Welcome to the registration page for the Virtual Class Pet Program, hosted by Charlie's Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary. Thank you for making the compassionate choice to allow one of our rescued animal residents to become part of your classroom.
Scroll down to see this year's 'adoptable' animals!
Charlie’s Acres’ Virtual Class Pet Program includes:
– An adoption certificate, photos, and information about your new class pet.
– Four 30-minute video calls with one of our humane education staff members and your class pet. These can be scheduled throughout the year, semester, or shorter unit, depending on your class’s needs. These calls will focus on humane education lessons that help students put themselves in an animal’s “shoes” and consider their feelings.
This program is available for grades K-12 and is most appropriate for grades 2-8. For classes younger than Kindergarten age, please feel free to reach out to jenny@charliesacres.org for additional humane education options.
WHY A VIRTUAL CLASS PET?
While spending time with animals undoubtedly a valuable learning experience for all ages and has benefits such as learning care and responsibility, relieving stress, and developing empathy, it is important to consider the animal’s experience. A bright and busy classroom is a good environment for children but is overwhelming to most animals. Despite the best of intentions, class pets may become neglected and ultimately unwanted as the school year ends.
By symbolically adopting a rescued animal resident of Charlie’s Acres as your class pet, you create a safe opportunity for kids to learn about animals that is inclusive regardless of the school’s budget and location, or any allergies of students.
While students are enrolled in virtual learning, a virtual class pet is still accessible and can be a fun bonding experience.
WHY HUMANE EDUCATION?
Did you know that many states have curriculum requirements for humane and character education? This education involves teaching children to understand, care about, and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, and responsibility for self and others.
Teaching kindness to animals is a natural component of these efforts. Developing empathy towards animals can be a key step in developing empathy for and rejecting violence against all beings, including humans. With bullying and youth violence rampant in schools today, it is essential to teach compassion and encourage kindness in your students.
About the Program
Welcome to the registration page for the Virtual Class Pet Program, hosted by Charlie's Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary. Thank you for making the compassionate choice to allow one of our rescued animal residents to become part of your classroom.
Scroll down to see this year's 'adoptable' animals!
Charlie’s Acres’ Virtual Class Pet Program includes:
– An adoption certificate, photos, and information about your new class pet.
– Four 30-minute video calls with one of our humane education staff members and your class pet. These can be scheduled throughout the year, semester, or shorter unit, depending on your class’s needs. These calls will focus on humane education lessons that help students put themselves in an animal’s “shoes” and consider their feelings.
This program is available for grades K-12 and is most appropriate for grades 2-8. For classes younger than Kindergarten age, please feel free to reach out to jenny@charliesacres.org for additional humane education options.
WHY A VIRTUAL CLASS PET?
While spending time with animals undoubtedly a valuable learning experience for all ages and has benefits such as learning care and responsibility, relieving stress, and developing empathy, it is important to consider the animal’s experience. A bright and busy classroom is a good environment for children but is overwhelming to most animals. Despite the best of intentions, class pets may become neglected and ultimately unwanted as the school year ends.
By symbolically adopting a rescued animal resident of Charlie’s Acres as your class pet, you create a safe opportunity for kids to learn about animals that is inclusive regardless of the school’s budget and location, or any allergies of students.
While students are enrolled in virtual learning, a virtual class pet is still accessible and can be a fun bonding experience.
WHY HUMANE EDUCATION?
Did you know that many states have curriculum requirements for humane and character education? This education involves teaching children to understand, care about, and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, and responsibility for self and others.
Teaching kindness to animals is a natural component of these efforts. Developing empathy towards animals can be a key step in developing empathy for and rejecting violence against all beings, including humans. With bullying and youth violence rampant in schools today, it is essential to teach compassion and encourage kindness in your students.
Harold the rooster
As a rooster, Harold is one of the most misunderstood beings in the world, and, just like many others of his kind, he was abandoned at a public park before a lucky turn of events brought him to live at our sanctuary. Roosters face many challenges due to the stigma of their signature crow, the stereotype that they are “aggressive,” and simply because they are not seen as worth caring for since they don’t provide us with eggs. In reality, roosters make wonderful and loving protectors to their families, bravely showing that they are even willing to risk their lives to protect the ones they love. Each rooster has his own personality, and we are happy to give each one the space to be who he is, whether he's snuggly, feisty, shy, outgoing, and so much more. It’s so much fun watching Harold interact with his flock, always chatting with them, standing guard, and calling them over when he finds a yummy treat to share. While chickens are often thought of as “simple minded,” that couldn’t be further from the truth! Harold is a great example of how we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and that when we take the time to understand chickens (and roosters in particular), they can really thrive, make wonderful friends, and teach us so much.
