Principal Melissa Chiodo first approached her school superintendant about having dogs at Reynolds Elementary in Baldwinsville for her students social and emotional needs. Their emotional needs have increased over the years and this is a way to decrease the students' stress and relax them in a learning environment, Chiodo says.
The forward-thinking principal has two registered therapy dogs that rotate in and out of the school. Only one dog is at the school a day. Now these hypo-allergenic daily members of life at the school are used to help with the curriculum too. The school models reading to pets for 20 minutes a day. Chiodo even wrote a book about the four-legged stars of the school to share with her students.
The administration and staff are very aware that parents and students' home life is extremely busy. Their hope is that this is another option and parents support the vital 20 minutes of reading every night. Reading to pets is another way to make sure you get that time in everyday. Model the model is what they are doing in the school daily.
The Nagy Herman impact chart that has been used for decades says that students that read 20 minutes every day learn 1.8 million words per year. When compared to students who read five minutes per day, that drops rapidly by 1.5 million words to just 282,000 words learned per year. Educators feel this directly impacts the students' test scores as well.
Some reading links that might help at home include: