The special writing project involving Bright Spot Reading Buddy King is in full-swing at the Hilltown Cooperative Charter School. Last week, King was interviewed by the Greens and Yellows (2nd/3rd graders) about his life. This morning, King posed as a model for the students in their art class. (He was even involved in a fire drill. He was such a good boy about that. The loud, shrill siren declaring a whole-school evacuation, didn’t faze him a bit. He marched right out with his class.)
The art teacher started the drawing lesson by explaining to the class that they should look at King’s body in terms of shapes. What shape is his head? What shape are his ears? His torso? His paws? She drew examples on the white board as the children excitedly responded to her queries.
Each child has his and her own sketch pad that was passed out and the drawing began. King struck several different poses during the hour-long session (10 children in 2 one-hour sessions).
The sessions ended with each child proudly displaying his or her interpretation of what King looks like. The illustrations will become part of their written book. King happily received many hugs and kisses when it was time to depart.
The afternoon was spent at the Westhampton Elementary School where Reading Buddy Lily surprised the children with her own book titled: Meet Lily and Her Pals. The book is one of a series of books Bright Spot Therapy Dogs will create as part of the Bright Spot Reading Buddy Program that fosters a love for Reading. A grant from the Charter Oak Foundation makes it possible to create special books about the children’s very own Reading Buddy that will encourage reading and vocabulary development.
After I read the book to each class, Lily meet one-on-one with the readers for today. She listened attentively to The Ugly Duckling, a book about horses, a book about bats, and a guessing book about all kinds of animals. When each class time ended all the children had a chance to pet and hug Lily at the door as they left the school library.
Not to be short-changed, Annie had her fun, too. It was such a gorgeous spring day that Annie and I took a wonderful late afternoon walk together while King and Lily took a much needed nap.