A Pet Snake?!

Introduction:

Can we have a snake as a pet? Do you know anyone that has a pet snake? Do you think we could have one in the classroom?

Let’s find out about snakes!

 

Task:

In this lesson we will learn more about brown snakes and snakes in general to decide if we can keep one as a class pet. Of course there are some things we will need to find out…

• Will our snake hurt us?
• What should we put it in that is most like its home in the wild?
• What should we feed the snake?
• How much should we feed it?
• What snake behaviors can we observe?

Process:

1. Learn about snakes and reptiles from Bill Nye the Science Guy (This sites is not available now).
2. Learn about snakes' habitats.
3. Learn about what snakes eat.
4. Look at pictures of snakes. Find pictures from Bioinfo Animal Pictures Archive.
5. Learn more cool facts about snakes. 
6. Use other resources in the room such as books, articles, and artifacts to help you in your research.
7. Decide if a brown snake would make a good classroom pet. Answer the above questions and write a paper telling me if you think if we should get a brown snake for a classroom pet. Support your argument.
8. Draw two pictures of a brown snake.  One picture of a brown snake in its natural habitat and the other picture of a brown snake in its new classroom habitat. 

Evaluation:

Use these questions to make sure that you have a complete, well done project:

• Is brown snake correctly drawn in its habitat? 
• Did I make his classroom cage as much like his natural habitat as I could? 
• Do I have at least three good arguments explaining why I think brown snake would or would not be a good pet? 
• Did I follow our classroom rules on how to write a good descriptive paper?

Conclusion:

• Did you learn something new about snakes?
• What else would you like to know about snakes?
• What concerns do you have about keeping a pet in our classroom? 

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Last updated on 08/02/06