Title of Project: "D" is for Dog

Grade Level: K-2

Number of Students Participating:

Contributed by:

Teacher: Rhonda O’Leary

School: St. Joseph Academy

District or County: Boone County

Overview/Description of Project: Students learn phoneme/letter symbol connections and therapy dog job in hospitals through their visits by therapy dogs/video and doggy bone gift-bag/cards to patients.

Goals:

1.      Students learn the phoneme/letter symbol connection for letter “d”.

2.      Students understand that therapy dogs help patients heal emotionally/physically and are an important service to the community.

3.      Students learn that their concern and gifts to patients help the therapy dog/owner as well as well as the patients.

4.      Students will recognize that relationships benefit both the giver and the receiver.

Core Content Areas:

Reading RD-EP-1.0.1 Phonics – apply phonetic principles, context clues, structural analysis.

Practical Living – 2.33 mental/emotional wellness – students demonstrate skills to evaluate and use services and resources available in their community.

PARC MODEL STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

PREPARATION:

1. Students and teacher introduce the topic, “D” is for Dog through visual display of pictures/letter symbol; discussion and picture book (??)

2. Teacher invites therapy dogs/owner to class to describe the job, answer questions and ask for ways they could help the dogs do their job better.

3. With the dog owners’ suggestions, the students decide to make cards (from the therapy dogs) to be given to patients during their visits to local hospital. The children also decide to make doggy bags with dog bones for the patients to feed to the therapy dog during their hospital. visit.

4. The class discusses what materials are needed to do their project and how to fund it.

(problem solving lesson).

1. The Preschool class maps their plan and assigns class members to do particular jobs.

ACTION:

1. The students make and sell people dog cookies to raise money to buy supplies.

2. The Preschool class purchases and assembles the doggy gift bags and stamp the paw prints on the cards for patients.

3. Kindergarten children complete the cards by signing them with a message of healing from the therapy dogs.

4. The students invite the dog owner to return to pick up the completed items. The owner will share a video that shows the therapy dogs at work visiting patients in the hospital.

REFLECTION: After viewing the video, students and teacher reflect upon the work that has been completed. They discuss their own response; share observations from the video about the dogs’ healing importance to patients. The children list the good things that have happened to each of the individuals or groups involved in this project. These reflections are made into a classroom book. This book is sent home with each child over the next several weeks to explain and celebrate the work to their families.

CELEBRATION: Celebration will be during the second visit with the dog owner and include animal cookies and punch; the video; and creating their classroom book.