Mrs. Clark in grade 5. She brought creatures from her farm and home pet-erie including her parrot that ate peanut butter off a spoon he held in one foot; he tossed the spoon out of his cage when done.

Most notably: That year she borrowed an incubator from the Central Experimental Farm of the National Research Council; and she got 24 fertilized chicken eggs from the CEF too. The incubator lived in our classroom and the class studied eggs as they grew. Once hatched we cared for the chickens for the rest of the year. There were enough chickens that hatched and enough weekends remaining in the school year that the whole class got to chicken-sit for at least one weekend. I still remember taking Plum out for a bike ride that weekend; she stayed roosted on the handlebars with no problem once she got the hang of it (there were a couple of wing flaps at first). I felt very lucky to get her for Easter weekend, which meant four whole days to have her at home.

All went well with Plum until the Tuesday morning going back to school. It was April 1st and my best friend was sure I was playing an April fool's joke on her when I phoned her to come and help me carry the bird and cage and food back to school. Finally she helped but not until she saw me struggling down the street with the chicken in a carry box under one arm and the collapsible cage under the other. At 9 years old I would get maybe 5 steps before I had to rest and regroup. Yes we walked. No one ever thought of driving the kids to school in our neighbourhood.

The other amazing thing in Mrs. Clark's class that year: She arranged a visit from Al Oeming with his pet cheetah from "Al Oeming's Alberta Game Farm." Somehow that wasn't as big a deal as having the chicken at home for 4 whole days. Go figure.

Mrs. Clark made everything come alive, not just Science (with all her animals) and Social Studies, which she also made wonderful but she also encouraged my love of writing and drawing. I'm pretty sure she had that effect on most or all of the class.