Looking for a meaningful novel to teach in your upper elementary or middle school ELA classroom? Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan is an excellent choice for a novel study because it gives students opportunities to explore important themes while strengthening reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, critical thinking, and literary analysis skills.
This engaging historical fiction novel follows Esperanza Ortega, a young girl whose comfortable life in Mexico changes dramatically after a family tragedy forces her to move to California with her mother. As Esperanza adjusts to a completely different way of life, students follow her journey of resilience, perseverance, family, identity, loss, and personal growth.
If you’re planning an Esperanza Rising novel study for 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, this book offers plenty of opportunities for meaningful classroom discussions and activities.
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Why Teach Esperanza Rising?
One of the reasons Esperanza Rising works so well as a classroom novel is that students can connect with Esperanza’s experiences while also learning about a time and place that may be very different from their own lives.
The novel provides opportunities to discuss:
Resilience and perseverance
Family and relationships
Immigration and migration
Cultural identity
Poverty and socioeconomic differences
The experiences of migrant workers
Loss and change
Friendship and community
Personal growth
The American Dream
These topics can lead to thoughtful classroom conversations while helping students develop a deeper understanding of the characters and the world in which the story takes place.
Esperanza Rising and Historical Context
Because the story takes place during the Great Depression, it can also be used to make connections between ELA and social studies.
Students can examine the challenges faced by Esperanza and her family as they adjust to life in California and learn about the experiences of migrant workers during the 1930s.
This historical context allows students to look beyond the events of the novel and consider how economic circumstances, work, immigration, and social conditions affected people’s lives.
Esperanza’s Character Growth
Esperanza’s character development is one of the strongest reasons to use this novel for a book study.
At the beginning of the story, Esperanza has grown up in a privileged environment and expects her life to continue in much the same way. As circumstances change, she must learn to adapt to challenges she never anticipated.
Throughout the novel, students can track how Esperanza changes and consider:
How do Esperanza’s experiences change her?
What does she learn about herself?
How does she respond when things don’t go as planned?
Which characters influence her growth?
What does Esperanza learn about family and community?
These questions provide excellent opportunities for character analysis and reading comprehension.
Important Themes in Esperanza Rising
Esperanza Rising is also an excellent novel for teaching theme.
Students can explore themes such as perseverance, resilience, family, hope, identity, sacrifice, and adapting to change.
The novel’s recurring symbols and imagery provide additional opportunities for literary analysis. Students can examine how objects, events, and images throughout the story connect to Esperanza’s experiences and development.
Rather than simply asking students to identify a theme, you can have them support their thinking with evidence from the text. This helps turn reading comprehension into deeper literary analysis.
Vocabulary and Language Development
The rich language in Esperanza Rising makes the novel particularly useful for vocabulary instruction.
Students encounter words and expressions connected to the characters’ experiences, historical setting, and Mexican and Mexican American culture. Studying vocabulary in the context of the novel allows students to see how words function within meaningful passages rather than learning isolated definitions.
Vocabulary activities can also be paired with writing and comprehension activities to reinforce students’ understanding of the novel.
Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking
A strong Esperanza Rising novel study should go beyond simple recall questions.
Students can analyze characters, make inferences, identify themes, examine symbolism, sequence important events, compare experiences, and support their ideas with evidence from the text.
Using chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions throughout the novel also gives teachers a practical way to monitor understanding and identify areas where students may need additional support.
Make Teaching Esperanza Rising Easier
If you want to teach Esperanza Rising but don’t want to spend hours creating worksheets, comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, assessments, and writing assignments, a ready-to-use novel study can make the process much easier.
I created a complete Esperanza Rising Novel Study for grades 4–6 that can be used in the classroom or for homeschool instruction.
The unit includes printable and digital resources, making it easy to use with traditional paper-based instruction or a paperless classroom.
What’s Included?
The novel study includes:
Daily lesson plans and pacing suggestions
Chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions
Vocabulary and grammar activities
Character and literary analysis activities
Theme and symbolism activities
Writing activities and assessment
Vocabulary assessment
End-of-book assessment
Answer keys
Common Core standards alignment
Printable resources
Digital resources for Google Drive™
The activities are designed to help students build reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, critical thinking, and literary analysis skills while engaging with the novel.
