- All right, y'all we're back.
And I'm hanging with Jojo Siwa,
Angela Kinsey, and Jenna Fischer.
Y'all give it up.
(audience cheering)
All right, everybody,
our next guest is a teacher who's gone above
and beyond in a very, very cool way.
She asked her second graders to write letters
on behalf of dogs at a local shelter.
They were colorful, thoughtful, and super sweet.
And because of those letters
the kids helped get nearly two dozen dogs
into forever homes.
Our season long partner,
Pilot Frixion Erasable Pen loves to celebrate those
who create fearlessly as much as we do.
So that's why we think she is best in class.
(bell ringing)
(audience clapping)
All right, everybody let's welcome Kinzie,
and two of her students, Parker and Hattie!
Welcome to the show!
(audience cheering)
Meet everybody. What up?
- [Women] Hi guys!
- So you designed a special product
for these, or project, for these kids.
So what, what was it?
- [Kinzie] I was getting ready
to teach my children persuasive writing.
And I wanted to find a way
to make it authentic and real and impact
our Richmond community.
- [Kelly] Yeah, helpful. Yeah.
- So I decided to reach out to our animal shelter
where I actually volunteer on the weekends by walking dogs
and doing anything that the shelter needs.
- [Kelly] Oh my God, you're such a good person!
I love this. Okay.
- [Kinzie] And talked to the director and said,
"What do you think?
"Can my second graders write stories
"through the eyes of the dogs
"and persuade potential adopters to adopt them?"
And she was in agreement and we took the finished product
down to the shelter, hung the letters on the kennel doors,
and the public was able to come through
and see the papers that were pleading adopters
to come and "take me home", through the eyes of the dog.
- I love that.
And you wrote the letters
through the eyes of the dogs, right?
- Yes. - I love this.
So you all have pets?
So what do you think their personalities are like?
- Oh gosh!
- You go first. - My, my dogs are,
I have four dogs.
Too many, but I love 'em.
I would take another one, but four is too many still.
Anyways, I'll talk about my little one, Starzy.
This is Starzy.
I named her after Dancing With the Stars.
- [Kelly] Aww.
- She is the funniest dog ever. She loves everybody.
She needs attention 24/7.
And she does this really cute little thing
with her arms where she can stand
on her hind legs for like three minutes at a time.
And like, no one taught her how.
She just does it natural.
Nut she'll do this thing with her arms
when she wants you to pick her up.
She goes on her hind legs
and she just goes...
(audience laughing)
She's very, she's a good one. She's a keeper.
- I love it. She's spicy.
I like it, I like it. - Yes. Very.
- What about you?
- We have Biscuit and Buster and Oreo and Snickers.
- [Kelly] Do you have four as well?
- Yeah. So two cats, two dogs.
The cats run the house. Oh, there they are.
- [Kelly] Oh my God!
- Biscuit who's in my lap on the porch starts every day
like this, "Listen, gather around, gather around!
"They're coming for us!
"We're gonna give them everything we got.
"Are you with me?"
That's how she
starts every morning. - You would be great
at writing letters via dogs. (laughs)
Something you can do.
Wait, so what about you?
- I have Maggie and Sunny.
Maggie is our German Shepherd mix.
Sunny is our orange cat.
And Maggie she likes a job.
So she wants to be put to work.
The job she picks is hurting the cat which
(audience laughing)
Sunny is not excited about.
Sunny just wants snuggles, cereal, and cantaloupe.
So. - Okay.
And those are very specific. I like it.
Know what you want. That's what I say.
Well, tell us Parker, why don't you
tell us about your letter?
- So I wrote about a dog named Missy,
who looked like a very sweet dog.
And, first we wrote,
first I wrote writings,
write sentences and stuff about Missy.
And then we drew a picture.
I drew a picture of Missy in the grass
with a nice tree and some, in the sun.
My letter said, "Hello, my name is Missy.
"I am a very sweet dog who likes fenced in yards
"and wide spaces.
