Celebrating Our Love of Animals

Fifth graders have big hearts. When I told them today about my friend Margie losing her beloved dog, Xena, they immediately connected. Fifth graders also love to tell stories. We talked in each class about the pets they've had, the books they've connected to with amazing animals in them (Hachiko Waits was a favorite), and the way that pets can make you feel. After the first class wanted to continue to talk more than we had time to share, I created a Padlet for them. Below you can see what my sweet students had to say about the animals that have been part of their lives - through pets or through books. 

Created with Padlet

Xena was a huge part of Margie's life for fifteen years.  To honor her beautiful dog, Margie is celebrating fifteen newly released dog books in the next fifteen posts on her blog and hosting giveaways. Here is a link to the first post in the series, which also includes a beautiful Animoto video in tribute to Xena. (Margie's Blog)

To celebrate Margie and Xena's amazing relationship, I'm going to give away a copy of the picture book Homer. Margie was the one to introduce this to me when my own dog, Bally, was in her later year. This book truly celebrates the older dogs in our lives. Enter below.