Kids who are learning to read benefit from a nonjudgmental audience, and what better audience than a dog?
That’s the thinking behind the READ Program, which comes to the Redding Library this weekend. Trained therapy dogs (and their trainers) sit quietly while children read to them for 15 minutes. The readings help kids with literacy and with self-esteem.
Children under 12 can get in on the action from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Parents or guardians must accompany the kids and sign them in and out. The program will be put on by Rx: Pets, a nonprofit volunteer group in Redding that also sponsors pet visits to nursing homes, hospitals and schools.
- Saturday also is the day for the Festa Botanica spring plant sale at the McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay. The event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., will include sales of heirloom vegetables and native plants. Master gardeners will be on hand to answer questions. There will be refreshments, crafts and children’s activities. Best of all, admission is FREE. (On Friday, Turtle Bay Exploration Park members get first crack at the plant sale at a party that runs from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.)
- Farmers and others worried about agricultural water supplies should attend a free event on Tuesday evening at Shasta College. Experts will offer advice on dealing with reduced irrigation allotments at the meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Room 1632 at the college’s main campus.
- Fun With Craigslist: From the “free” section in Redding’s Craiglist entries: boxes and bubble rap. Man, I can barely stand to listen to any kind of rap. Now they’re popping those bubbles, too?
Tips appreciated: Send news tidbits to steveb.anewscafe@gmail.com.
