Recently, Lowell Elementary first-graders completed The Animal Connection Jr. curriculum and decided to go one step further. Students received a photograph of an Albuquerque Animal Welfare shelter dog from their teacher and were asked to make colorful chew toys made from braided strips of fleece. APNM’s Senior Humane Educator, Sherry Mangold, returned these braided toys to the animal shelter. Pictures of the dogs receiving their toys were taken by shelter staffer Tara Mansker and were mounted on poster boards to display in the first-grade classrooms. APNM and the Albuquerque Animal Shelter arranged for each shelter dog to thank students by creating a gift card with the shelter dog’s photo and pawprints. The cards were a surprise gift to students from the shelter dogs and were presented at an event at the school attended by both the APNM’s Education and Outreach staff and the animal shelter staff and covered by KOB-TV. APNM is proud of the empathy and compassion displayed by Lowell Elementary students and looks forward to working with them in 2024.
To learn more about The Animal Connection program, visit the website: https://theanimalconnection.learnworlds.com/
To see the news segment, visit: https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/first-grade-students-gift-handmade-toys-to-local-shelter-pups/
