Coco the Therapy Dog

This week, we had Coco (a therapy dog) come into our classroom.  Coco is a Bernese Mountain Dog....and she is BIG.  I have several students who are very scared of dogs, so I was very interested to see their reactions.  I had two students stand on top of chairs the entire time she was there, however, they remained very interested in watching her and never got upset....they just preferred to watch from a distance.  

We did a little preparation before she came in, but not a ton.  We read a book, talked about how to greet a dog, thought of some questions to ask (i.e. how old is Coco?  Is Coco a boy or girl?), and wrote a basic journal about her.  I will be excited to see what the kids write tomorrow in their journals after actually meeting her!

While Coco was in the classroom, my kids took her on a tour of the classroom, helped brush her,  pet her, and had her practice sitting and laying down.  My kids absolutely adored her!  When she came in the room, one of my kids said, "That is one big mama."  haha.  We can't wait for her to come back again!