My students better love me!!

Why???

Because I've allowed the following two creatures into my home until I can take them to school tomorrow:

Just in case you can't tell what they are, I have a tarantula and FOUR cockroaches (the other three are buried somewhere in their cage) in my apartment!! 

This week we are studying bugs in my classroom - all kinds of bugs. My kids learn best when visual props are present, and because I love my kids and I love to see them learn, I got real bugs for the classroom for this week. 

Just so everybody knows, I HATE spiders of all kids, but tarantulas are way worse than a regular spider because they're hairy and just really scary-looking! And cockroaches are just disgusting! That being said, I'm not excited to have these things in my possession. In fact, the entire time I was carrying them up my apartment stairs, I was so scared I would drop one and the critter inside would be let loose. I was even more scared that I would get in a car accident after I picked them up and then they would be let loose in my car - ewwwww!! But like I said, I love seeing my kids learn, so I know that this will be fun and exciting for them.

In case you're wondering where I got these disgusting creatures, Plano ISD has this fabulous Outdoor Learning Center where you can "borrow" animals and critters of all kids - from birds to mice to insects. Elementary students take field trips to the Outdoor Learning Center, and you can even have someone come to your classroom to do an animal demonstration, so that's where I got these critters, and I'm thankful that they're so easy to borrow because I would NEVER pay money for these things! But they still give me the willies, and I can't wait to get them out of my apartment!