Long Island teacher uses classroom pets to teach first graders social & emotional needs along with science

BALDWIN, N.Y. -- This school year, more and more classroom pets are being incorporated into daily learning.

Educators say animals are helping young children with coping skills.

Besides offering social and emotional support, teachers on Long Island tell CBS New York's Jennifer McLogan pets give students hands-on lessons in scientific behavior.

Six-year-old Harley Gayle is enthralled with Pearl the axolotl -- salamander.

"I can write down what it's doing, and I can draw what it's doing," she said. "If he goes out of water, he will die."

"What is he using to breathe?" McLogan asked.

"The gills," Harley said.

Pearl is one of five unique animals residing in the classroom of teacher Renee MacDermott at Lenox Elementary in Baldwin, joining a leopard gecko named Oreo, a hamster named Rocky, a fish called Onyx, and Ruby, the pygmy hedgehog.

"The hedgehog goes in, and we get to read a book to them," a student said.

Ruby can be slipped into a little pouch on the lap of student who quietly reads to her.

"They will show us their emotions ... but Ruby does the most of the emotions," another student said.

Ruby shares messages of feelings -- curling in a ball, showing her quills, and in foot races with hamster Rocky.

"We made mazes for the hamster," a student said.

"Humans and animals all have ways to communicate and not always through words. Sometimes it's through watching and observing," MacDermott said.

MacDermott says animals address her students' social and emotional needs and help them learn the science.

"We have animals from different habitats, and so we're learning about woodland animals, aquatic animals, desert animals," she said.

Children share responsibility -- composting their apple cores and banana peels.

"I never have to buy new worms because the cycle just keeps going," MacDermott said.

Mealworms are propagating in oatmeal, turning into beetle food. Students are growing pea shoots hydroponically.

According to Pet Care Trust, which offers grants to educators to sponsor pets in classrooms, requests are up 36%.

"We have issued more than 230,000 grants ... You know, teachers are just seeing actually better classroom behavior as well. The empathy and compassion for their peers, not just the animals," said Melinda Thomas, with Pet Care Trust.

They also cite better attendances and parental involvement.

"We could give adults quizzes on the amount that our young people know, coming from that classroom. I'm sure we would all fail," Baldwin Schools Superintendent Dr. Shari Camhi said.

"If it's scared, what do you want to do?" McLogan asked one student.

"Help it feel better," the student said.

An immersive experience of life.

According to Pet Care Trust, the most popular classroom pets right now are fish, followed closely by bearded dragons, which are a species of lizard.