(06/02/10) Congdon Park Elementary School (Duluth, MN)

6/2/2010 Outreach Visit to Congdon Park Elementary School, Duluth, MN by Paula Moore

Three Congdon kindergarten teachers asked me to come and talk to them about the Legacy Education Outreach Program during their lunch time. They said the principal would be there also and my job would be to convince her to give them permission for the Legacy to come into their classrooms. (They had already booked a date on pure hope.)

The principal’s face was professional and I just did what I usually do in my enthusiastic sort of way. 7 minutes into my presentation, the principal made the comment, “You seem to be well organized and know what you are doing.” Then she told me to stop as she got up and made a phone call to have another teacher come down, a teacher of autistic students. She said to the teacher and the others that were coming in for lunch, “You have to hear about this program.” I had to start from the beginning. Her whole demeanor had changed from incredibility and skepticism to full speed ahead. She was totally on board. The last 15 minutes that I was there were filled with laughter as the principal spearheaded ideas of ways to play a joke on the janitor.

These other teachers that were influenced by the principal, wanted our program right away but I had to tell them we were filled up for May and June. I told them that the kindergarten teachers were the lucky ones at taking a chance on us and booking us in advance. I did take names and numbers to call for a reminder in Sept. The teacher of the autistic children wanted so bad to bring her class in to watch our presentation but I said no….the kindergarten classes had 24 children in each room and her kids deserved quality. I told her she would be the first one I contacted in the Fall because Special Ed classes have a special place in my heart. The principal laughed.

Congdon is an old school that is at the bottom of a slope. It is very hard to access. There are a lot of steps. After driving around on my initial visit, I found the best parking spot for Kathi’s big truck and trailer was in the back of the school on a side street. That would allow her to pull in and pull out easily. However it would still be difficult because those parking spaces were at a premium. The day before our presentation, I drove over there around 7:00 AM and found out that would be a good time to beat the crowd and save the ideal spot for Kathi.

Wed. morning I picked up Carole and dropped her off with orange cones, tape, and rope, at 7:05 AM. She cordoned off the parking spot while I went to pick up Betty. Carole did a great job. We just sat around for 40 minutes because we were so early.

Kathi loved the spot. I parked in front of Kathi’s truck so I could move it when the time came so Kathi would have no trouble getting out. (Cars usually park right on Kathi’s front bumper and back bumper making it impossible to get out smoothly with Magic’s trailer.) All of this pre-preparation makes it a smooth transition into the classroom for Kathi and Magic.

We unloaded our stuff and as we were walking in we were greeted by 3 or 4 teachers who were bending over a railing, waiting outside for …….this miniature horse. They looked and looked…no horse…even the engineer was out there. “Magic was just too small to see.” I said. One PE teacher said she had to see this horse. Her daughter had seen it written on a calendar and she just could not believe a horse was coming INTO the school.

We went into 3 classrooms of kindergartners. That meant we had to break everything down for each of the presentations. We had only 15 min. to get to the next room to set up. The classrooms were jammed packed with tables. Carole and Betty W. were very creative and worked hard to set things up while I talked to the excited students.

In 1 class there were girls named Stella, Gwen, and Grace. Of course I had to tell them about the horses at Raindance, who had the same names. One of the girls had a horse by the name of Miste Rose. Carole and I just went ahhh! In the 2 other classrooms there were girls named Stella. One Stella had her arm in a sling from falling off the monkey bars in the school playground. She beamed when I used her as an example of a human sling vs. the horse sling we used for WindChill. One girl was named Molly. She told me the whole story of Molly the Pony which the teacher had read the day before. Also in the first group, a previous student was invited to come in. The teacher said that last year everything the girl wrote was about horses. She is ‘horse crazy.”

In the first classroom, the teacher said her kids were off the wall with excitement.

She decided to take a poll. She wrote on the board:

Who wants to see a pony today? Yes No Maybe

24 names were under the Yes column and the other columns were empty. When she found out Magic was not a pony but a horse, she erased pony and replaced it with the word horse.

Another teacher of autistic children, not the one I met at lunch a month before, came in many times to see Magic, insisting that I make sure to call her in Sept. to present to her class. She even came up to me in the hall saying she couldn’t wait ‘til Sept.

