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Humane Education Currently we are involved in two major educational programs. If you have ideas or want to get your classroom involved, contact Gina Anton at ganton@pethelpers.org.
Partnership with Charleston County School District
On April 5th, two fourth grade classes at Mt. Zion Elementary had a fun and interactive change in their normal science curriculum. Their teachers demonstrated the lesson “Talk to Me Rover” with the classroom. The lesson was structured to explain how animals use their senses to react to their environment and how that influences their behavior. The children were also taught to recognize certain behavior in animals so that they were able to tell whether it is safe or not to approach an animal. This lesson directly falls under the state’s standards for fourth grade life sciences curriculum. Nancy McGinley, chief academic officer for the Charleston County School District was on hand, along with Suzanne Carr, Executive Director of Pet Helpers Animal Rescue Shelter to announce a joint initiative between the district and the non-profit organization. School leaders are working with Pet Helpers’ staff to create two science lessons for each grade in kindergarten through fifth grade. The lessons will be implemented starting next school year to offer humane education curriculum to elementary students. McGinley said she is a big advocate for the humane treatment of animals and has been looking for ways to form a partnership with Pet Helpers. McGinley felt the science scores on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) were disappointing and the district was hoping to improve these scores. She is optimistic the lessons that Pet Helpers could provide just might be the thing that perks students’ interest, which could result in higher scores on the test. Tammy Kirshtein, coordinator of the district’s science curriculum, said when kids make an emotional connection to the material, they are much more likely to remember the material. She felt that designing this curriculum with Pet Helpers will help make that happen. “This is going to enhance and embellish the curriculum,” said Kirshtein. Pet Helpers Executive Director Suzanne Carr is very thrilled about the partnership. “It was wonderful to see that the Charleston school leaders were just as excited about joining forces as I was,” said Carr. She was hopeful that the students learn enough from these lessons to always care for animals and treat them with respect. Pet Helpers will take responsibility for assembling the materials for each grade’s lessons along with paying for them. Carr said that this was all part of the organization’s mission of community education. See the photos!
KIND NewsKIND News (Kids In Nature’s Defense) is a classroom newspaper for children in grades K-6 that features articles, puzzles and celebrity interviews. Each teacher in the program receives monthly newspapers for the students, as well as reproducible worksheets, a classroom poster, a calendar and ID cards. The cost per classroom is 25$. The purpose of this program is to teach children the value of showing kindness and respect to animals, the environment and each other. The program encourages good character in children because of its emphasis on humane values such as compassion, fairness, and responsibility. The effectiveness of the program can be evaluated at the end of the school year using free materials provided by the National Association of Humane and Environmental Education (NAHEE). These materials include attitude scales, situational tests of humane response, and attitude transfer scales. Attitude scales measure children’s attitude toward animals. Situational tests of humane response measure children’s intended behavior toward animals. Attitude transfer scales measure child-to-child kindness and compassion. In a study by NAHEE, 82% of teachers surveyed said that exposure to KIND News had improved their students’ treatment of one another. |
Pet Helpers hopes that by teaching children respect for nature, proper pet care and kindness towards all living things, we can instill good character in the next generation of citizens. Our educational efforts also extend to adults in the community. Many people don't know how important it is to spay and neuter their pets.