him on Tuesday suggests this, but your 'Story telling by Fritz to Maize' part suggests that Fritz is alone for the night in the class room...
I am wondering though; do you take Fritz home every end of the day and bring him back in th enext day? Your story about grabbing him on Tuesday suggests this, but your 'Story telling by Fritz to Maize' part suggests that Fritz is alone for the night in the class room...
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
Fritz comes home with me on Fri nights (or whatever night is the last night of that particular school week) for din-din. I've been monitoring how cold it gets in my classroom at night and I have his UTH set on a rheostat so that it can't overheat...maybe in January-February I may take him home every night because it could potentially get extremely cold in my classroom at night and while the UTH will be around 80 degrees, I just don't feel comfortable with one side being extremely cold and the other being so warm. I don't know...maybe it is ok in general, but to me, that just seems too much of a risk to take. And, when I take him home, it's always in the same container with his aspen and he goes inside my coat, so I act as his heater. He's been doing really well thus far with transitioning from home to school and back again. A total pro.
And, I don't worry about him getting out at night...the custodians know that he is there and they also know that the lid of his tank is locked with 2 padlocks. I also check things every night to make sure that he's securely in there. Lastly, everyone who knows that I have a snake also knows how much I coddle this snakey-poo, so those who have any power in this school are on the look-out for any menaces who might try to do my sweetums harm. Only the custodian comes in my room (other than me) and I trust him completely.
Thanks for asking!
Finally, with that...*drum roll, please!*
The "classroom snake" (aka, Fritz to me & you) now has a name!
After an extensive amount of discussion, snake characteristics analysis, physical analysis and brainstorming...the students voted! The top 5 names were (in random order): Sssss!, Hissy, TicTac, Nocturny and Flash. And the winning name is...
TicTac came from the same kid who had told me that he was trying to look up info on corn snakes at his local library...the kid who is failing and I'm trying to help him. He is *so* clever -- he came up with Chico for the betta fish (later named Whiskers...) and when he said TicTac, after observing the checkered pattern on the snake's belly and thinking it looked like the game TicTacToe/Checkers, he gave me that as a suggestion. I almost melted and I think my enthusiasm swayed the vote (though I was silent during it!). He was excited that his name won, though. :dancer:
(If you want to see the whole list of name suggestions, let me know and I'll put them in my next post...)
Also, I gave a quick presentation today to a 4th grade classroom on corn snakes and the students were enthralled. The last student to touch Fritz/TicTac was a beloved student of mine from two years ago and Jessica was the only one who I let hold him, and she was awesome. I may be spending more & more of my prep periods in other classrooms doing the same kinds of presentations...and I think that I now have another teacher interested in a corn snake, as well.
So! That's all for today...I've been trying to take a photo of Fritz/TicTac in his little hidey-rock in his tank (I got one of the ones that splits into two & will connect through the glass wall via magnets so that the kids can observe, and Fritz loves it...), and so far, I keep getting reflections in the glass and from the windows...I'll keep trying, though -- I'm still learning how to use my camera!
(Though these photos really could've been so cute! except that I didn't have any time to play around with lighting, whatnot, because I had to be at a meeting in 10 mins...next time, I guess...)
Thanks for reading!
PS...The kids were already planning to find the corn snake at the zoo this Thurs! Woo-hoo! :crazy02:
I've been monitoring how cold it gets in my classroom at night and I have his UTH set on a rheostat so that it can't overheat...maybe in January-February I may take him home every night because it could potentially get extremely cold in my classroom at night and while the UTH will be around 80 degrees, I just don't feel comfortable with one side being extremely cold and the other being so warm. I don't know...maybe it is ok in general, but to me, that just seems too much of a risk to take. And, when I take him home, it's always in the same container with his aspen and he goes inside my coat, so I act as his heater. He's been doing really well thus far with transitioning from home to school and back again. A total pro. And, I don't worry about him getting out at night...the custodians know that he is there and they also know that the lid of his tank is locked with 2 padlocks. I also check things every night to make sure that he's securely in there. Lastly, everyone who knows that I have a snake also knows how much I coddle this snakey-poo, so those who have any power in this school are on the look-out for any menaces who might try to do my sweetums harm.
Only the custodian comes in my room (other than me) and I trust him completely.Thanks for asking!
Finally, with that...*drum roll, please!*
The "classroom snake" (aka, Fritz to me & you) now has a name!
After an extensive amount of discussion, snake characteristics analysis, physical analysis and brainstorming...the students voted! The top 5 names were (in random order): Sssss!, Hissy, TicTac, Nocturny and Flash. And the winning name is...
TicTac!
TicTac came from the same kid who had told me that he was trying to look up info on corn snakes at his local library...the kid who is failing and I'm trying to help him. He is *so* clever -- he came up with Chico for the betta fish (later named Whiskers...) and when he said TicTac, after observing the checkered pattern on the snake's belly and thinking it looked like the game TicTacToe/Checkers, he gave me that as a suggestion. I almost melted and I think my enthusiasm swayed the vote (though I was silent during it!). He was excited that his name won, though. :dancer:
(If you want to see the whole list of name suggestions, let me know and I'll put them in my next post...)
Also, I gave a quick presentation today to a 4th grade classroom on corn snakes and the students were enthralled. The last student to touch Fritz/TicTac was a beloved student of mine from two years ago and Jessica was the only one who I let hold him, and she was awesome. I may be spending more & more of my prep periods in other classrooms doing the same kinds of presentations...and I think that I now have another teacher interested in a corn snake, as well.
So! That's all for today...I've been trying to take a photo of Fritz/TicTac in his little hidey-rock in his tank (I got one of the ones that splits into two & will connect through the glass wall via magnets so that the kids can observe, and Fritz loves it...), and so far, I keep getting reflections in the glass and from the windows...I'll keep trying, though -- I'm still learning how to use my camera!
(Though these photos really could've been so cute! except that I didn't have any time to play around with lighting, whatnot, because I had to be at a meeting in 10 mins...next time, I guess...)
Thanks for reading!
PS...The kids were already planning to find the corn snake at the zoo this Thurs! Woo-hoo! :crazy02:
chibitamalove
New member
Awww! Tic Tac is a really good name for Fritz. It's better than Sssss, no offense. Tic Tac is a really awesome name. I just adore cute names like that, but I'd feel bad to name my own snakes like that. I just think, "How would I feel if my name was Poptart?" But they work super well as nicknames. My ball python is Lily aka Birdie. ^_^
Be careful with those magnetic rocks. They're good, but you have to really watch out. Rose lost the tip of her tail after my mom shut it on her tail. Those are uber strong magnets. I was just relieved that it wasn't her head and just the tip of her tail.
The snakes do love it, though.
It's better than Sssss, no offense. Tic Tac is a really awesome name. I just adore cute names like that, but I'd feel bad to name my own snakes like that. I just think, "How would I feel if my name was Poptart?" But they work super well as nicknames. My ball python is Lily aka Birdie. ^_^ Be careful with those magnetic rocks. They're good, but you have to really watch out. Rose lost the tip of her tail after my mom shut it on her tail. Those are uber strong magnets. I was just relieved that it wasn't her head and just the tip of her tail.
The snakes do love it, though.
PnyKlr
World's Tallest Midget
Gosh, you're so luckly your coworkers don't mind your snake. The special-ed teacher I co-teach with in an inclusion class joked that she was going to get the principal to tell me "NO SNKAES!"
Needless to say, she is not pleased that I'll be putting an additional cage in my class! :grin01:
Needless to say, she is not pleased that I'll be putting an additional cage in my class! :grin01:
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
chibitamalove said:
Believe you me, I am watching out. The kids know that I am the only one who touches it because of how strong the magnets are...I got a very nice blood blister this summer from figuring the darn thing out. Usually, the outside part of the rock stays off, anyway...I may write "Do not touch!" on the rock, as well, now that I think of it...I try to slide the outside rock piece on when I do put it on versus just snapping it on. I can only imagine how that would hurt!
Well...the colleagues don't mind the snake, as long as it isn't out. One colleague is getting better about it...she wouldn't come in my room, at first, but now that she sees how harmless Fritz is, she's more relaxed. The others are more curious, than anything...I think it's because I've always presented myself as being so quiet, and now I become so science-oriented, that they're more fascinated (as if I'm an oddity!) by my interests...it's a good thing, I agree.
(City schools: we have nothing, so we won't even scoff at the "weird" stuff! :grin01: )
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
I forgot to mention that at Report Card Pick-Up/Parent-Teacher Conferences, I must've taken out Fritz at least a dozen times for both parents, teachers and the principal came in to talk with me about Fritz for about 15 mins! It was too funny -- the principal is a former chemistry teacher, so he understands the need for understanding, but he just about will not touch Fritz. He touched him with one finger for 1.2 seconds, and he kept his distance at all times. :sidestep:
I had to laugh...it was great, though, because the next parent to walk in is the parent of a child who was the calmest with holding Fritz and I got the chance to brag about him with the parent and the principal, and the mom was thrilled -- and coincidentally, she's also a former student of my principal, so it worked out beautifully. (And this student has had some difficult transition issues with starting every school year -- and he's finally starting coming around, and I really think that my classroom pets has helped with that... )
So...yeah, all of my parents know about Fritz/TicTac because even those who didn't see him, they all saw his vivarium and almost all mentioned him to me...mostly out of not believing their child! And I heard quite a few kids mention that they wanted one, too...and I even got one 3 year old to hold him. Her hands were shaking, but she wanted to hold him...and the next day, her sister (my student) told me that her sister wanted to hold him again. Get'em while they're young!
