Hast du Schwein?

So let me start by saying I have a collection of stuffed pigs. The start of this collection are a little murky (I know I got one when student teaching for a game I made called Pig Latin, but where the subsequent pigs came from I have no idea!), but for years now these piggies have been decorating my classrooms. There's always a moment when my new students will look around suspiciously and ask if I like pigs (or worryingly comment that they're "surrounded").

Recently, I decided to put my pig collection to use.

I added a sign so that my students could ask to have a pig with them during class and refer to them as "emotional support pigs."

I was worried there'd be issues with students playing around with the pigs, but there hasn't actually been that much of that. It takes one warning that they permanently lose pig privileges and they stop goofing off. Mostly students keep them on their laps or desk while they work. For a few of my more squarely kiddos, it's actually seemed to help them focus.

- Frau Leonard