Not sure if this Esperanza Rising book unit is right for your classroom?
You can download the free preview to see examples of the activities and resources included in the complete novel study.
Get the Esperanza Rising Novel Study
If you’re planning an Esperanza Rising unit for 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, this ready-to-use resource can save you planning time while giving your students meaningful opportunities to engage with the novel.
Use it as a complete Esperanza Rising book unit, supplement your existing ELA curriculum, or choose individual activities to support your reading instruction.
Whether you’re teaching the novel for the first time or bringing it back for another group of students, Esperanza Rising offers countless opportunities for discussion, analysis, writing, and connection.
Save yourself the planning time and make your Esperanza Rising novel study easy with this complete, ready-to-use unit!
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Esperanza Risingthis school year?
Join our free community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with 3rd–8th grade teachers using novels in the classroom!
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Looking for a meaningful way to combine ELA and social studies while teaching Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone?
This historical fiction novel gives students an opportunity to step into the world of Jamestown in 1607 while developing important reading, writing, vocabulary, and critical-thinking skills.
If you’re planning a Blood on the River novel study for 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, this guide will give you ideas for using the novel to bring early American history to life—and show you how a complete novel study can save you hours of planning.
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Historical fiction has the ability to transport students to a different time and place, immersing them in the world of the past. Blood on the River tells the real-life story of Samuel Collier who voyages to the New World along with Captain John Smith to colonize Jamestown in 1607, during the early years of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. By reading this novel, students can step into the shoes of the young characters and experience the challenges and adventures of that era.
Why Teach Blood on the River?
Historical fiction can make history feel much more immediate to students.
Instead of simply reading facts about Jamestown, students experience the story through the perspective of Samuel Collier, a young page who travels with Captain John Smith to the New World.
As students read, they encounter the challenges of establishing the Jamestown settlement and are introduced to the people, places, conflicts, and decisions that shaped this important period in American history.
That makes Blood on the River an excellent choice for connecting literature and history.
Students can explore:
The founding of Jamestown
The Virginia Colony
Early English colonization
The journey from England to the New World
The Powhatan people
Relationships between Indigenous Peoples and English settlers
Survival and leadership
Historical perspective
Character development
Conflict and cooperation
Decision-making
Historical fiction versus historical fact
Blood on the River and Jamestown History
One of the biggest advantages of using Blood on the River in the classroom is the opportunity to connect the novel directly to your Jamestown and Colonial America curriculum.
As students read, they can investigate questions such as:
Why did the English establish Jamestown?
What challenges did the colonists face?
How did geography affect the settlement?
What role did leadership play in the survival of the colony?
How did the English settlers interact with the Powhatan people?
How might historical events look different from different perspectives?
How does the novel compare with what we know about the historical Jamestown?
These questions encourage students to think about history as more than a collection of dates and facts.
They begin to see history as a series of experiences, decisions, relationships, and consequences.
Use Historical Fiction to Build Empathy
Blood on the River also provides opportunities for students to think about history from multiple perspectives.
The characters encounter fear, uncertainty, conflict, cultural differences, and difficult decisions. Students can consider what it might have been like to experience these events as a young person living during this period.
This creates opportunities to discuss:
Empathy
Perspective
Cultural differences
Cooperation
Conflict
Leadership
Fairness
Survival
The impact of colonization
These conversations can help students recognize that historical events affected real people with different experiences and perspectives.
Blood on the River Reading Comprehension
Of course, reading a historical fiction novel isn’t just about learning history.
It is also an excellent opportunity to strengthen students’ reading comprehension and literary analysis skills.
Throughout a Blood on the River novel study, students can practice:
Making inferences
Finding text evidence
Summarizing
Making predictions
Identifying character traits
Analyzing character development
Identifying conflict
Determining theme
Understanding cause and effect
Comparing perspectives
Making connections
Determining meaning from context
Supporting written responses with evidence
The best comprehension questions encourage students to explain their thinking rather than simply recall what happened.
