A Visit from the Vet

Tuesday we had some special visitors in class! Dr. Mahany and Michelle, along with a sweet dog named Lamont, came over from Islands Veterinary Clinic to show us how they give check ups to their pet patients. We also had a pet sitter, Sarah Taylor, bring her darling kitten Truman. All the students were ready to see how a vet helps our pets. Dr. Mahany explained that Lamont gets his check up from tip to tail. He showed us how he checks the nose, ears, eyes and teeth. Then he checks his belly and paws, and all the back to the tail. He used special tools to hear the heart, and look inside ears. Several students noticed that their people doctor uses the same kind of tools! Lamont got his shots in class today too. Everyone was amazed he stood still and didn't even cry a little bit when he got his shot. Brave dog! 

 

After Dr. Mahany and Michelle checked over Lamont, the students all got a chance to come up and listen to his heart beat, and give him a nice pat. 

 

After that, Michelle took Lamont over to the corner for some treats, and Ms. Sarah brought her kitten Truman over to see Dr. Mahany. Truman got his check up, and while very well behaved, was just a little more wiggly than Lamont. Dr. Mahany told us that is usually true for cats vs dogs. He asked us if we knew any other differences between cats and dogs, and we talked about size, noises they make, and what they do. For example, it was noted that dogs chase cats, and cats do not often chase dogs. Cats purr, and dogs bark. Cat tongues are usually rougher than dog tongues. 

 

We had a wonderful time with all our special guests, especially Lamont and Truman! Thank you so much to all of them for taking the time to come and see us, and teaching us how to take care of our animal friends.

Future Vets

Lots of fun was had in our cooperative learning center this week! We had a box of vet gear- stethoscopes, bandages, cotton balls, thermometers, shots (medicine syringes), X-rays (dog and cat skeletons printed on transparencies) and, of course, lots of stuffed animals needing care and medical treatment. It was definitely the favorite center of the week, so we had it open every day. Tuesday, Dr. Mahany is coming to show us how the real veterinarians take care of our pets!

blood pressure seems normal

checking the "x-rays" on the light table

Doctor, I need some help with this!

In other centers, we worked a bit in our practice workbooks on writing letters. We made a little book on  pet safety, which we read as a class. This was a good chance to talk about some book characteristics such as covers, page numbers, and left to right directionality for reading/ page turning. Clothespins were clipped on cards and wheels for counting practice. We practiced writing numbers and our new letter Dd in corn meal trays. We also had fun stamping with pet stamps, and even painting with dog bones!

Happy Clifford Day!

We've been talking a bit about pets this week, and Friday was dedicated to one of my favorites: Clifford the Big Red Dog!  First thing in the morning, we came in wearing red and sat down to make Clifford hats, and up to ending the day with a class photo with Clifford stuffed animals, we had a doggy good day!

We read several Clifford books, both at story time as a class and individual book time.

We made Clifford paper bag puppets:

 We counted out bowls of dog biscuits for Clifford's lunch:

We built Clifford some new doghouses:

We played "Clifford Says", where we all tried to do everything the Top Dog told us. No pictures of that, since everyone was too busy, sitting, shaking, rolling over, and playing dead! Then, it was time to recharge so we had our own dog biscuit cookie snack.

It was a BIG RED day!