Her class is a zoo,and she encourages it

By Kristen Garrett
Herald Staff Writer

A bunny naps in a corner, while ducklings quack away and a lamb strolls around, exploring people and objects.

No, this isn’t Old MacDonald’s Farm. It’s Mrs. A’s Funny Farm.

“Mrs. A.” is Jan Abernethy, a fifth-grade teacher at East Elementary School in Greenville. The students came up with the classroom name.

About 15 animals reside in the classroom, including an Egyptian Spiny mouse, fish, guinea pigs, rats and an array of amphibians and reptiles — in addition to the bunny, lamb and ducklings. The lamb, Annabelle, only visits on certain days and wears a diaper while in class.

Mrs. Abernethy said the students use the animals in their class work. For a recent writing assignment, Mrs. Abernethy said she had the kids write about an unusual event in the classroom. “Unusual” events aren’t too hard to find — just ask the students. Ben Fisher said he wrote about the pet guinea pig Pumpkin who passed away.

Mrs. Abernethy considers herself non-traditional. Now in her mid-30s, she has been teaching for only four years.

Mrs. Abernethy said she had a family and owned her own computer consulting business before she went back to school to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher. Now she uses her life’s experience to bring fun and excitement into the classroom.

Mrs. Abernethy’s class is taking a field trip to her farm in Harrisville where they will see the family’s Chincoteague pony named Sweetie.

Chincoteague ponies come from Assateague Island off the coast of Maryland and Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia. Mrs. Abernethy said her family got Sweetie five years ago when they visited the island to watch some of the wild ponies.

Mrs. Abernethy said her students just finished reading about the ponies which swim across a channel each year to the mainland to be auctioned off in order to raise money for a volunteer fire department.

Animals aren’t the only things happening in the classroom. Student Chantel McClimans recalled an unusual event that didn’t involve animals but an author.

Chantel said to celebrate Dr. Suess Day, the kids wore their pajamas to class, brought blankets and pillows and spent part of the day reading stories and watching videos.

Students learn responsibility in class as well. Class jobs —such as animal caretaker, floor sweeper and message runner — are assigned to each of Mrs. Abernethy’s students. The student has each job for one month.

Mrs. Abernethy’s class also has a monthly auction. Students bring in yard sale items from home and throughout the month they can earn points for good behavior and improvements. At the end of the month they can use their points to buy items.

Michael McAllister said his favorite thing in class has been the class carnival. In March, Michael said they made things like model ferris wheels and rollercoasters and set them up around the classroom.

Student Russell Hodge said he has enjoyed working on a school project to create a school yard habitat. Russell said the class has been working to plant greenery, create ponds and put bird feeders up.

All of the things that go on in Mrs. Abernethy’s classroom, educational or entertainment, are posted on a Web site which parents can visit. Mrs. Abernethy posts homework assignments, pictures and updates of the class happenings and animals.

The Web site won an award from myschoolonline.com which hosts the class Web page. To visit the Web site for Mrs. A’s Funny Farm go to:

http://myschoolonline.com. You will see a map of the country. Choose Pennsylvania, and under the list of towns choose Greenville.

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Her class is a zoo, and she encourages it

Her class is a zoo,and she encourages it