Summer is here. School is out for most and teachers are recharging their batteries. If you are a teacher or know a teacher, the pet industry is again reaching out to you. Last July I wrote about "Pets in the Classroom". It is an ongoing grant program but now is the time to think about next semester and here's why:

Times are changing. We live in a digital age. It has not gone unnoticed by the pet industry. One company spokesperson said "In a world where video games, iPods and other electronics reign supreme we unfortunately see less and less children having an interest in pets." The industry is concerned that if today's 5- and 10-year-olds fail to develop the connection with animals and the desire to own one, the industry will face an impoverished market and a dwindling customer base that cannot support the abundance of small, independent retailers. The most vulnerable will be those that specialize in small animals, reptiles, birds and fish-basically any category other than cats and dogs. I know at our house, our kids had it all. . . .hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, lizards and rabbits. I grew up with a rabbit and gold fish. How many of you had Habitrails for your hamsters? How many of your kids today are asking for that for their birthdays?

Studies show that kids turn to their pets for emotional well-being, with 40% of children choosing pet companionship when feeling down. Kids were also found to seek out their pets when feeling tired, upset, scared or lonely, and 53% of respondents said they enjoy doing homework with pets nearby. "Being around animals is extremely good for children," says Dr. Harvey Markovitch, pediatrician and editor of The Archives of Disease in Childhood. "They're good for morale, and teach children about relationships and about the needs of another living being - learning to care for a pet helps them to learn how to care for people." Studies show caring for pets aids in improving school attendance and teaches children about responsibility.

Armed with those statistics, the pet industry, knowing that teachers have limited resources, initiated "Pets in the Classroom". This is a program that has helped teachers support classroom pets with no-hassle educational grants for the purchase of new pets, pet environments, pet food and supplies for existing classroom pets. Since 2010 over 9,300 grants have been awarded. If you are a teacher who would like to use pets for education go to www.petsintheclassroom.org . Taken from that website they state "whether it's Math ("how much does a hamster weigh?") or Science ("what does a snake eat?"), Geography ("what part of the world do ferrets come from?") or Grammar ("what words would we use to describe a goldfish?") students will approach learning all these subjects with a new enthusiasm and interest. Other classes can even come visit your classroom pets and your students can create special presentations about the animals. The following conditions apply: Pets in the Classroom grants are offered to Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth grade classes only in both public and private schools. These grants are intended to support pets or aquariums in the classroom for the purposes of teaching children to bond with and care for their pets responsibly. The welfare of the small animals involved is of paramount importance. These grants must not be used for the purposes of research or experiments of any kind.

The Indianapolis Star reported on June 8th, 2013: "The Teacher of the Year's classroom is a zoo. Hens cluck outside, crayfish swim in water and a tadpole has turned into a frog. Ann Mennonno's first- and second-graders cradle crayfish and Madagascar hissing cockroaches. They care for a bearded dragon named Cinderella. In this classroom, learning comes to life. "It's more than reading about it," said Mennonno, who was chosen as Indianapolis Public Schools' Teacher of the Year. "It's seeing it, feeling it and being responsible for it - and that's when you don't forget." A 13-year educator at IPS, Mennonno takes the district's top teaching title for the second time. She was recognized as IPS Teacher of the Year in 2004. Praised for her innovative teaching style, Mennonno integrates reading, writing and math in her social studies and science lessons in her multi-age classroom for Grades 1 and 2 at the Center for Inquiry at IPS 27 on the Near-Northside. For a unit on life cycles, which led to the classroom zoo, she took her class to the real zoo to pick animals to write about in nonfiction books."

What kid wouldn't love a bearded dragon named Cinderella? Pets make you smile.