Stuffed Animals and 5th Graders

Last year, near the end of the school year I had an idea and it worked. Read about it here. It involved adding stuffed animals to the classroom library. The idea caught on even as a personal friend of mine thought of me as she toured the NJ aquarium. She purchased a hippo from the gift shop to add to the collection.

While I'm sure teachers have been doing it for ages, you must remember I'm coming from middle school grades. This year, I'm trying it earlier and with my 90+ 5th graders. We'll see how they respond. They already love the idea of pillows.

The larger ones are on loan from a colleague. The smaller ones were purchased in the sale/(clearance?) section of a department store.