Reptiles & Parakeets Turn Seth Low Classroom Into A Zoo
A rare quiet filled the halls at Seth Low Intermediate School as Antonella Bassini, an eighth-grader, arrived early to help her teacher.
“You can usually smell it from here,” Bassini said, as she headed down the hall toward the classroom door.
On this particular Wednesday, the smell of wood shavings and rabbit dander was faint, but still, this was no ordinary classroom. Parakeets chirped, doves cooed and rabbits shuffled around in their cages, while Bassini and two other girls started the cleaning and feeding routine.
The idea for the zoology program started in 2004, when teacher Dominica Fiume saw it as a hands-on way to teach students of English as a Second Language (ESL) about life science. But soon afterward, the program lost its funding, says Fiume, and it had to be discontinued.
By 2010 the school’s enrollment rates began to drop. Some competing middle schools in District 21, like Mark Twain High School and Bay Academy, provide specialized programs in the arts and sciences, giving them an advantage over Seth Low. Because of the zoology program’s previous popularity, administrators brought it back to attract students, according to Principal Erin Lynch.
The zoo at Seth Low started with just one animal, Fiume’s pet rabbit.
“I never worked with ESL kids before, and I’m teaching life science, and I’m like — they don’t get it. And I went to my principal and said, ‘Would it be okay if I brought in my pet rabbit?” said Fiume.
The idea snowballed and cages housing birds, snakes, rabbits, mice and other reptiles now line the classroom. A spotlight clamped on the edge of a wooden pen illuminates a 50-pound tortoise clamboring around inside.
“We wanted to find something to put us on the map,” said Principal Lynch. “The middle school parent is savvy now. They want to see the progression through high school and college.”
Sixth graders take an exploratory elective covering zoology, physician’s assistant training and robotics, and then choose one to focus on for seventh and eighth grade.
Ideally, if students decide to pursue an interest in animals, the knowledge they gain in zoology will help them get into Abraham Lincoln High School’s veterinary science program, said Fiume.
The class learns about animal behavior patterns, anatomy and how they survive. Students witness birth and death, developing a greater understanding of the life cycle by seeing it first-hand.
“They’ve seen the umbilical cord, and it’s good because it’s a learning experience, and they’re kind of like ‘eww,’ but they have to look,” said Fiume.
To Fiume’s surprise, many students love the mice. She tells them not to get too attached. Bassini and the other girls said they had a favorite mouse, named Spiderman, who Fiume had to feed to one of the snakes. They were sad about it, they said, but they understand that the snakes have to eat too.
Bassini said she likes to look at the baby mice right after they’re born.
“They’re all red” she said. “You can see through them, and you see their heart.”