In an effort to continue to provide funding for classroom pets year after year, Pets in the Classroom will now be limiting grants to one per teacher per lifetime. If you have already received a grant for the purchase of a classroom pet, you will no longer be eligible to apply for a grant to purchase another classroom pet. You can, however, still apply for a Sustaining Grant to help purchase a new pet or supplies to maintain your classroom pet. We apologize for the inconvenience but hope this will help us be able to provide funding to more teachers for many years to come.
In addition to Sustaining Grants, there are other ways to stretch the funds available for your classroom pet. Please consider the following ideas, many of which come directly from teachers who have successfully used them!
- Visit your local pet store and tell them you are a teacher hoping to adopt a classroom pet. The store may have its own teacher discounts available that would make the pet more affordable or may even have a pet that they would be willing to donate to you.
- Adopt from an animal shelter or local humane society. Some adoption organizations have their own programs available for teachers to help them with the cost of classroom pets while also offering resources to use to set up lesson plans on animal care.
- Search online ads or post an ad on sites like craigslist.org, freecycle.org, a Facebook SwipSwap group, etc.
- Let your PTA, the parents of your class, and other teachers in your district know that you would like to have a classroom pet but cannot cover the cost. Someone may know of a pet you could have or may be willing to donate money to help purchase one.
- Set up a DonorsChoose.org account.
Do you have any other ideas or suggestions that would help a teacher with the costs of a classroom pet? Please share them with us on our Facebook page!
