Provided by Prince William County Schools (PWCS)
Stanley the rhinoceros received an extra bit of love on Valentine’s Day, thanks to students in Eleanor Letson’s third grade class at Vaughan Elementary School. Letson combined a lesson on writing and science, encouraging her students to write get-well and Valentine’s Day cards to a 48- Letson combined a lesson on writing and science, encouraging her students to write get-well and Valentine’s Day cards to a 48-year-old rhinoceros who lives in the Asheboro Zoo in North Carolina.
“My three daughters love Stanley, and I follow him on Facebook,” explained Letson, who is originally from North Carolina. “I heard that he had been sick, but that some new medications were making him feel better. I told my students that Stanley would love to have some support.”
Letson said she was surprised by her students’ lack of knowledge of the rhinoceros.
“One of my students said he thought rhinoceroses eat people,” she said with a laugh. “This gave me the opportunity to explain that the rhinoceros is a vegetarian. They asked so many questions, and it was a great opportunity to get a lot of science facts into the lesson.”
Letson stated the students enjoyed writing the get-well Valentine’s Day cards, and many of them made a special wish for Stanley.
“The kids found out that Stanley loves belly rubs, so most of them wrote they hoped he received a bunch of those on Valentine’s Day,” she said.