For example: How does Samuel’s perspective change as he experiences life in Jamestown?
Or: What evidence from the novel shows how difficult life was for the settlers?
Questions like these allow students to practice reading skills while staying connected to the historical content.
A Complete Blood on the River Novel Study
If you’re looking for a ready-to-use Blood on the River novel unit, I’ve created a comprehensive resource designed for approximately one month of instruction for Grades 4–6.
The complete unit combines reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, writing, critical thinking, assessments, historical activities, and digital resources.
It can be used for:
Whole-class instruction
Small-group reading
Literature circles
Independent reading
Homeschool
ELA
Social studies
Cross-curricular instruction
What’s Included?
The complete Blood on the River Novel Study includes 259 printable PDF pages plus Google Drive Slides and Forms.
Teacher Resources
You’ll receive:
Detailed daily lesson plans
Pacing and Standards Guide
Vocabulary Word Wall Cards
Answer keys
Parent letter
Printable and digital teacher resources
Student Resources
The unit includes:
Spelling list
Vocabulary and grammar activities for 81 words
Chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions
Short-answer questions
Critical-thinking activities
Writing activities
Story elements activities
End-of-book activities
Mapping activity following the colonists’ journey from England to the New World
The mapping activity is a particularly useful way to connect the novel to geography and the historical journey to Jamestown.
Assessments for Blood on the River
You don’t have to create your own assessments, either.
The complete novel study includes:
Assessment after Chapter 9
Assessment after Chapter 18
End-of-book assessment
Vocabulary questions
Reading comprehension questions
Critical-thinking writing questions
Multiple-choice assessments
Digital Google Forms assessments
This gives you multiple opportunities to check students’ understanding throughout the unit.
Connect ELA and Social Studies
This is where Blood on the River really shines.
Instead of teaching your reading and social studies lessons completely separately, you can use the novel as a bridge between the two subjects.
Before purchasing the complete unit, take a look at the FREE Blood on the River Novel Study sample.
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
Looking for More Jamestown Resources?
If you’re building a larger unit around early American history, explore the related Eastern Woodlands, Powhatan Empire, and Virginia Colonies/Jamestown resources from The Teaching Bank.
Pairing social studies lessons with historical fiction can give students multiple ways to understand the people, places, and events they’re studying—and make history much more memorable.
Blood on the River can be so much more than a novel students read for ELA.
It can become a bridge between literature, history, geography, culture, critical thinking, and empathy.
Let your students step into the world of Jamestown—and discover history through the power of a story.
💬 Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Blood on the River this school year? How do you celebrate kindness in your classroom?
Join our free community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with 3rd–8th grade teachers using novels in the classroom!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
“I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It’s not as easy as it looks.”
Few stories capture the hearts of upper elementary students quite like Katherine Applegate’s Newbery Medal-winning masterpiece, The One and Only Ivan.
Inspired by the true story of a real shopping mall gorilla named Ivan who spent 27 years in a glass enclosure, this powerful novel explores themes of friendship, empathy, animal welfare, and keeping promises. Written in accessible, poetic verse with short, fast-paced entries, it is one of the most effective ELA anchor texts for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade classrooms.
Whether you are hosting a whole-class read-aloud, running literature circles, or facilitating independent book clubs, here is how you can teach The One and Only Ivan with zero prep time while building critical ELA and cross-curricular reading skills!
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🌟 Why The One and Only Ivan Belongs in Your Reading Curriculum
1. Sparks High-Interest Nonfiction Connections
Unlike purely fictional stories, Ivan serves as a perfect launchpad for cross-curricular reading. Students naturally become curious about the real Ivan, gorilla and elephant behavior, and the moral debate surrounding animal captivity vs. wildlife sanctuaries.
2. Teaches Point of View & Literary Devices
Written from Ivan’s first-person perspective, the novel provides a masterclass in voice, sensory details, figurative language, and character development—making deep literary analysis approachable for reluctant readers.
