(05/13/10) Lowell Elementary School (Duluth, MN)

5/13/10 Outreach Visit to Lowell Elementary in Duluth, MN by Paula Moore, Outreach/Education Coordinator & board member

It was raining hard and our own excitement was growing as Gramma Carole , Trish, and myself were waiting to see if Magic had her new very, very, very bright neon pink rain coat on. She did!!!!!!! She is soooooooooooooooooo cute in it. It is an awesome coat. The butt flap is soooooooooooo cute with her name embroidered on it. (Polly picked it out and being on sale made it twice as sweet. Great thinkers think alike….at the same time on her own Trish came up with the same idea. Trish did her research, made a copy of the coat page and emailed it to Kathi…..the same exact raincoat Polly had picked out…so another was bought for Jazz (our mini in training) (and on sale for double savings)…and embroidered with Jazz’s name on the butt flap. Anticipation is flying high to see Magic and Jazz, side by side in their new designer raincoats.

What a great day for an outreach despite the heavy rain and all the worms lying on the sidewalk of the school. I got a good laugh at some of the boys who were picking up worms and putting them in their pockets. I wonder who they were going to scare with them and what the moms will think when they empty out the pockets for the wash.

It was a long walk down to the very last room, B 11, carrying all our equipment. However half the work had been done by the students who moved desks off to the side and left a big gaping hole in the middle of the classroom. As I set up, the kids asked TONS of questions. Thank goodness Gramma Carole and Trish were there to help set up. I had all the fun of talking to the kids, learning their names, mispronouncing their names, and learning a little about them. Name tags only help so much. There are so many spellings and kids are quick to tell you how wrong your pronunciation is, but helpful and patient at getting you to say it right.

I commented on the creative drawings on their horse head nametags. One I will always remember is the horse with fangs (no blood) coming out of its mouth. This picture hit me as so cool because earlier in the month, Kathi had given Gramma Carole and I, a hands on demonstration on the mare May, who had 2 teeth that were hooked. Kathi could tell that May needed dental work done by just watching the way May chewed hay. Her jaws were not moving in a side to side motion. (We got to look at all the horses’ teeth as Kathi did an inspection of those in the barn) Also because of Kathi showing us that, Grandma Carole and I, instead of shopping, attended the MN Horse Expo workshop on equine dentistry where we learned about horses having 1-2 wolf teeth. How cool is that!!!!!!! (especially for an imagination like mine) So consequently I had a great discussion with the young man who became even prouder of his fang toothed horse. (One other thing Gramma Carole and I learned from Kathi as she did a hands on, gross demonstration, is that if you grab a horse’s tongue and hold it to the side, they won’t close their mouth which gives you a pretty good view of their teeth. How cool is that!!!!!)

As I continued to walk around pinning on nametags and learning names, 1 boy did not have a name tag yet. He said I could call him Mike after Michael Jackson. (although his friend sitting next to him told me his real name). He told me he can do all of Michael’s dances. I told him that for Halloween, my son went as Michael Jackson and knew all his Thriller moves. I told him how I helped sew his costume and I kept hearing all this stomping going on all night long wihich was my son practicing his dance moves. Well the boy asked if he could show me his dance moves afterwards. I said sure if it was alright with the teacher.

The plans for this outreach started March 27^th at the Diamond Tack Horse Fair at the Mariner Mall. A 9 year old girl and her mom fell in love with Magic. They talked a long time with us about what we did. When they heard that Magic made visits to schools, their minds starting developing a strategy, on how to approach the principal and the girl’s teacher at Lowell. The nine year old girl, named Olivia, wrote a letter to her teacher explaining about The WindChill Legacy Outreach Education Program and enclosed my card. The teacher showed the letter to the principal, who just happened to be the husband of a teacher in who’s classroom we did a program at Lincoln Piedmont. The 3^rd grade teacher got the ok, called, and arranged a meeting with me 3 weeks ago. She loved the program, set the date and time and I left teacher materials.

