HorseTales literacy day inspires first-graders
Apr. 28—Excited for her school's field trip to Turning Point Therapeutic Ranch, Mackenzie Orr asked her teacher if she needed to bring her copy of "Hay You Guys!: My Life in Words and Pictures" with her.
Orr, 7, was preparing for Will Rogers Elementary School's Literacy Day, an annual event that pairs reading with learning about horses. Highland Park Elementary visited last Friday, and this week it was Orr's turn to visit the ranch.
She usually reads at least 20 books a month. Her favorite titles include any of the books in the series "Elephant and Piggie" by Mo Willems, but she's also a fan of two mini horses — Baxter and Sparky — who live at Turning Point.
First graders received their own copies of Baxter's book in March, and today was a hands-on adventure to complete their reading experience. "Hay You Guys!: My Life in Words and Pictures," is about Baxter's adventures and was written for the HorseTales Literacy Program — a national program focused on helping first-graders develop a love for reading.
Highland Park and Will Rogers schools are both Title I schools, which means they receive federal grants to help kids reach the state's academic standards.
Natalea Watkins, an instructor and mentor at the ranch, started the program.
Its success was evident as crowds of students and parents enjoyed a variety of horse-related activities such as learning to rope a pretend horse, color pictures, read a story to a horse and learn what horses eat.
Emily Berry joined her daughter Avalon for the day.
"If she could live with horses, she probably would if I let her," Berry said. "Anything that's real animals, real things and facts — that is all up her alley."
Berry said her daughter isn't necessarily a big reader, but finding something that interests her has made the difference. Berry grew up on a cattle ranch, and she and her daughter have been around horses.
"She's been around horses, she's taken care of horses," Berry said. "So I think that that was really cool for her to read something (like that)."
Berry studied Elementary Education at Oklahoma State University, and she's aware of how important it is for parents to read to their children at home. As a child, she said her parents also read to her.
"I think reading at home is one of the most important things as a parent that you can do," Berry said. "The more reading you do at home, (it) leads to better prospects in life to come. I feel like I had a very successful career, and I want to provide that same opportunity for my kids."
Berry said she's seen other situations where children have not been read to and have had struggles with learning. The HorseTales Literacy program is a step to helping those families.
Will Rogers Elementary Educator Macy Carr said seeing her students and their parents doing activities together was her favorite part of the day.
"(During COVID-19), we couldn't get out to enjoy anything," Carr said. "It makes me really happy to see the kids doing something besides the classic 'pen-and-paper' kind of work."
Some of her students have struggled learning to read, whether it was socio-emotional development due to losses in their families or other factors.
"Being able to come here, see the animals and pet the horses is really soothing and that helps them a lot," Carr said.
SPS Remedial Specialist Karyn Spencer works with first graders at Will Rogers.
"Some of the things we're seeing still is from COVID-19 and the lack of instruction there," Spencer said. "It's very hard to teach younger kids online and that's what we had to do. We did the best we could."
A lot of parents were busy working so the support that students needed may not have been there, Spencer said.
"That's no one's fault," she said. "It's just because of COVID-19 and having to stay home. We're still catching up on some of that with this group, but we're seeing great improvements."