3. Fosters Deep Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
As Ivan forms an unbreakable bond with Stella the elephant and Ruby the baby elephant, students reflect on empathy, compassion, standing up for others, and what it truly means to be a good friend.
I offer a novel study for The One and Only Ivan that not only incorporates comprehension and vocabulary activities, but also non-fiction aspects for students to learn about Silverback Gorillas, elephants, animals living in captivity vs. the wild, and, of course, the story of the real-life Ivan!
📦 What’s Included in the Complete Ivan Unit (Print + Google Apps™)
Creating chapter questions, vocabulary lists, and assessments for a 300+ page book can take dozens of hours. This all-in-one novel study unit delivers everything you need from start to finish—offered in both printable PDF and interactive Google Drive™ (Google Slides & self-grading Google Forms) formats.
👩🏫 1. Teacher Planning & Management Packet
Detailed Daily Lesson Plans & Pacing Guide: Step-by-step roadmap for your daily reading schedule.
Vocabulary Word Wall Cards: Printable cards and Google Slides to reinforce academic vocabulary.
Proactive Parent Letter: Pre-written communication explaining the themes of the book.
Complete Answer Keys: Hassle-free grading for every student task.
📝 2. Student Practice & Skill Workbooks
Vocabulary Context Practice: Targeted practice covering 59 essential vocabulary words across the book.
Section-by-Section Comprehension Questions: Short-answer questions designed to push students into deeper critical thinking and inferencing.
In-Depth Character Studies: Graphic organizers focusing on Ivan, Stella, Ruby, and Bob.
Book vs. Movie Comparison: Engaging analysis tools comparing the novel to the Disney film adaptation.
★ 4 Exclusive Post-Reading Analysis Tasks: Deep-dive extension projects available only in this complete unit bundle!
Please check out the completed The One and Only Ivan Novel Study that contains both a printable and Google Drive™ compatible format available in my store.
🎁 Download a FREE Sample & Start Teaching Today!
Want to test out the unit before committing? Download a Free Sample that includes all student activities and teacher plans for Chapter 1!
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
💬 Join the Conversation!
Have you taught The One and Only Ivan or its companions (The One and Only Bob and The One and Only Ruby) in your classroom?
Join our free teacher community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with upper elementary and middle school educators!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
Looking for an engaging novel study for middle school ELA that will get your students excited about reading? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix can provide a powerful opportunity to combine student engagement with meaningful instruction in reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, writing, literary analysis, and social-emotional learning.
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is much more than a story about magic. Beneath the spells, magical creatures, and adventures are important themes involving friendship, courage, authority, resilience, grief, prejudice, responsibility, and standing up for what you believe is right.
That makes this popular novel an excellent choice for a Harry Potter novel study in grades 5–8.
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Why Teach Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?
Getting students interested in a novel is sometimes half the battle.
Fortunately, many students already recognize Harry Potter and have some familiarity with the characters and wizarding world. That familiarity can provide an immediate hook for reluctant readers and create enthusiasm for classroom discussions.
But engagement alone isn’t enough. The best literature units use an engaging story to help students develop the skills they need as readers, writers, and thinkers.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix offers plenty of opportunities to do exactly that.
1. Build Reading Comprehension Skills
A lengthy novel can be challenging for students, particularly when there are dozens of characters, multiple storylines, and important details to remember.
A structured Harry Potter novel study can help students slow down and think carefully about what they are reading.
Chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions can encourage students to:
Recall important details
Identify key events
Make inferences
Determine cause and effect
Analyze character motivations
Make predictions
Support answers with evidence from the text
Connect events and themes throughout the novel
Instead of simply asking students, “What happened?”, meaningful comprehension questions encourage them to think about why events happened and what those events reveal about the characters and story.
2. Encourage Critical Thinking and Literary Analysis
One of the biggest advantages of using a complex novel in the classroom is the opportunity to move students beyond basic comprehension.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix contains numerous topics that lend themselves to critical thinking and literary analysis.
Students can examine questions such as:
How does Harry change throughout the novel?
How do Harry’s experiences influence his decisions?
How does authority affect the characters?
