Five 2nd grade pupils in Galston Public School are reading to Zoe, a Labrador bitch, every week and this is greatly improving their reading skills. The children love Zoe and enjoy reading to her because it makes reading fun. This helps them become confident, lifelong readers as their reading skills and confidence soar. Zoe listens, doesn’t judge or criticise them and enables them to relax while reading and not feel any pressure or embarrassment if they make a mistake.
Quotes from teachers and students: “The students love it!” “Do I get to do it again?! Yes!!!” “He absolutely loves it! His little face lit up when he saw Zoe!”
Zoe, seen here with her owner Val Wright, is the first and currently only story dog working in this area. Says Val: “I really enjoy our reading sessions with the children at our local school.”
We would very much like to recruit more story dogs to help children in other schools.
Would you like your dog to become a story dog? Use this link to find out: https:// irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/ a1067652/files/uploaded/ Volunteer-Information-Pack. pdf then if you would like to take the next steps contact local area coordinator Val Wright val@ walkham.com.
Would you like your school to have a story dog helping? Contact [email protected]
Sponsorship
Story Dogs is non-profit organisation and a registered charity and relies entirely on kind sponsors to cover its modest operating costs. $500 a year is sufficient to sponsor one dog. If you or your company would like to help children in this way please contact Val, [email protected] who would love to hear from you and can tell you more about our work.
