Nothing holds more promise for classroom chaos than Bring Your Pet to School Day, or Pet Day.  In this week’s COW Writing Challenge, students are to imagine the most chaotic Pet Day ever in the history of Pet Days.

Have them consider some of the following questions that would make an already chaotic day even more wild:

1.  What strange pets could be brought that day?  A camel?  A penguin?  A snake?  Did someone borrow an animal from the zoo or a circus for the day?

2.  What interactions between the pets lead to further mayhem?  Do dogs meet cats?

3.  How does the ‘Pet Day’ in this class spill over to the rest of the school?  Or is Pet Day a school wide phenomenon?  Do some pets escape?  Do some of them find their way into the duct work of the school’s air conditioning and heating system?  Do some hide in lockers?  Do some of them interrupt other classes?  Do some of them find their way onto school buses?

4.  What heroic deed or brilliant idea could bring all of this catastrophic confusion to an end?

We hope some brilliant writing comes out of this challenge, and will raise some concerns about having a real-life pet day in your class!