"I also like to give lots of kisses."
- Oh my gosh. See, I'd get the dog just from that.
You're adorable.
Great job.
And Hattie, how about you?
- So I wrote about the dog I'm All Ears.
I also drew him in front of a rainbow with his pointy ears.
I also wrote about how I think
that more people should adopt more animals
from the animal shelter.
And I had so much fun writing this
and I just love I'm All Ears.
- [Kelly] Oh, I love it.
Joining us now is the Director of the Shelter
from Richmond Animal Care and Control.
Let's welcome Christie!
Give it up!
(audience cheering)
- So Christie, the letters really moved you, right?
- They really did.
And I will tell you, the world of animal welfare
can sometimes be ugly and heartbreaking
and make you lay in the closet and cry.
Floor and cry, which I sometimes do. But then--
- Sometimes we all do.
- You need to, you need to.
But things like this, you know, help you focus on the good.
And I think that the stories
that the children wrote were so inspiring
and you know, kids do everything really well
and they've sort of not been jaded yet.
And so they have a really clean heart
and a clear perspective.
And so the ways that they wrote about our shelter pets
that we love was really inspiring.
So we, I can't say enough good things about it.
- Aww.
Before the break Hattie told us about I'm All Ears,
the two year old shepherd pit mix
she wrote the letter for.
So Hattie, do you want to meet the person who adopted him?
- [Hattie] I would be so happy to!
- I would too!
So we have her on the line right now along with her new dog.
Say hello to Angela and her family.
(audience cheering)
Hello! Hi!
- [Angela] Hi Kelly, hi Hattie!
- Oh my gosh. First of all, your family is so adorable.
All of you. Hi, back there.
I see you, bro.
(everyone laughing)
So Angela, what drew you to I'm All Ears?
- I'm gonna tell you that his ears,
of course, was the first thing.
But the letter and the pictures were just amazing.
Hattie you did such an awesome job.
- Thank you.
- Rainbows. They mean everything.
They mean it's gonna be okay.
And that rainbow we saw on his crate was just amazing.
Remy's a big dog and we we're not 100% sure
how he would react with the kids, but he's amazing.
The kids feed him, he stays.
He's a very good dog.
And we just love him.
He stole our heart at the shelter
and your letter was just awesome.
And I know that he appreciates
and loves you for writing that letter
for him as much as we appreciate and love him.
- That's so great. (everyone cheering)
That's so cool that you did that.
You helped make that happen.
You got a dog a forever home. That is very magical.
Does that make you feel good?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. That's so cool.
So Christy, these kids clearly
have changed the lives of not only the pets
but the families that, you know, adopt them.
That's amazing.
Do you think you'll maybe do this again
like maybe be interested in doing anything like this again?
- 100%. Yes.
We were already laughing cause Kinzie like,
you know, the first graders are already saying
we have to do this next year.
For second grade.
- Well I feel like this should catch on like every
like I remember doing persuasive writing
whenever I was a kid.
Like it was a fun thing to do, first of all.
And then it, the kids are learning. They're doing something.
It's a project for the teachers
to get involved with the community, like you were saying.
It's a thing that anybody could do anywhere which I think--
- [Chrissy] Anyone.
- And there's animal shelters everywhere that need help so.
- Absolutely.
- It's a really cool idea.
Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. Yeah!
(audience cheering)
Your brain is brilliant.
Well, as I mentioned earlier, Pilot Frixion,
the go-to Erasable Pen of the Kelly Clarkson show
loves to celebrate those who create fearlessly y'all.
So Christie on behalf of
Kinzie and all her young writers, they're donating $5,000
to the Richmond Animal Care & Control!
(everyone cheering)
- Oh my God! Thank you!
- [Kelly] Yeah thank you so much, Pilot!
And everyone!
- [Students] Yes. Thank you!
- For everyone at home,
remember to support your local animal shelters and rescues.
And if you're a teacher, this is a really rad idea.
Maybe you should try this. I'm just saying.