The teacher asked Olivia to keep it a secret from the class because the kids would go “insane” which is a direct quote from the teacher. It was not until this Monday, 2 days before our presentation that Olivia made the announcement to her fellow students, that something special was coming, a little magic. She did not tell them anything else. The kids thought a magic show or a dog was coming. However the permission slips needed to be signed and they went home Wednesday, the day before our outreach. The word was out…..a little magic was a HORSE!!!!!!

Well the Legacy Team understood why the teacher kept it quiet. The kids were soooooooooooooo excited Thursday morning. Gramma Carole was a bit worried. However the students had promised their teacher that they would be on their best behavior and have good listening skills. As if that wasn’t enough the principal came over the loudspeaker just before the presentation and did a very thoughtful announcement to the whole school about how to implement good listening skills. The kids were FANTASTIC!!!! Gramma Carole’s worries were gone as soon as the presentation started. She was happy the kids kept their promise.

Within that half hour of set-up, a line developed by the classroom phone. Several students had forgotten their permission slips and were calling parents.

One little boy was out in the hall at a desk feverishly cutting out horse heads for kids without nametags. When I told him I was about to get started, he said, “I have a job to do.” I told the teacher and she thanked him for all the work but told him all the kids had name tags now. He was a great tracer and cutter outer.

30 kids were full of energy until the presentation began. They put that energy to good use raising hands to ask questions, answering my questions, and telling me stories about the animals in their lives.

I was impressed with a boy and a girl who had the guts to talk about being bullied at the last school they attended. They talked about kids making fun of their names and how it felt. When they talked you could see the pain on their faces. I always explain to the kids that WindChill does not just want them to look out just after animals but also themselves and classmates and friends.

Because this classroom was way, way, way down the hall, Magic had a long walk, but as usually happens, Magic gets held up along the way. First it was the principal who had to get his picture taken. “That’s a yearbook picture I just know it.” he said. His secretary came running out for a yearbook picture of herself with Magic too.

It is surprising at how fast word gets around especially to Special Ed teachers. There were several special needs kids who came to see Magic. Many squeals of delight were heard when Magic put on a pretty funny itching show as she used one boy’s wheelchair foot rest to scratch an itch.

As Kathi and Magic walked down the hall, Trish had to tell students not to touch Magic but make a path for her. Trish told the students to tell their teachers that this horse can visit them next year. I gave several parents and teachers cards. So many teachers and parents asked if we get paid for doing this. NO, not a cent.

After I finished with the power point presentation, I looked out the classroom door expecting Magic to come in. No that was not going to happen soon—-Magic was surrounded by ladies in hairnets and blue aprons who were fawning over her. The cafeteria ladies, who work way on the other side of the school heard about Magic and came running to the other end of the blue wing. They just beamed when Kathi told them the cafeteria was Magic’s favorite place.

The students kept their energy in check even with Magic. We did go around 3 times with Magic But that was not enough. Kathi bent to their pleadings for Magic to go around a 4^th time for great hugs. One girl said 4x is not enough. Another girl said 10x is not enough. A boy said a 100x…. Well it got up to a 1000x, 1,000,000x, 1,000,000,000x and more by various other students.

One girl had a very hard time letting go of Magic every time she hugged her. Gramma Carole had to work extra hard to move Magic along to others waiting to hug Magic too.

One girl knew where Magic’s frogs were. Others noticed the sparkles on her hooves and couldn’t believe it was horse polish.

Kathi showed off Magic’s teeth. Again the EW but even more so because Magic had a big clump of dirt stuck on one tooth. One boy said “Not so bad”.

Kids loved feeling under her mane. It was so warm. They all put their hands just right as I had demonstrated to feel Magic’s tickly whiskers and warm breath.

The kids just clapped spontaneously several times when cool things happened. That made a great impression on Kathi. They really appreciated what we were doing. There was such joy.

Kathi was ready to leave BUT the students wanted a group picture with Magic so Kathi caved in, breaking up the students into 2 groups, giving one student Magic’s lead rope. I made the kids smile and say Magic as many pictures were taken. Magic was in her absolute comfort zone with her leg crooked. Then the second group got their picture taken and Olivia held Magic’s lead rope.

