Traveling Toy Bear Helps Open Up World to Class : Education: Scooter’s journey to seven states and Europe helps give geography lessons to students at St. Anthony Elementary School.

He stands only 2 feet tall, weighs no more than 5 pounds and is stuffed with cotton.

But Scooter the Bear has been quite the world traveler since September, canvassing the globe as an ambassador, sightseer and co-geography teacher to the eighth-grade class at St. Anthony Elementary School in Long Beach.

Teacher Chad Laines decided to enliven his geography lessons by sending the bear on an experimental journey in September. The students armed Scooter with a note explaining the project, a set of stamped, pre-addressed postcards, a backpack and travel journal. Scooter’s traveling companions were asked to send the postcards, deposit souvenirs in the backpack, and record their experiences in the journal.

By the time Scooter returned to class last month, the cards and journal revealed he had traversed at least seven states and eight European countries. The light-gray bear had accumulated a wealth of treasures in his backpack, including currency from Poland, a beer mug from Sweden (allegedly grabbed after a night of heavy partying with some female companions in Stockholm) and a shirt from Greece.

Laines came up with the idea for the project with his wife, Annie, who works as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.

So on Sept. 24, Scooter, well, scooted off from Los Angeles International Airport.

Annie Laines gave the bear to a young girl on her way from Los Angeles to Portland. After that, Scooter was on his own.

The postcards allowed students to trace Scooter’s progress on a map, while they studied the geographic, historic and cultural differences of the places he visited.

But the journal revealed a more complete picture of his travels:

“Today, my family and I are going to Orlando (Florida) to spend five days at Disney World and to see other things,” one girl wrote. “My little brother has cancer and the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him his wish to see Mickey Mouse. It’s great to have you flying with us.”

In another entry, dated Oct. 14:

“I am flying home from Russia where I was born one month ago. I have been adopted by an American family from New York City. . . . My name is Vanessa and I was born in L’Vov, Ukraine, where my birth mother had no money to support me. I know I will have a happy life in America.”

Other entries were unsigned and written as if in Scooter’s voice:

“Here I am in glorious ancient Rome. . . . most impressive are the ancient Roman ruins of the Forum, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Baths of Caracalla,” reads one entry. In another, from Greece, “. . . On Thursday we went to Hydra where we went on a tour of the island on a donkey.”

Many of Scooter’s companions gave detailed descriptions of geography, population, natural resources and other facts about the countries they saw. One entry written on a flight to Moscow outlines the relationship of the former republics.

“With the volatile political situation in the former Soviet Union, this gave me an opportunity to teach about that and put it in some perspective,” Laines said.

Laines, 29, said he was pleased that the experiment worked. The bear’s return helped restore some of his “faith in human nature,” he said.

“I liked the suspense,” 13-year-old Manuel Chavez said. “We were always thinking (Scooter) wasn’t going to make it.”

Laines’ students are eager to send the bear on his way again, possibly through Asia or South America. But their teacher is not sure he wants to press his luck, especially after Scooter disappeared for two months during his maiden voyage.

The class had stopped receiving postcards in October, and Scooter was not heard from until Jan. 6, when Laines received a call from the LAX baggage department.

Scooter was sitting in a cardboard box, unharmed.

The students breathed a collective sigh of relief upon Scooter’s return, but Laines said he is still baffled.

“I’d love to know what happened during that time (before January),” Laines said. Since Scooter’s tag requested he be returned to Los Angeles by Jan. 1, Laines said he figures someone probably returned the bear early.