My PreKindergarten class is studying pets. We have had two dogs come and visit the class. The first belonged to one of the students, but the second was a therapy dog. The community that I teach in has a Humane Society very close to the school. We had someone from the HS came out to talk with the kids about how to take care of a dog. When she was done talking, she brought in a therapy dog, Boomer. Boomer and his owner talked to the children about what a therapy dog does and then the children got to love on Boomer. :) They, as well as he, enjoyed it throughly. Today the children heard the story Buddy Unchained by Daisy Bix and Joe Hyatt. This is a WONDERFUL book. It told the story of Buddy and how he was mistreated, but then he was rescued, taken to a HS and was adopted and is now living the life he should. We read this story today because we will be visiting the HS tomorrow. I included the shelter's wish list on the permission slip and hopefully we will be bringing some goodies to the HS.
The children have really taken to heart some of the ways to take care of a dog. Today, the children made dog or cat puppets. It was more of a skill building activity with tracing and cutting, but many of the children added their own twist. They made collars for their pet. Some things that were added to the collars were the pet's name, the owner's name and even a phone number. Then, they played with their puppets in the dramatic play area. One child "lost" their pet, another found it and they called each other on the phone because the collar had the phone number on it!! They made a great show of returning the lost pet to each other. How cool is that?? :) I am so proud of my students.
Sue