Kathi was ready to leave again BUT just as she was moving Magic to the door, a boy’s voice pipes up “Do you still want to see my Michael Jackson dance?” I asked the teacher and she said ok. Kathi said, “Well Magic and I need to take a seat then.” Kathi sat on a chair with Magic looking in the boy’s direction. One of “Mike’s” friends did the down beats using his mouth as an instrument and the dancing began. Wow was he good—the moon walk, the kicks, on the toes. Magic actually turned her head to watch this sudden flurry of activity. Well it was incredible. People were smiling. Everyone clapped.

AND THEN the boy and 2 of his friends announced the “Magic Walk.” They got down on all fours and slid their feet and hands just like Michael Jackson’s 2 footed moon walk. It was a very treasured moving spontaneous joyful creative moment. We all laughed and clapped again, the team looking at each other with the I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS EVER look.

When Magic was finally out the door, one girl came up to me and said I miss Magic already. Others chimed in to say the same thing. One girl said, “I miss her so much.”

Kathi did not leave the building right away. She decided to walk Magic all the way to the other side of the school to the cafeteria. One woman took out a whole bag of carrots and was going to wash them for Magic but Kathi said only 1 carrot and Magic didn’t need it washed.

After Magic left, one of the teacher assistants told us she had heard about Magic from her mother who was in a nursing home. She said her mom loved Magic’s visit and wishes Magic would come back for another visit. Trish told the assistant to talk to the assisted living activity director and we would come again.

The teacher got a few insights into her students. She came up afterwards and said she was surprised by some of the students not wanting to touch Magic. She wants to explore that further. She remembered how bad she wanted a horse when she was a young girl. However her brother got a horse but she did not.

The teacher was very impressed at how Magic projects trust. She comes off as so safe. She also was impressed with our team’s genuine warmth which also makes the students feel safe with us.

Gramma Carole , Trish, and I talked about that trust that Magic projects. We know that trust developed because of Jody and Ann who treated her with so much love and kindness. That same trust continues with Kathi and Jeff who also show so much love for Magic. Again I cannot stress enough how protective Kathi is with Magic, always keeping HER safe, always on alert from well meaning students, teachers, and yes sometime even the team (a few of my mistakes.)

Olivia, the young girl who invited us, beamed the whole way through. Her mother was there too and she beamed. Kathi remembered the mom and her daughter. The mom said she enjoyed talking to us at the Mall. She said we were very warm and welcoming and just looked like we were having a really good time talking about something we love.

I did put my foot down on two requests the school brought up. The first was a suggestion from the teacher. Her 3^rd grade class mentors a kindergarten class. She wanted the kindergartens to see the presentation too. She said the younger kids could sit on each older student’s lap. That would have made 60 kids. Magic would have been overwhelmed.

The second request was from the principal who had the teacher call me the night before to ask if he could film our visit and web cam it out to every classroom for all students to see. I turned down the offer. My reason is that I wanted quality. I did not feel that WindChill’s story would be as effective and certainly Magic’s visit would not have the same impact as in person. It would have been just a dog and pony show. I did assure the principal that we would come back if invited and do every classroom face to face.

There were so many things that made this Thursday outreach at Lowell Elementary so special. Even a day later Gramma Carole, Trish and I are still emailing each other about it.

Two more stories to tell:

When I was unloading my car, a boy picking up worms, found some keys outside on the wet worm filled sidewalk. He handed me the wet keys. I turned them into the principal. After the outreach, I was taking Carole home. She looked in her purse to get her house keys out…..no keys….. She checked her jacket pockets—a big hole in one. I drove her back to Lowell to retrieve her keys. We both agreed that WindChill must be looking out for her.

Today, Friday, I drove to Lowell Elementary to drop off thank you cards to the teacher, the students in her class, and Olivia. An hour later I get a phone call from the school saying I left my purse at the school.

WindChill sure looks after Gramma Carole and me. He takes real good care of us.