MANSFIELD — A classic tale of determination, the Tortoise and the Hare impresses upon readers that slow and steady wins the race.
Using this well-known fable, the leadership team at Discovery School brought an immersive literacy experience to their more than 150 students in Preschool through 6th grade.
Recently, Assistant Head of School and Coordinator of the Primary Years Programme Simon Clark adopted a 6-year-old Red-Footed Tortoise. He named him “Esio Trot” after the Roald Dahl book of the same name. The name happens to also be “tortoise” spelled backward.
It was then that Head of School Julie Schwartz realized they were perfectly equipped for a book tour such as this. You see, she has a 2-year-old English Angora Rabbit named Aster. Schwartz and Aster are a trained and certified therapy animal team through Pet Partners Inc.
Earlier this week, Schwartz & Clark took Aster and Esio into each and every classroom at Discovery School. They read the Tortoise & the Hare book, allowed every student the chance to learn about and interact with a real tortoise and a real hare, and then they gave the animals a chance to “race.”
True to the book, the tortoise won the race in every classroom. Aster just sat there while Esio immediately “took off” All the students … from the 3 year olds to the 13-year-olds … loved it, the Discovery staff stated.
“We pride ourselves on bringing learning to life at Discovery School. It sparks a desire to know more; to dig into even more books and find the magic contained within. If they go to bed at night thinking about a fun classroom experience, we’ve been successful,” Schwartz said.
