Horse Powered Reading® integrates social-emotional learning with academics; thus allowing students see and experience reading with their entire mind, body and emotions by creating metaphors for the skills involved in reading.
Students interact with horses from the ground, while using toys and props to identify obstacles and learn five critical reading skills - phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension
* Session goals vary depending upon the needs of the individual or group
Literacy Outreach~
Storytime with Horses
and other wonderful animals
Animals, especially horses have a calming presence. They are regularly used in therapeutic settings, of all types. Physical, emotional and mental health settings have therapy horse visits or sessions on a regular basis. Studies have proven these animals of wonder lower blood pressure, create a calm atmosphere and offer a non judgmental, welcoming presence when being read to. Children and adults feel a peace and comfort when reading to or around horses, unlike the pressure one might feel reading to another person. Children relate the positive experience with horses while reading, which reinforces that reading can be a fun, interactive experience. Animals, such as miniature horses, help children connect to their books. The social skills of children can also improve by talking about what they have read to the horses. We have seen victims of trauma open up to animals, where with a person, they remained silent.
Our goal is to make a difference, in the plummeting literacy rate, with California being the lowest in the nation. We want to encourage kids to read, offering them a safe space with a wonderful listener in a horse body that will encourage children to want to show up, to want to pick up a book and learn with excitement with the support and encouragement of their equine friends.
Please consider partnering with us,to make a difference in our future, our communities,
and our neighboring, underserved communities as we provide literacy outreach to those of lessor means
Certified Wise Equine Assisted Coach, through Wisdom Ranch and Counseling and certified Horse Powered Reading® facilitator, an equine assisited learning program develouped by Dr Michele Pickel PHD of Concordia University, we bring, with our skilled horse tutors, a unique experiental learning experience that ensures fun while learning in a way that secures learned skills while turning learning into play, in a classromm without walls.
Mr. Ed could talk, Our horses can teach
Storytime with horses is a not for profit endevour. We aim, not to make money but to make a difference. This service is offered, at no charge, based on public funding. We need your help. We are not yet registered as a non profit, which simply means your donations are not tax deductable. If you would like to support this endevour, financially, prayerfully, book donations or your time, together we can make a difference. Literacy affects us all. Lets help them read
Updates should be posted on our FB page or you can email us, link for both are found on the upper left of this page. If you have a location that you would like us to visit, please, contact us
Current Public Storytime Calendar
The Stats
2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of America's inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level. 1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.
Students who don't read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school.
Socioeconomic Factors Behind Child Illiteracy
Poverty plays a large role in whether children develop literacy skills during their early years. Some 22% of children in the U.S. live in poverty, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Some 43% of adults living in poverty have low literacy levels.
About 80% of children living in economically disadvantaged communities will lose reading skills over summer breaks due to a lack of access to books and other resources, according to Reading Is Fundamental.
Ethnicity is also a factor. About 52% of Black fourth-grade children and 45% of Hispanic fourth graders score below basic reading levels, compared to 23% of white students, according to NCES assessments.
The number of California students who cannot read is shocking.
Results from the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress show that only 32% of fourth graders are reading proficiently. These results put California below the national average and behind 25 other states.
While the ranking is cause for concern, the difference in absolute performance exposes a reading crisis in California. Our students are over a year and half behind Massachusetts, the top-ranking state.