Why is friendship so important during difficult situations?
How do characters respond differently to fear?
What motivates characters to stand up for what they believe?
How do the novel’s conflicts develop its larger themes?
How does Rowling use symbolism and characterization to communicate ideas?
These kinds of questions encourage students to look beneath the surface of the story and develop stronger analytical reading skills.
3. Explore Important Themes Through Literature
Great literature gives students something to talk about—and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix provides plenty of opportunities for meaningful classroom discussion.
Some of the themes teachers can explore include:
Courage
Courage doesn’t always mean being fearless. Students can examine how characters make difficult choices even when they are afraid of the consequences.
Friendship
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and their friends demonstrate the importance of loyalty and support. Students can consider how relationships influence the characters’ decisions.
Resilience
The characters experience setbacks, disappointment, grief, fear, and conflict. These experiences provide opportunities to discuss perseverance and resilience.
Authority and Responsibility
The novel raises interesting questions about rules, authority, power, and when individuals should challenge decisions they believe are wrong.
Standing Up for What You Believe
Students can explore what it means to stand up for others and remain committed to their beliefs even when doing so is difficult.
These discussions can help students connect the events of the novel to situations and challenges they may encounter in their own lives.
4. Strengthen Vocabulary and Language Skills
A novel study shouldn’t be limited to reading comprehension.
Students can also use Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as a springboard for vocabulary development and language study.
The novel contains rich vocabulary that can help students:
Determine word meaning from context
Examine how word choice affects meaning
Expand their academic vocabulary
Practice using new words in context
Explore grammar and language skills
Teaching vocabulary in the context of a novel gives students a meaningful reason to learn and use new words rather than memorizing disconnected vocabulary lists.
5. Encourage Writing and Deeper Responses
Reading and writing naturally complement one another.
After reading a chapter or section of the novel, students can respond through short-answer questions, analytical writing, journal responses, essays, and creative activities.
Writing prompts can encourage students to explain their thinking, support ideas with evidence, analyze characters, and explore the novel’s themes.
This makes Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix an especially useful text for integrating reading and writing instruction into one cohesive unit.
6. Foster Creativity and Imagination
The magical world of Harry Potter provides endless opportunities for creative thinking.
Students can use the novel as inspiration for activities such as:
Designing their own magical creatures
Creating spells
Writing from a character’s perspective
Developing their own wizarding-world scenarios
Creating alternative endings
Designing visual representations of story elements
Comparing the magical world with their own world
Creative activities can give students another way to demonstrate their understanding of the novel while encouraging imagination and engagement.
7. Connect Literature to Social-Emotional Learning
Literature provides a natural way to discuss emotions and difficult experiences.
Throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, characters deal with anger, fear, grief, isolation, friendship, conflict, and uncertainty.
Teachers can use these situations to encourage students to think about:
How people respond to difficult emotions
The importance of supportive friendships
How people cope with adversity
Why empathy matters
How our choices affect other people
What it means to persevere when things become difficult
These conversations can make the novel feel more relevant while helping students develop empathy and self-awareness.
A Complete Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Novel Study
If you want to teach this novel without spending hours creating materials yourself, I’ve created a complete Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix novel study for grades 5–8.
This ready-to-use unit combines reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, critical thinking, writing, literary analysis, assessments, and extension activities into one comprehensive resource.
This Harry Potter novel study is designed for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students and can be adapted for a variety of classroom settings.
Use it for:
Whole-class novel instruction
Small-group reading
Literature circles
Independent reading
Homeschool instruction
Reading intervention
Middle school ELA
Upper elementary ELA
The combination of printable and digital materials also gives teachers flexibility when planning instruction for traditional, blended, or paperless classrooms.
Make Harry Potter Part of Your ELA Curriculum
If your students are already excited about Harry Potter, take advantage of that enthusiasm and turn it into meaningful learning.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix provides a rich literary experience that can help students develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, writing, analytical skills, and social-emotional awareness while exploring a story they are excited to read.
And because the novel is substantial, having a structured Harry Potter novel study can make it much easier to keep students focused and moving through the book.
