First Graders Read to Seamus the Therapy Dog!

First grade students had a wonderful opportunity to read to Seamus, a beautiful three-year-old golden retriever, who is a certified therapy dog. Seamus belongs to first grade student Liam and his family. Heather, Liam's mother, initially had Seamus trained at home with his brother Beethoven. Seamus then attended group, beginner, impulse control classes and participated in specific training to become a therapy dog. He passed the test last August! Seamus volunteers weekly at Sunrise nursing home and attends other events.

First grade students listened to the book Madeline Finn and the Library Dog.  In the beginning of the book, Madeline is worried about reading aloud in her class. After reading with a therapy dog in her library, she gained confidence. Students shared word's that described Madeline's feelings at different stages of the story. They then envisioned that part of the story that they wanted to remember and write about and shared their ideas with a partner. The next step was writing and illustrating the part of the story that they wanted to remember. Once done, they shared their writing by reading it to Seamus.

First grade students are looking forward to reading to Seamus again during future reading workshops.