Stowers Students on Safari, Reading With the Animals

From the outside, Stowers Elementary School in Cerritos looks no different than the other elementary schools in the ABC Unified School District. But inside, the school has been turned into a jungle. Cheetahs, zebras, gorillas, tigers and other wild animals and exotic vegetation created in crepe paper leap from the walls of classrooms, the library and administration buildings.

The nearly 600 students at the school are on an African reading safari, aimed at stimulating them to read. It started March 2 with a visit to the campus by an ocelot, and will end May 26 with a “read-in” in a tent, a barbecue and rides on an elephant.

The student body has been challenged to read a total of 1 million extra minutes by the end of the expedition. Homework assignments do not count. Parents keep track of outside reading and report the results to the school.

Students earn “reading tracks” or paw prints. Kindergarten through third-grade pupils earn one paw print for 90 minutes of reading and fourth- through sixth-grade students earn one for 180 minutes. Paw prints cover the walls and ceilings of the school. Students who have earned 25 tracks get their pictures posted in the principal’s office. Students receive prizes that include pizzas and trips to Knott’s Berry Farm.

Everyone participates--students, teachers, librarians and administrators. Whenever jungle music is heard over the intercom system, everyone drops whatever they are doing to read something other than assignments. On Fridays, students and teachers wear jungle attire to get in the reading mood.

The school scores above district and state averages on the state reading tests, and Principal Decla Johnson says she wants the students to do even better. Johnson said she hopes the students will develop a lifelong love for reading.

“We have kids addicted to reading,” said Johnson, who wore snake earrings, a giraffe necklace and a blouse covered with zebras and jungle flowers.