Millbury Street School Partnering With Tufts

Some Millbury Street Elementary School second-graders will stay after school for a few weeks this fall.

To read to dogs.

The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is partnering with the Millbury Street school on the six- to eight-week project, which will start around mid-October, Principal Joanne Stocklin said.

"The children read to dogs," Stocklin said.
 
"And they've found that the children's fluency rate will increase, as well as their enthusiasm and interest in reading."

Grafton students in Kindergarten to grade nine start school on Tuesday, Sept 3. Students in pre-Kindergarten and grades 10 to 12 start on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Millbury Street Elementary starts its second year serving grades two to six, Stocklin noted.

"Last year was just really about establishing a new school community. The students stayed, but we brought in two grade levels. It was a fabulous year. Everybody just came together," she said.

"Now, we're established and ready to move forward. The focus is less on reorganization. We've become a community."

The school's Big Buddy-Little Buddy program will continue this year, pairing each student with an adult in the building to "reach out casually during the school year," Stocklin said.

"That way, it makes the school seem smaller to the children, because they recognize other adults. And eventually, through the years, hopefully make more connections with adults than they otherwise would have" get a new buddy each year," she said.

"We talk to the children about introducing the adult to their friends if they're in the hallway."

The new partnership with the Tufts school will involve about 20 to 25 students who will read to dogs after school once each week, with their parents' permission, Stocklin said.

"Parents can't sign up, because they're looking for a certain prototype of kid," she said.