A trip to Petland

Since we noticed that many children have been spending time with Lightning lately (talking to her, feeding her and observing her), we decided to talk about her today during morning meeting. We brought her into the circle and everyone flocked around her. We watched a video taken yesterday of the children interacting with Lightning and we started talking about rules for how we should treat Lightning. Then the children became very interested in finding a way to encourage Lightning to leave her cage. Ryan thought we could put a bird feeder on the ceiling, Izzie suggested we bring something in her cage out into the classroom and Evan and Ava thought showing her a video of a lion might make her come out.

We then took a trip to the pet store to buy fish food and see if we could find special treats for Lightning. The children were enthralled with the animals there. We saw fish, turtles, month-old bunnies, parakeets and a bearded dragon lizard. The children enthusiastically looked for treats and toys to bring back to Lightning.

On our way back to school, we walked through the park by the Jefferson's Market library. The children noticed that the park was filled with all different types of birdhouses and pointed out all of the ones they saw.

When we got back to school, Erica showed the class how to refill Lightning's food and then we put some of the new food and toys in Lightning's cage. She loved her new treats and the children watched Lightning intently as she ate her lunch during our lunch time. During lunch, several children said they thought Lightning was smiling. Eli and Evan also discussed whether or not Lightning likes to live in a cage and if she can do all of the things she wants in there.