The Class Menagerie: Sixth-Graders Learn Some of Life’s Lessons

ANIMAL HOUSE: A teacher at Yukon Intermediate School in Hawthorne is using a menagerie of endangered California animals to teach sixth-graders lessons about respecting wildlife--and each other.

Paul Prado borrowed a bald eagle, a wolf and a California quail from the San Bernardino County Museum’s collection of taxidermic creatures, making a temporary home for them in his classroom. He also made use of books that

Northrop Corp. had donated as part of a program aimed at deepening children’s awareness of cruelty to animals.

In addition to having the children read and write book reports on “Lobo the Wolf,” a tale about the life of a wolf and his family, Prado went a step further. He engaged the class in a lively debate on the pros and cons, from a ranchers perspective, of killing predators--namely, wolves.

In the book, said Prado, Lobo’s travels in a wolf pack illustrate the importance of teamwork. “So the kids begin to understand how important it is to help each other out,” he said. “We also talk about social issues.”

At one point, Lobo’s grandparents are killed, leaving the young wolf to fend for itself. “So then I asked the students, ‘How many of you are latchkey kids?’ Then we talk about that.”

As the children learn how animals take care of each other, said Prado, “they’re beginning to understand how important it is to take care of their own families.”

*

DECATHLON CHAMPS: For the fourth consecutive year, West High School in Torrance has captured first place honors in the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon competition.

The team of nine students coached by teacher George Floratos scored 48,129 points, the highest in the 13-year history of the countywide competition. West surpassed second-place Hart High School in Santa Clarita by nearly 4,000 points and took first place in all nine subjects.

In March, West will compete again with Taft High school, the Los Angeles Unified School District winner, and about 630 other high school teams at the statewide Academic Decathlon at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Individual awards were given to Evan Hurowitz, Shira Franco, Bert Hayden, Tim Rider and Mandy Juarez for scoring the most points in their respective divisions.

West High competed with 40 other high school teams from Los Angeles County in an all-day oral and written test of their skills in science, social students, economics and calculus.

Floratos said team members were “sky-high” when they heard they had broken the county’s Academic Decathlon point record. “Then our bubble was burst when we heard Taft had scored 50,000,” he said. Taft, the defending state champion, broke the point record for the Los Angeles Unified School District decathlon.

The team is working hard, said Floratos, to challenge Taft again. “Taft is our hurdle, but it will be fun going up against them. . . . They’re a talented group, but so are we.”

*

SERRA BRONZE: A life-size bronze statue of Junipero Serra was dedicated at St. Lawrence Martyr School in Redondo Beach earlier this week.

The 5-foot, 3-inch, 400-pound statue was donated by William Hannon, a Redondo Beach developer. Hannon has given 30 other statues to schools including Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Serra High School in Gardena and Loyola Marymount University in Westchester and several of California’s missions.

Serra, a Spanish missionary who lived from 1713 to 1784, founded nine missions from San Diego to Sonoma in Northern California.

Each statue was sculpted by a Sacramento artist commissioned by Hannon at a cost of about $35,000 each. As a youth, Hannon said, he visited all of Serra’s missions and was impressed by the Spanish missionary’s travels-- mostly on foot--up and down the state.

“I decided to have the statues built to honor someone who was a real Californian, someone who helped develop the state,” Hannon said.