Whitney got a lotta love from the Goudy kids yesterday.
My Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I spent yesterday afternoon answering questions from third-graders who attend Goudy Elementary, a Public school in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The third graders are part of a Friday “reading buddies” program at Admiral At the Lake, a retirement community where I lead weekly memoir-writing classes.
Goudy is so close to The Admiral that the third grade teacher and her students can walk there. On most Fridays each third-grader brings a favorite book to read out loud to an assigned Admiral resident (their “reading buddy”). Yesterday was different, though. The third-graders had all read my children’s book Safe & Sound before they’d arrived, so rather than reading a book to their buddies, the third-graders gathered around in a circle with a children’s book author (that was me!) so each of them could ask a question.
Every single child told me their name before asking their question, and since their older reading buddies were seated way in the back of the room, I made a point to repeat each question the kids asked. That way their buddies could hear the question, too. Some examples:
- If you’re blind, you touch things, so can you always feel what your dog is doing?
- Does your dog ever get distracted by squirrels?
- When a Seeing Eye dog has a birthday, do they get the day off so they can just play that day?
- Does your dog ever get distracted and get you into trouble?
- Does your dog ever play with something that doesn’t belong to him?
- How many miles can your dog be away and still hear you?
- If a mom was blind, and her little girl was blind, too, could they have two Seeing Eye dogs?
- Does a Seeing Eye dog ever get to play all day?
- Do other animals help blind people, too, or just dogs?
- How come seeing Eye Dogs are so important for blind people?
Three of the older reading buddies there yesterday also take my memoir-writing class that’s sponsored by The Admiral — those writers were my “in” to yesterday’s presentation, they invited Whitney and me to join in on the fun. Those “reading buddies” tell me spending Fridays with third-grade kids who are full of life and vitality keeps them more active. It gives them something to look forward to every week. And the third graders? They get to leave school Friday afternoons to go outside! Their walk to The Admiral is invigorating, especially in the freezing temperatures we’ve been experiencing in Chicago lately. Once they arrive? The kids get to read to — and learn from — people with loads of life experience, people who are delighted to spend one-on-one time with them.
This is such a cool thing, I wonder why similar programs aren’t going on in other retirement communities. Sure glad it happens here, though — means Whitney and I got to come!
I could tell these questions were from older kids, tho they are just as funny as the kindergartners and first-graders. I’m so happy those Admiral writers honor you in this way. The Clare drives volunteers for WITS (Working In The Schools) to the schools to read with kids.
Cool about The Claire, and glad you fell right into my trap: I wrote this hoping people would comment with other examples, I really do think it’s a fantastic idea and it makes me feel good to learn similar programs are going on all over the place.
I laughed loudly at the question about how many miles away can your guide dog hear you!
The funny thing was that the child asked so quietly that, you guessed it: I couldn’t hear his question at first. Turned out to be a good question, though, as gave me an opportunity to talk about the senses, that dogs do have a good sense of hearing but have an especially good sense of smell.
What a wonderful day!! Such a great program. Definitely a win-win for the Reading Buddies. Loved the question “How many miles can your dog be away and still hear you?” This works well because the 3rd graders can walk to the Admiral.
Yes, and I think I heard somewhere or another about an effort new build new retirement communities with space for day care or preschools on the first floor. Would accommodate workers at the retirement community who have young children, plus parents in the community who like the idea of combining young ones with grandma and grandpa types who’d read and play with them from time to time might especially like their kids going there for day care.
Loved those questions, a combination of innocent/cute little-kid questions and what I’d call adult-type questions. Such as: Is there any
other animal that can serve as a guide animal for blind people? Funny ones too: Does the dog get distracted? Does it have day off
on its birthday.
Pardon my quoting Art Linkletter: But kids DO say the darndest things!
They sure do.
Oh boy, I always love when your blog includes the questions from kids. Like others, I broke out laughing at, “How many miles can your dog…still hear you?” Reminds me of the guy who said, “Illinois is so flat, you can sit on your porch and watch your dog run away for three days.”
Ha! Have never heard that one before…but I like it!
I found the mom/daughter dual Seeing Eye dog question very sweet and sort of a heartbreaker!
I agree, Nancy. A very empathetic question. It provided me the opportunity to bring out the Braille version of Safe & Sound to show them how each Braille word in it has the printed equivalent underneath. “Sometimes a mom and a daughter can both be blind, but sometimes the mom can see and the little girl can’t, and sometimes the mom is blind and the daughter can see.” I explained that having Braiile and print in one book like that, they could read together. “And if you had a blind friend, you culd still read books together. They could read the Braille out loud to you, or you could read the print out loud to them.
A complicated notion, but the girl who asked that question seemed to understand. Many children in that class are second generation immigrants, their parents came to America from other countries. They were wise beyond their years.
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