Mendon-Upton Regional School District to Host Weeklong Story Walk at Southwick’s Zoo

MENDON — Superintendent Maureen Cohen is pleased to share that the Mendon-Upton Regional School District has partnered with Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon and will host a “Story Walk” next week.

From Tuesday, July 30 through Monday, August 5, zoo attendees will be invited to read posters throughout the zoo which feature pages from the children’s book, “Wild About Books” by Judy Sierra.

The posters, which will be stationed in front of different animal exhibits throughout the zoo, will each feature a page from the book as well as QR codes with links to videos of Henry P. Clough Elementary School students reading the corresponding pages in both English and Spanish. Kindergarten through fourth graders were recorded reading the pages aloud. Students who read the book in Spanish are enrolled in Clough Elementary’s Spanish Immersion program, which consists of 100% of instruction in Spanish for children grades K-2.

“I wanted to create an event that was in collaboration with the community while also encouraging families to promote reading throughout the summer,” said Brianna Zalusky, Reading Specialist at Clough Elementary School. “The zoo was thrilled to work with us and help share the joy of reading and learning about different animals.”

While the district has hosted events to promote literacy over the summer in years past, Zalusky jumped at the chance to apply the story of “Wild About Books” to Mendon’s own zoo. The story chronicles a librarian who mistakenly drives her bookmobile into a zoo.

The Mendon-Upton Regional School District PTO will be purchasing tickets to Southwick’s Zoo to gift to selected families next week.

“We believe that the magic of reading and access to activities that promote literacy should be accessible to all of our district families,” Superintendent Cohen said. “We are privileged to offer this opportunity to our entire community, regardless of cost. We also would like to thank Southwick’s Zoo for their partnership and helping to bring this program to life not only for our school families but for zoogoers as well.”

All zoogoers are invited to participate in the Story Walk, and all teachers with a valid work ID will receive free admission on Southwick’s Zoo’s Teacher Appreciation Day on Sunday, Aug. 4.

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