Gretel is a potbelly pig, an animal that can make a great companion as long as
people do their research before adopting them! Sadly, many of these pigs are purchased
at a young age due to the popular “teacup” pig myth and then end up abandoned when they
reach their full size. In Gretel’s case, she was left on the streets while pregnant in
the summer of 2021. After days of building trust with her, we convinced her to follow a
trail of food into our trailer, which gave us the idea to name her Gretel! Two weeks
after her arrival, she gave birth to her piglets on August 16, and, despite all the
danger Gretel faced on the streets, they now have a safe, happy home to live the rest of
their lives together. Gretel is a strong, protective mother, but, like her babies, she
won’t say no to a good belly rub. Her story teaches us why it’s important to make sure
we can meet an animal’s needs before bringing them into our homes. During our meetings
with Gretel, you can expect to also meet her seven friendly piglets!
Ginger was brought to Charlie’s Acres in the spring of 2019 by a teenage activist who negotiated with her former owner, a dairy farmer, to relinquish her. She arrived in extremely poor health due to severe neglect. Ginger was emaciated, full of parasites, and suffering from a life-threatening udder infection. We feared for Ginger’s survival during those first weeks and were thrilled as we saw her put on weight and gain strength. Now, she’s thriving in her forever home at Charlie’s Acres with her wonderful goat and chicken friends. Despite everything she’s been through, Ginger is incredibly sweet, forgiving, and trusting of humans. She loves receiving attention from humans, gluing herself to the side of visitors as they pet her and nuzzling them affectionately. Ginger’s story is a great example of why animals deserve a chance at life and to receive treatment when they’re sick, just as much as anyone else.
Monroe was found abandoned at only a day old at a pond in a public park. Luckily, a
kind passerby noticed Monroe and brought her to Charlie’s Acres. In the beginning,
Monroe grew quickly and her white, waterproof adult feathers came in, but as the weeks
went by, we realized Monroe was a miniature breed of duck, and, unlike many of her
fellow domestic ducks, she was able to fly! We built a special aviary for her to let her
flap her wings as she pleases without having to worry about getting lost. She has since been joined by a colorful array of other duck and chicken companions. Monroe’s story
is all too common: many people believe that domestic ducks can live safely in the wild
and in public ponds and lakes, but in reality, it’s very difficult for them to survive.
We are so happy that Monroe found a safe home here at Charlie’s Acres and a group of
friends to play with every day. She’s a sweet, energetic duck who loves nibbling at us
affectionately for attention and soaring over our heads when we least expect it.
Did you know cows have to have a baby to produce milk? Sadly, as a result, many mother cows on dairy farms have lots of babies and are separated from them soon after birth. That's why Honey's story is so impactful: she was rescued before giving birth, and she and her son Benjamin get to live happily at our sanctuary together for the rest of their lives. Although Benjamin now towers over Honey, they still share an incredibly close bond. Honey is also a sweet, motherly figure to the other four cows in their herd, and people of all ages fall in love with her gentle and nurturing personality!
[PLEASE NOTE: Naomi is not available to meet on Wednesdays because of her bimonthly physical therapy appointments.] Born on a neglectful hobby farm, Naomi’s early life was marred by a severe injury: she was stepped on by another animal, leaving her with a seriously damaged spine. Despite her challenges, Naomi has an incredible spirit and a strong will to live a happy life. She happily uses her wheelchair to get around and graze with her friends. Animals like Naomi are often overlooked and denied the specialized care they need simply because they are not as visible or celebrated as companion animals. However, we believe all animals deserve a chance at a happy life, no matter their species.
[NOTE: While our Internet connection usually works well, there are days that the connection is more spotty in Petunia's yard depending on the weather. We are happy to reschedule meetings on days with bad Internet!] Petunia spent the first year of her life in what we suspect was a cosmetics testing laboratory. She arrived at Charlie's Acres covered in scabs and a rash, but her skin has improved thanks to regular skin condition treatments. She came to Charlie's Acres on her first birthday and touched grass for the first time! Now, she loves being outside and is the last one to go to bed each night, always far out in the field snacking on grass until the last bit of sunlight disappears. When we're able, choosing cruelty-free toiletries and cleaning supplies is a fantastic way to help animals like Petunia.
