Animal Kingdom

The year seven science that I attend are studying the Kingdoms. Animal, plant, Fungi and the other two (which I cant remember).

Things were going as normal with three boys trading comments and names with one other boy. The single boy was asked to go out with the regular teacher as she had something to show him. He didn't want to go at first, he probably thought he was going to get into trouble but she assured him that she thought he would like what she had to show him.

The class was given by a pre service teacher. A few minutes later the boy and teacher came back into the room followed by a duck, this was a wild duck not a domestic duck. The atmosphere in the room changed dramatically as all the kids were focused on the duck. I was a bit worried how they would handle it (the duck) but twelve thirteen year olds just wanted to be up close and personal with the duck. The lesson was halted for awhile.

One kid asked if he could pick it up and then did so, the duck was passed around from student to student, some preferred to look at it from a distance and some were happy just to pat it. The duck has obviously been hand reared and had followed a teacher from the creek that runs through the bottom of the school. They had taken it back but the next group who went to the creek for a class was followed as well.

The name calling and snide remarks to each other subsided for almost all of the rest of the lesson. The duck went to sleep while the kids watched a video on the classifications in the kingdoms. The teacher had told them that there was to be no talking while they watched it because the duck was asleep and they were pretty quiet.

Maybe we should have an animal in each week.