Try a free sample of the novel study for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
🧙♀️ Ready to Start Your Harry Potter Novel Unit?
Make teaching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix easier with a complete, no-prep novel study designed for grades 5–8.
You’ll have the instructional materials you need to guide students through the novel while giving them meaningful opportunities to read, think, write, discuss, and analyze.
Are you teaching Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix this school year?
Join our free community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with 3rd–8th grade teachers using novels in the classroom!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
Would you like to engage in discussions and exchange ideas with fellow educators about incorporating children’s literature into your classroom? I’m assembling a community of teachers and homeschoolers who work with students in grades 3-8 and utilize novels in their teaching. I invite you to join us for an opportunity to learn, collaborate, and progress together!
Click hereor on the image below to become a part of my Facebook group, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank!
Therapy animals are increasingly recognized for their immense contribution to healing and learning across all age groups. Click here to explore recent news stories showcasing the remarkable impact these animals bring into our lives.
I adore animals and have had several pets over time. When my son turned three, we started worrying about his speech development. He wasn’t very vocal, but he had a knack for communicating his needs through other means. His non-verbal cues reminded me of the rabbit in the Frosty the Snowman special—he found different ways to express himself and didn’t feel the urge to speak. Around that period, we introduced a new golden retriever puppy named Katy. To Katy, Sam seemed like another playful puppy. As Katy grew, she could get a bit rowdy with Sam, occasionally causing him to tumble over.
Naturally, we dedicated time to training Katy, and she became a certified graduate of the Canine Good Citizenship program. However, a crucial aspect was teaching Sam to assertively use commands like sit, off, and down. Sam swiftly grasped that vocalizing served a significant purpose, and he began using his voice more frequently—not just with Katy but with everyone around. Many mornings, I’d wake up to find Sam beside Katy’s bed, engaged in animated conversations, sharing his adventures, hopes, and dreams. It was truly heartwarming to witness.
Katy was incredibly patient and adored everyone she met! We believed she had the perfect temperament to become a therapy dog, so we started training her with that goal in mind. Sadly, the program we were involved in discontinued their classes. Later on, Katy faced a series of knee surgeries to address joint problems in both legs and battled osteosarcoma, ultimately leading to the amputation of one of her front legs. As a result, her dream of becoming a therapy dog never came to fruition.
At home, Katy offered us endless unconditional love and her own form of “therapy.” One of her greatest joys was curling up with us and listening to stories! She patiently listened through the entire Harry Potter series not just once, but twice!
The impact of a pet’s love and care on the mental well-being of those around them is truly remarkable. They work wonders! I’m a strong advocate for expanding the presence of reading dogs in schools.
Within my Wonder Novel Study, I developed an informational reading activity centered around therapy dogs. I provide it as a free download in my store, separate from the novel study. It’s a fantastic resource to delve into the significance and advantages of therapy animals. This activity serves as a wonderful tribute to all the animal heroes in our lives, especially fitting for National Therapy Animal Day!
Sadly, Katy’s osteosarcoma resurfaced, spreading to her lungs and spine. Regrettably, we had to say goodbye to relieve her from pain. Katy held a special place in our family, becoming an integral part of my children’s childhood. Her absence leaves a profound void, and she will always be cherished and dearly missed.
Katy 1/24/08-2/5/19
In honor of Katy, and all the wonderful therapy animals out there, Happy National Therapy Animal Day!
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Naturally, we dedicated time to training Katy, and she became a certified graduate of the Canine Good Citizenship program. However, a crucial aspect was teaching Sam to assertively use commands like sit, off, and down. Sam swiftly grasped that vocalizing served a significant purpose, and he began using his voice more frequently—not just with Katy but with everyone around. Many mornings, I’d wake up to find Sam beside Katy’s bed, engaged in animated conversations, sharing his adventures, hopes, and dreams. It was truly heartwarming to witness.
At home, Katy offered us endless unconditional love and her own form of “therapy.” One of her greatest joys was curling up with us and listening to stories! She patiently listened through the entire Harry Potter series not just once, but twice!
