MANCHESTER – It is all fur one as students team up with an animal rescue organization for learning – and to help animals find homes.
Manchester Middle School teacher Kristine LaPorte proposed the project whereby the school district has formed a partnership with All Fur One Pet Rescue (AFO) in Toms River as a method to engage students while meeting curriculum standards.
LaPorte is happy to see it come to fruition and noted that AFO is a local non-profit organization whose mission is “to create a community of like-minded individuals with a passion for animals that strive to reduce the homeless pet population through rescue, safe harbor, proper care and camaraderie.”
She said, “their facility is designed to “promote mental wellness for rescued pets, focusing on de-traumatization and transitioning from ‘shelter animal’ to ‘loving, family pet.’”
The AOF facility consists of two large, free roaming cat rooms as well as a playroom for the socialization of the dogs when they are removed from their private spaces.
“A steady stream of volunteers attends to the animals throughout the day, providing outside walks, leash training, and socialization and play for the animals. These volunteers also tend to the animals’ basic nutritional and medical needs,” the teacher added in her proposal.
Along with the facility, All Fur One has a group of volunteers who foster puppies, kittens, and adult dogs and cats in their homes. The goal is to provide the quickest transition from their rescue into an adopter’s home.
LaPorte proposed the collaboration knowing it would create exposure and increase adoptions and volunteers for the animal rescue. Additionally, it would provide an engaging learning experience for students from elementary to high school.
“For many young people, their first experience with philanthropy comes out of their love of animals. By collaborating with All Fur One Rescue, we can move forward with creating long-lasting, increased engagement with students who have become isolated and distanced due to recent societal events. It is a way of reengaging students into a community of like-minded people in an environment that fosters compassion and encourages exploration of thought and emotions,” she added.
“It will empower students to do good and create awareness. It is a way for teachers to connect with their students and foster social emotional learning and healing. Students may become more thoughtful, empathetic, and civic minded citizens,” the teacher added.
Among the sample programs on the elementary school level are students gaining literacy skills to write descriptions of the available animals to be used for marketing through AFO. Students can use pictures and videos of the available animals to write short stories or use a picture prompt for a writing assignment.
LaPorte said, “students can use mathematical skills to graph various data taken from the AFO website. For example, they can graph the number of males vs. female kittens or sort each kitten based on color and create a bar graph to display the data.”
Students are also able to graph the growth of the kittens in the “Meowturnity Ward” that are too small to be adopted yet by collaborating with one of the fosters. A classroom could Zoom with one of the fosters to “meet” the kittens or puppies and learn about pet care and animal welfare.
A classroom could also be involved in naming some of the new arrivals at AFO and learning how to take a poll or organize a vote.
Students are also keeping track of how many animals get adopted over a time period and use it to write mathematical equations. Another activity for students includes reading to the animals virtually.
On the intermediate level students will use the data provided on the AFO website to calculate percentages of animals adopted and animals available for adoption. They will calculate the percent chance of a particular animal to be adopted as well as graphing data.
The Impact Club will use AFO as a community outreach project while a class with special needs could use the AFO website or a Zoom session with a foster to learn about animal and pet care.
Manchester High School students who are members of the Photography Club will be able to help take pictures of the animals to be used for AFO’s website and increase adoptions while the Finance classes can use AFO as a model of a non-profit organization as well as budgeting.
Students can volunteer at AFO to gain volunteer hours for their college applications and technology classes can work on developing applications that would increase adoptions and volunteers.
Science classes will be able to learn about the medical aspects of caring for rescue animals such as parasitism and biological systems and processes.
LaPorte said, 7th grade science classes have already used the adoptable cat information to reinforce graphing and data gathering skills.
Further information about All Fur One can be found on their website allfurone.org.
