Turtles in the classroom

On the list of random things that happen in middleschool:

One of my students has a turtle. It is a tiny red-eared slider which she carries around either her pocket often in or her backpack. It amazes me that the little reptile is still alive, but it seems to be very healthy. Today I caught her with the animal and we started a very nice discussion about turtle-care. It's events like this that remind you that even though kids in 7th Grade are growing up and becoming more and more independent, they're still kids and do the most surprising things sometimes.