Fourth-graders go 'dog wild' in Toledo

WALBRIDGE, Ohio (Catholic Chronicle) - Teacher Brenda Pahl has found a unique way to foster a love for reading in her fourth-grade students at Walbridge St. Jerome School.

Last year during Right-to-Read Week she discovered her dog "Miss Maizie" likes listening to stories nearly as much as children enjoy reading them to her. The mop-haired white dog, a cross between a beagle and a petit basset griffon vendéen, is also just the right size to curl up in a chair beside a student for a good book.

Ms. Pahl decided to make Miss Maizie a regular guest, and the dog now spends three days a week with the fourth grade.
Every week a different child is designated as the "top dog" and gets to settle into a chair with Miss Maizie to read a favorite book aloud to the class.

"When we're reading with her, it makes us feel comfortable, not shy," says student Monica Martin.

Perks of being 'top dog'

The top dog student is celebrated with other canine-themed activities throughout the week: "Bark 'n brag" gives children a chance to show and tell some of their favorite things, and parents write a "pick of the litter" letter to tell the class about their child. The student can also invite a parent or relative to be their "chow hound" buddy at lunch for a day. At the end of the week, classmates write compliments on a friendship poster for the top dog student.

The theme is a hit with the students, most of whom have pet dogs at home.

Ms. Pahl also incorporates Maizie into math story problems and writing lessons by telling narratives from her perspective.

Students care for Miss Maizie at school, taking her for walks, giving her water, teaching her tricks and even dressing her in stylish clothes like the pink hooded sweatshirt she recently sported. Maizie spends her downtime underneath two desks on a bed the children made for her.

She escorts the students to gym class and plays with them at recess too, even coasting down the slides on the playground.

"She was pretty much raised here around kids at school," says Ms. Pahl, who adopted the dog from a school family and used to bring her to school as a puppy. "She loves every one of these kids."

She admits bringing a pet dog into school is unorthodox, but says parents were willing to give their permission.
"We're such a family," says Ms. Pahl, who has been at St. Jerome for 23 years. "They're supportive of almost anything you do."

To be safe, her students spent time learning about dog behavior, and Carol Humberger from A Promised Friend Dog Training visited the class to teach them how to be good guardians.

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Animals are nothing unusual at St. Jerome, where other classrooms are homes to tarantulas, birds, newts, fish, frogs, hamsters and other creatures. Principal Ann Sciarini says they keep "the spirit of St. Francis alive and well" in the school, which was founded by Franciscan sisters.

She says she was never nervous about having Maizie at school, as long as the parents gave permission and the dog was housebroken.

"It's just another way to get kids excited about reading," explains Ms. Sciarini.

'School is more fun'

Ms. Pahl has kept a menagerie of rats, bunnies and mice in her classroom over the years, and now has a leopard gecko and two cockatiels along with Miss Maizie. On days when her dog stays home, she says she frees the birds from their cages to walk around on the desks.

Taking care of the animals teaches the students responsibility, and Ms. Pahl adds the hands-on pets help her students feel more of a "connection to God's creatures."

Students like Meghan Rumpf also say Maizie simply "makes school more fun."

"School is more fun," agrees Ms. Pahl. "We're the only class I know of that has a dog."

The teacher expects Miss Maizie to remain a part of her fourth-grade class next year, and she laughs that the third-graders are already "chomping at the bit to have Maizie."

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of the Catholic Chronicle(www.catholicchronicle.org), official newspaper of the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio.