Grade 6 - The Human-Animal Bond

Resource For Teachers

Assistance/Service Animals—Access and Education

The activities outlined below are designed to reinforce concepts that students have learned regarding animals that help people. In addition to the brief information on these animals in this lesson, you may find a guest speaker, books, videotapes or written material from training agencies to be useful sources of information.

“Assistance Animals/Service Animals Welcome Here”—Students may write and illustrate posters for display in local businesses or on community bulletin boards stating access to these places. Alternatively, students may choose to make a business card for the handler to carry that explains the work of his or her animal, public access and the rights of these animals.
Students may create a collage of photographs or drawings showing these animals at work.
Students may write letters to the editors of local newspapers, or produce radio or television public service announcements to educate people about the rights of access for these animals and the work they do.
Students may develop and videotape a documentary or a news story by interviewing an individual with a disability who has an assistance animal/service animal. If there is a training centre in your area, students may wish to do a story about that facility.
In teams of two, students may take turns role-playing a person who is blind, deaf or has some other physical disability and that person’s “assistance animal/service animal.” This experience allows children to explore what it would be like to have a disability, and fosters understanding of how the person and their animal work as a team. For example, the person who is deaf cannot respond to their name being called, bells for class or recess, telephones, fire alarms, etc. until they have been alerted by their hearing dog. The person must also use an interpreter for the telephone and television, and cannot listen to the radio. Ear plugs may be worn for the duration of the exercise to make the experience more realistic. A student role-playing a person who is blind can wear a blindfold so they must depend on their “guide dog” to take them places. If a student wishes to simulate a physical disability, they may use a wheelchair if one is available. Their “service dog” must help them move themselves into and out of the chair, turn lights on and off, open doors, carry items, pick up dropped objects, etc. In all cases, students must find someone to help them with any tasks they cannot complete alone or with the help of their “assistance animal/service animal.”

Human-Animal Bond Culture Study

This activity is designed to encourage students to explore the importance of animals in other cultures. Students may select to study a particular cultural group or geographic region, or they might choose to focus on a certain kind of animal and research how people from different cultures relate to that animal. They may present their report in written form, as a poster or collage, or orally to the class. Listed below are suggested questions or areas to explore:

In this culture, which animals are kept as livestock or farm animals? What are they used for (meat, milk, eggs, wool, leather, etc.)?
Which animals perform such tasks as hauling loads, riding, driving, herding livestock or guarding property? For how long have animals in this culture been performing these jobs?
Where do these animals live? Who cares for them?
Do people in this culture hunt wild animals for food or fur?
How are animals or animal images used in religion, ceremony or folklore?
What effect has modern technology had on the relationship between these people and their animals?
What is the economic value of animals in this culture? (In some cultures, for example, a family’s wealth is determined by the number of cattle they own.)
What role does the environment play in the way the people interact with animals? (Some cultures that herd goats or sheep must move their homes and families to follow seasonal rains so their animals have sufficient food to eat.)

Human-Animal Bond Culture Study

This project can be used as an exercise in social studies, history, science and art.

Using long sheets of paper, students may create a time-line to reflect the development of the human-animal bond from prehistoric times to the present day. One student or a group of students may choose to focus on one species of animal, or on one period of time. Major events on the time-line will likely include the appearance of prehistoric humans and animals, the hunting of animals in prehistoric times, domestication of livestock and dogs and cats, the breeding and use of animals for work, the keeping of pets, animals in sports and the current use of assistance animals/service animals and animal-assisted therapy. Time-lines could also devote areas to the Earth’s environment, growth in the human population, pet population or endangerment/extinction of various animal species. Students may also choose to have the time-line accurately reflect periods of time by length (e.g. 10 centimetres = 100 years)

Animals Helping People

This handout explains how animals help people by performing special tasks.

Careers with Animals

This exercise acquaints students with the many career opportunities available to people who would like to work with animals. The project may be completed by individual students, or done as a group. The project may culminate with a field trip to a veterinary clinic, zoo, animal shelter, wildlife rehabilitation centre, stable, kennel or any other relevant business or event. Students may also wish to interview people who are practicing in their profession of interest, or spend a portion of their workday with them. Posters, tools of the trade, videotapes or other materials may be used in a “Careers With Animals” day for students in other grades.

Follow Up Activities

Writing
Journal entries, stories, reports, persuasive articles, letters to the editor and letters seeking information all make valuable contributions to children’s writing development, especially as a personally significant context is provided.

Art
Students might enjoy exploring the issues of this lesson through posters, mobiles, collages and dioramas.

Drama
Drama is an excellent outlet for expressing ideas and feelings. Some children may want to write and perform their own plays, while others may want to videotape performances.

Reading
Books about wildlife build children’s awareness of the human animal bond.

Math/Science/Social Studies
The interconnectedness of all living things is a concept rich in nuances and complex in its integration of philosophy, religion, ethics and natural sciences. What does it mean for human beings to live in a symbiotic relationship with nature? What information can be found in social studies texts that humans must live in harmony with nature if we are to survive at all? Is there evidence that we are flirting with disaster if we disregard that interdependence?

Field Trips
Students may accompany Humane Society or other officials on a pet visitation to a nursing home or a visit to an institution with a resident animal.

One approach is to examine in detail the concept of animals being selected and trained for a specific task, such as guide dogs for people who are blind. Individuals or small groups of students may want to extend what they have learned by doing research and sharing their findings with the class. The volunteer instructor will probably have presented some information in this area. Questions to investigate are: How are guide dogs chosen? Is any well-trained dog acceptable for any individual who is blind? The same issues could be explored with such other working animals as hearing dogs, horses for equine therapy, and companion animals for the elderly. Students may choose one or more ways of reporting their findings to the class. Possibilities include written reports, collages, charts, graphs and oral presentations.