VALDOSTA – Did your teacher ever have class pet? Wasn’t it the neatest thing to get to watch that pet and everything that they did?

Kids are getting that opportunity once again at J.L. Lomax Elementary. Mrs. Arnold, the school’s English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher, has a rescue pet lizard named “Messy.” Messy is a chubby, little, Leopard Gecko that enjoys his days in an aquarium in Mrs. Arnold’s classroom at J.L. Lomax. He keeps warm under a heating lamp and eats chirping crickets for his meals.

Instead of Mrs. Arnold keeping “Messy” all to herself and her ESOL students, other classes throughout the school were invited to stop by Mrs. Arnold’s classroom, to learn about Messy.

Mrs. Arnold’s goal was to promote writing, by encouraging students to write about Messy and what they learned. Students were incredibly involved as they learned about the lizard. They were equally as motivated to go back and write about what they learned.

As Ben Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” In Ms. Arnold’s room at J.L. Lomax, students are definitely involved in their learning.

Photos:  Mrs. Arnold and Messy at J.L. Lomax Elementary School