Teaching Compassion for Animals Online

Bring The Animal Connection to Your Classroom!

Before COVID, The Animal Connection and The Animal Connection Jr. curricula were offered in person with teams of educators and registered therapy dogs in classrooms in six public school districts, juvenile detention and adult correctional facilities, and other community venues throughout central and northern New Mexico.

Now, teachers across the state will be able to utilize and present these lessons online. Here’s a brief look at our video lessons:

There are two age-appropriate lesson series, each teaching humane stewardship and compassion for both animals and people.

The Animal Connection, designed for grades 3 – 8 and adaptable for adults, consists of 10 lessons. Each lesson includes a video, a lesson plan, and a suggested activity. Several of the videos feature the humane educators and therapy dogs who brought the lessons to thousands of school children right in their own classrooms.

The lesson topics are:

1. Introduction to The Animal Connection
2. Care and Responsibility
3. Life and Death in the Shelter
4. The Need for Spaying and Neutering
5. The Consequences of Dog Chaining
6. Loose Dog and Bite Safety
7. Blood Sports
8. The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence
9. Careers in Animal Welfare
10. Sherpa’s Farm Sanctuary

The Animal Connection Jr., designed for grades pre-K – 2, also includes video lessons and supplemental teaching materials. The Reading to Dogs video features New Mexico 3^rd-grader Thad reading a storybook about a rescued greyhound, Pele’s Forever Home, to a group of Southwest Canine Corps of Volunteers therapy dogs. The three lesson topics are:

1. Care and Responsibility
2. Animal Safety
3. Reading to Dogs