{"id":28235,"date":"2019-08-03T17:11:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T23:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=369476"},"modified":"2019-08-03T17:11:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T23:11:16","slug":"read-with-a-donkey-program-encourages-kids-to-read-with-a-nonjudgemental-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/read-with-a-donkey-program-encourages-kids-to-read-with-a-nonjudgemental-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Read With a Donkey program encourages kids to read with a nonjudgemental friend"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Upper Blue Elementary students Jaylin Ortiz, left, and Connor Nolt read to a miniature pony named X-aria at the Far View Horse Rescue in Fairplay in July.<\/strong>
Courtesy Lisa Ferguson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 It takes a lot to get kids to enjoy reading these days. During the summer, it\u2019s even more difficult. Too much to do, no time to sit and read \u2014 especially if nobody\u2019s forcing you.<\/p>\n

The reading void during summer concerns educators, as it creates what they call the dreaded \u201csummer slump,\u201d when reading skills get rusty. That can lead to students slipping an entire grade level in reading when school starts again in the fall.<\/p>\n

A local teacher has taken an unusual, yet promising, approach to combat the summer slump by connecting her students\u2019 love of animals with the love of reading. It\u2019s called the Read With a Donkey program.<\/p>\n

The idea was sparked when Upper Blue Elementary media teacher Lisa Ferguson read a book to her third- and fourth-grade students. The book, \u201cSaving Winslow\u201d by Sharon Creech, tells the touching story of a young boy and his friendship with a sick newborn donkey as he nurses it back to health.<\/p>\n

Ferguson connected the donkey in the story to a real-life sick donkey named Molly, who was being cared for at Far View Horse Rescue, an equestrian rescue and rehabilitation nonprofit in Fairplay for which Ferguson serves on the board of directors. The 40-acre ranch helps injured, sick and abandoned horses and donkeys.<\/p>\n

Ferguson said her students were deeply touched by the story in the book, and she was \u201coverwhelmed\u201d with requests to go meet Molly in person, which they eventually did. Ferguson thought they could do better than just meet a donkey. Why not get them to read to one?<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Upper Blue Elementary student Jaylin Ortiz reads to Taquita, a donkey being cared for at the Far View Horse Rescue in Fairplay in July.<\/strong>
Courtesy of Lisa Ferguson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Shelters and rescues nationwide have been adopting these \u201cread to animal\u201d programs. The animals, locked up alone and without any human interaction most of the day, get to spend time with kids and improve their socializing skills with humans, making them more likely candidates for adoption.<\/p>\n

For the kids, educators have seen improvement in reading confidence as they read aloud to an audience of one, an audience that won\u2019t criticize or make fun of them for making mistakes.<\/p>\n

A research study published in the Early Childhood Education Journal, titled \u201cEffects of an Animal-Assisted Intervention on Reading Skills and Attitudes in Second Grade Students,\u201d found that second-graders who read to animals had significantly improved academic attitudes toward reading compared with a control group.<\/p>\n

Ferguson applied for a grant from Breckenridge Grand Vacations to support a new program at the Breckenridge Equestrian Center that would have kids read to animals.<\/p>\n

Breckenridge Grand Vacations approved the grant and now pays the boarding fee to keep a donkey housed at the equestrian center. Molly, the donkey from Far View, is no longer sick but is still too weak to make the ride up to Breckenridge for kids to read to her.<\/p>\n

Instead, the equestrian center has its new mini-burro, Taquita, taking Molly\u2019s place as the quiet listener. Since the program was established, Ferguson has been taking four to five Upper Blue students to the equestrian center every Monday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The students have also been taking the burro for walks and grooming her. In addition to sharpening their reading skills, interacting with the animal is teaching the kids about how to be responsible, be empathetic and to have a greater appreciation of animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cBonding with an equine does so much good for both people and horses,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upper Blue Elementary students Jaylin Ortiz, left, and Connor Nolt read to a miniature pony named X-aria at the Far View Horse Rescue in Fairplay in July.Courtesy Lisa Ferguson FRISCO \u2014 It takes a lot to get kids to enjoy reading these days. During the summer, it\u2019s even more difficult. Too much to do, no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 21:23:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}