Charlie's Acres is a nonprofit sanctuary providing a loving forever home to 140 rescued animal residents. As a sanctuary, our primary focus is the lifelong well-being of our animal residents. They live here without the fear of slaughter or the expectation to provide products, entertainment, or any other service. Our mission is to showcase the inherent value of each individual animal beyond their utility or profitability.
While we do not intend to vilify farmers, our goals and practices differ significantly from those of conventional farms, where animals are raised for consumption. Out of respect for our animal residents, many of whom originally came from farms, it is important to us that our educational programs reflect the reality of animals' lives and do not inadvertently present a sugarcoated view of animal agriculture. Therefore, to accurately convey the nature of our mission and the lives of our animal residents, we encourage teachers participating in our program to refer to Charlie's Acres as a 'sanctuary' when discussing where their class pet resides.
Learn more about the difference between a sanctuary and a farm here.
Q: How do we schedule meetings?
After you’ve registered for the Virtual Class Pet Program at www.charliesacres.org, you’ll receive a confirmation email with a Calendly link you can use to see our available times and schedule your meetings. All four meetings can be scheduled with this link. This link is only available to teachers who have registered for the program and is not posted publicly on our website. If you have trouble finding the link before scheduling one of your meetings, don’t hesitate to reach out to jenny@charliesacres.org so we can resend it to you!
Bear in mind that we are in California, USA and run on Pacific Time. If you do not see an available time that overlaps with the time you meet your class, please email jenny@charliesacres.org to explore options.
Q: Can multiple classrooms share a single registration and sign onto our video calls together?
Yes! Because spots are limited, if there are other classes at your school who meet at the same time as yours and would like to share the experience of the program with your class, we encourage teachers to participate with other classrooms at their school.
Q: When will I receive my class’s adoption certificate?
Expect to receive an email from jenny@charliesacres.org within a week with your class’s certificate, photos of your “class pet,” and a letter with their rescue story! Be sure to use an email address that is capable of receiving emails from outside organizations. Contact jenny@charliesacres.org if you don’t receive your confirmation email or your materials.
Q: What platform do you use for the video calls?
By default, when you schedule each meeting, a Zoom link will be automatically created that you can join at the time of our meeting. If you meet with your class virtually, this link can be shared with your students so that they can join the meeting from home.
If you would prefer to be the host of the meeting on Zoom or another platform, we are happy to join your meeting instead. There is a space on the form you’ll complete when scheduling each meeting where you can include your meeting link and pertinent joining information. If we see you’ve included your own link, we’ll plan on joining your meeting instead of hosting from the automatically generated Zoom link. We have successfully joined classes on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex Meetings and are flexible to use any free platform. If you are required to use a paid platform through your school district to meet with your students, we have made it work through teachers screensharing in the past and are happy to work with you to see what’s possible!
Q: Will there be time for my students to ask questions?
We will leave time dedicated for students to ask questions during all of our meetings. Whether we have students ask their questions directly, have the teachers repeat questions for us, or have students leave their questions in the chat depends on what works best for each class!
Q: Will we see other animals during our meetings other than our class pet?
All of our animal residents live in groups, so you will be certainly be seeing lots of your class pet and all of their friends during our meetings! If we have time at the end of each meeting, we are happy to take your class to visit another group as well. This typically happens during the second, third, and fourth meetings.
Check out these testimonials from participating teachers!
"This was an amazing opportunity for my students. We can’t wait to do it again. You’ve showed my students how to have empathy for an animal that is disabled. You helped my second grader proudly connect with [his class pet] and his brother who is terminal and in a wheelchair, you have made our communities curriculum come alive!"
"Charlie's Acres staff really connected with my students, they learned not only about animals but how to treat animals and people with respect."
"Our VA standards of learning call for lessons in living and non-living things and the visits with Monroe and [the program] has given me a real-life example to refer back to throughout our class discussions."
"The students are learning a lot about Petunia and other rescue animals. They are learning empathy! I also love to see how excited they get each time we meet with Petunia and Jenny!"
"I loved how you tied in character traits, feelings of the animals and a sense of compassion and understanding in your lessons! Thank you!"
"Our students have loved getting to know all of the animals, not just the animal they adopted. I believe it has opened up a conversation about kindness to all creatures that might not have happened otherwise. Students were unaware of testing on animals in science, which led to lots of questions and a new understanding of science and kindness."
"Thank you so much for offering this! My class and I really enjoyed going to these meetings this past school year. My students were constantly asking when they would get to see their class pet again."
"I think [the program] should be utilized with as many children as possible. It helps them develop empathy and understanding with not just the farm animals, but with even their own pets or other animals they're exposed to."
