This is open to the public!
Stories at the Stables is a program for all readers, where participants read to the animals, or can sit and read to themselves as animals may come by to "just be". Readers provide soothing company to horses, goats, and chickens as they go about their day. As a bonus, new readers gain confidence and improve their reading skills.
Session details:
📚 What to Expect:
• Practice reading aloud to one of our sweet horses, goats, chickens, or 🐈⬛!
• Engage in interactive story discussions to boost comprehension.
• Learn basic horse care and safety while connecting with these amazing animals.
“Stories at the Stables” is perfect for kids looking to strengthen their reading skills in a magical, stress-free setting.
Space is limited, so reserve a class spot today! Can be set up for homeschooling or school classes!
📍 Location: Blazing Star Stables, Monmouth, Maine.
Cost: Donations suggested $5/reader (Young readers would benefit from a parent to be with them and to monitor that the goat doesn't eat the book.)
The Benefits of Reading to Pets
Children who are learning to read are often hesitant about their reading abilities. Many kids feel more at ease reading to pets, who are simply there to listen — not to judge how well they are reading. Even when it’s not feasible to read to pets in a structured program, it’s still worthwhile to provide opportunities for young readers to read with an animal.
Research shows that there are numerous benefits to reading to an animal:
In a 2013 study that looked at the impact of therapy animals on youth literacy rates, students who worked with the dogs demonstrated levels of improvements with net gains of more than a year’s growth in reading rate, accuracy, fluency and comprehension (Treat, 2013).
When looking at the impact of reading to an animal in a population of homeschooled students, it was found that reading to a dog significantly impacted student reading rates (Smith, 2010).
Kindergarten children who were a part of a dog reading group achieved higher end-of-year reading scores as compared to a control group that did not include a therapy dog (Kirnan, Siminerio, & Wong, 2016).
A pilot study found that children were better able to stay on-task in their reading program when a therapy dog was involved (Bassette & Taber-Doughty, 2013).
A literature review found that reading to a dog may positively impact children’s behavior, thus contributing to the creation of a learning environment that fosters enhanced reading performance (Hall, Gee, & Mills, 2016).
Reading aloud to a therapy dog team tended to increase children’s scores on a test of oral reading fluency much more than reading aloud to peers (Levinson et al., 2017).
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