Elkhorn Valley Students Earn Free Trip To Henry Doorly Zoo

Elkhorn Valley students have been busy reading and it has paid off.

Elkhorn Valley Elementary has won a free trip to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.  

The zoo’s education department has a program available to all Nebraska schools called “Read Around the World.” The program encourages students and families to read and record the books over a period of time. The elementary school that reads the most books on average per student wins a free trip to the zoo. This program runs from mid-November through the first week of March.  

During this time period, the entire EV elementary student body came to the library in the morning to learn about a new animal. The librarian and different classrooms presented on a new animal each week. The students had the opportunity to listen to a book about the animal, watch a YouTube video, and see a digital presentation put together on interesting facts about the animal.  The animal presentations ranged from Asian elephants to red pandas to sharks.  

"Last year, Elkhorn Valley was very close to winning the trip with 97 books per student. The winning school in 2014 was Randolph Elementary with 99 books per student," Tracy Larson said. "This year, Elkhorn Valley was determined to win the trip and recorded a staggering 156 books per student. With an enrollment of 218 students, that means our elementary school read 34,008 books from November to March! This made for some busy reading families at home, and one busy librarian at school." 

Elkhorn Valley elementary students, from preschool to sixth grade, will take their trip to the zoo on Friday, April 17.