Youth Outreach Program

The Nova Scotia SPCA is looking for volunteers with teaching experience to review and select material for an outreach program for children and youth, and to help train volunteers in the Halifax area to deliver the content.

Many animal welfare organizations in North America have developed lesson and activity plans that are available through the web for use by other groups. For example, there are resources listed below from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and other organizations.

The Education Committee needs assistance in identifying whether the material listed below is appropriate for use with children and youth in Nova Scotia schools, libraries and other venues. The messages conveyed by the lessons and activities should be in line with the positions of the Nova Scotia SPCA on various animal welfare issues, be deemed suitable for the target age group, and be easy to implement by volunteers who do not have formal teaching experience. The Committee also welcomes assistance from volunteers who wish to research other educational resources or develop their own.

Once material has been selected, we need help training volunteers to deliver the content to ensure consistency and understanding.

If you can help out, please contact the Kelly Welsh, Outreach Officer, at outreach@spcans.ca. If you are a teacher and would like to incorporate animal welfare into your teaching, check out the resources below.

Resources for Teachers and Outreach Volunteers

There are many great resources available for SPCA outreach volunteers who deliver presentations, lessons and activities to children and youth. Note that with the exception of the Pet Foster Network material, the other links provided have not been officially endorsed by the NS SPCA.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) offers a set of lesson plans for elementary and junior high students, specifically:

• Friends for Life: Caring for Pets (ECS-Grade 3)
• Dog Bite Prevention I (ECS-Grade 2)
• Dog Bite Prevention II (Grades 3-5)
• Animal Shelters (Grades 3-5)
• Friends for Life: The Perfect Pet (Grades 3-5)
• Friends for Life: The Human Animal Bond (Grades 5-8)
• Animals in Entertainment (Grades 6-8)
• Children’s Bookshelf (Grades 7-8)
• Language Arts Activities

Visit the CFHS website at http://cfhs.ca/info/educational_curriculum/ to learn more.

The Pet Foster Network offers lesson plans and activities for grades 3-4 in Social Studies on the topics of "Too Many Pets, Too Few Homes" and "Matchmaking." The material has been given the support of the Nova Scotia SPCA, and can be downloaded from www.petfoster.org/Nova_Scotia/lessons.html.

The Dog Gone Safe organization sells teacher kits for delivering their "Be a Tree" dog bite prevention program. Visit the Dog Gone Safe website at www.doggonesafe.com to learn more.

The British Columbia SPCA offers free lesson plans for grades K-7 on the topics of animal needs and empathy; pet care responsibility; and taking action for animals. Visit http://www.spca.bc.ca/Educators/ResourcesMaterials.asp to download the plans.

The American SPCA (ASPCA) provides links to lesson plans that are consistent with the US school curriculum, but may be adaptable for Nova Scotia schools, at http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=edu_lessonplans.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) offers lessons plans, presentation tips and more at http://www.humanesocietyyouth.org/resources.