Calling all breeders out there! Check into your local school and see if you can get one snake in there! In my school alone, I'm floored by how receptive, curious and wonderful of an experience this has been!!!
Having Fritz/TicTac in my room has been a wonderful, wonderful experience...in fact, I name my student groups (their desk groupings) by various names -- at the beginning of the year, I start with the names of the continents (a little geography thrown in!) and the oceans...and this time, when we switched desks, I let the kids come up with a type of snake for each of their groups, so we have: the Corn Snakes (that one was in HOT demand!), the Rattlesnakes, the Vipers, the Anacondas, the Boa Constrictors, the Kingsnakes, the Fox Snakes (we looked at the DNR poster of IL snakes for some inspiration) and the Cobras. It's been fun (and they love it when I can't remember their group's name so we have guessing games...).
I had to laugh...it was great, though, because the next parent to walk in is the parent of a child who was the calmest with holding Fritz and I got the chance to brag about him with the parent and the principal, and the mom was thrilled -- and coincidentally, she's also a former student of my principal, so it worked out beautifully.
(And this student has had some difficult transition issues with starting every school year -- and he's finally starting coming around, and I really think that my classroom pets has helped with that... ) So...yeah, all of my parents know about Fritz/TicTac because even those who didn't see him, they all saw his vivarium and almost all mentioned him to me...mostly out of not believing their child!
And I heard quite a few kids mention that they wanted one, too...and I even got one 3 year old to hold him. Her hands were shaking, but she wanted to hold him...and the next day, her sister (my student) told me that her sister wanted to hold him again. Get'em while they're young! Calling all breeders out there! Check into your local school and see if you can get one snake in there! In my school alone, I'm floored by how receptive, curious and wonderful of an experience this has been!!!
Having Fritz/TicTac in my room has been a wonderful, wonderful experience...in fact, I name my student groups (their desk groupings) by various names -- at the beginning of the year, I start with the names of the continents (a little geography thrown in!) and the oceans...and this time, when we switched desks, I let the kids come up with a type of snake for each of their groups, so we have: the Corn Snakes (that one was in HOT demand!), the Rattlesnakes, the Vipers, the Anacondas, the Boa Constrictors, the Kingsnakes, the Fox Snakes (we looked at the DNR poster of IL snakes for some inspiration) and the Cobras. It's been fun (and they love it when I can't remember their group's name so we have guessing games...).
Dave123
New member
Cegninedorf said:and I even got one 3 year old to hold him.
That is exactly right. I have had many kids come over wanting to hold my snakes. Also glad the principal touched him, thats at least a start. Have a great week. Its almost Thanksgiving Break!!! :cheers:
chibitamalove
New member
cegninedorf said:
Ouch.
Well, even getting the principal to touch him for 1.2 seconds is a good start. Keep converting those peoples to snake-ism.
Cegninedorf
Twang'em into trees!
WHO KNEW?!
We get to the zoo today -- 4-2nd grade classrooms, almost 100 kids, and about 20 adults. We visited 3 different exhibit areas: the Farm, the Apes and the Small Mammals/Reptiles...the kids didn't get to see the corn snake, but they did get to see the Burmese Python (quite impressive!) and the Kenyan San Boa, which they all learned is one that I've touched and what prompted my interest in snakes. However, we did get a photo by the empty corn snake exhibit (the photo has been made smaller as well as lightened, and if anyone recognizes these kids, I'd be surprised...! Look at the faces that some of them are making!) and the kids were thrilled to see at least that...as well as spy the mice that cause the snakes to be such good friends with the farmers.
It was funny...for today's journal prompt, I asked "If Ms Ninedorf had a farm, what should she have on it? Why?". One student said that I should only have corn snakes, another got really clever and wrote her journal as a pastiche of "Old McDonald had a farm..." except that I had students on my farm, and another student said that I would have corn so that I could bring the mice on so that the corn snakes could eat. Smarties.
We get to the zoo today -- 4-2nd grade classrooms, almost 100 kids, and about 20 adults.
We visited 3 different exhibit areas: the Farm, the Apes and the Small Mammals/Reptiles...the kids didn't get to see the corn snake, but they did get to see the Burmese Python (quite impressive!) and the Kenyan San Boa, which they all learned is one that I've touched and what prompted my interest in snakes. However, we did get a photo by the empty corn snake exhibit (the photo has been made smaller as well as lightened, and if anyone recognizes these kids, I'd be surprised...! Look at the faces that some of them are making!) and the kids were thrilled to see at least that...as well as spy the mice that cause the snakes to be such good friends with the farmers. It was funny...for today's journal prompt, I asked "If Ms Ninedorf had a farm, what should she have on it? Why?". One student said that I should only have corn snakes, another got really clever and wrote her journal as a pastiche of "Old McDonald had a farm..." except that I had students on my farm, and another student said that I would have corn so that I could bring the mice on so that the corn snakes could eat.
Smarties. 