One boy had a very vivid imagination. He said he had a baby gorilla at home. He then proceeded to tell me about the gorilla’s life, which had every detail of WindChill’s life. The teacher grimaced but I had him go on until he was finished. I complimented him on his imagination and what a good listener he was while I was telling WindChill’s story. I told him I had been around orangutans and gorillas once as a zoo docent and they were very hard to keep as pets. He piped up that his grandma made him get rid of the gorilla and took his gorilla to the zoo. What a creative mind!!!! This boy did freak out when Magic sneezed. He climbed up on his chair and refused to pet Magic any more until it was time for his picture to be taken with her.

These children were very animal sensitive, a credit to the teachers’ hard work. 2 girls sobbed when they found out WindChill had died. Teachers got up fast to give them hugs to comfort them. Most of the kids had pets that passed away. It still affected them, both boys and girls. One girl said that WindChill is in her heart just like he is in mine. “ One girl shouted out,” Animals have feelings too.” Another girl said, “How can people hurt animals.”

Again these kids knew about being bullied and are super sensitive to it. Kindergarten kids are so small and just right for others to pick on. They mentioned especially how bad the name calling hurts. They mentioned how bad it made them feel.

With such gentle hearts, their voices reflected that gentleness too. Kathi smiled when she heard the melodic young voices do that aaaahhhh. Carole and I looked at each other. They were in perfect pitch.

When Magic walked into one classroom, a boy used the word “puny” to describe Magic, but ironically just before she left, one boy asked us, “Why is she so big?” and the rest of the kids chimed in with the same question…..now that is a Magic attitude adjustment.

One girl said, “Horses make me smile.” One boy said, “You are treating Magic like a human.”

One girl and one boy held their noses when Magic came around. The girl was very polite but the boy yelled loudly, “She stinks.”

One boy asked me if he could have Magic’s lead rope so she would follow him. I said, “You want to take her home.” He said, “Yes.”

One boy’s dad was a dentist. When the teacher heard that there were horse dentists, she asked the boy if his dad ever had a horse for a patient.

One girl asked what we do with Magic’s “bangs” and mane when it gets so hot out.

A boy wanted to know what that sparkly stuff was on her hoof.

The kid’s compared Magic’s heat under her mane to a ‘furnace.’

One teacher said Magic was really old at 11 years old until she heard mini’s live to be 40 years old.

One boy noticed her beautiful eyelashes but asked “Does she bite?”

For lunch it was such a beautiful sunny day, we decided to go to Wendy’s and bring our food back to the trailer. It was great eating. Magic came out too (I had the thrill of taking Magic out of the trailer…a first for me!) Magic had lunch with us. She preferred the green grass and dandelions to French fries. Betty W. kept her foot on the lead rope. Neighbors and people out walking came over to visit with Magic.

The last classroom we presented in had a section of the classroom made into a Kindergarten Pet Shop. In the shop were all kinds of stuffed animals and all kinds of pet stuff. The kids were in there with a stuffed dog on a leash. They were playing a game of buying a pet and buying what they needed to take the pet home.

Also in the last classroom were gerbils. Kathi wanted to see Magic’s reaction. She put Magic up next to the aquarium… no reaction. However the gerbils moved and Magic spotted them. She got her nose right up to the cage and her hot breath coming out of her nostrils steamed up one side of the aquarium. The teacher and kids just laughed as she turned her head every which way to keep track of those speedy gerbils.

One boy was shifting his weight and accidently kicked Magic. Magic just picked up her leg but did nothing more. The boy said he was really sorry. I thanked him for admitting what he did and told him how brave he was to take responsibility.

One boy said very forlornly as were leaving,” I did not get to pet Magic.” I looked at Carole and she laughed. The teacher broke in and said he did get to pet her but just wanted to pet her again.

So many of the kids said they had ridden ponies that go in circles.

These teachers were very prepared. They used the materials in the activity books. One teacher decided to keep the activity book……” I realize I can do a bit more.”

As Kathi was walking Magic back to the trailer, the monthly air raid sirens went off…Kathi said she had never seen Magic jump so high. Then next came the loud announcements of what to do in case of an emergency. Kathi said she could not put Magic in the trailer until the voice was done because it would have reverberated in the trailer and freaked Magic out.

As we left with our equipment, one boy yelled down the hall, “Say good-by to Magic and give her a big hug for me.” As we loaded up the car, the engineer came out of the building and yelled, “Magic is the best student of the day.”