Students in Jaci Gross's fifth grade class at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School have been learning in more ways than reading at a desk lately. . Gross, in her 23rd year at LR, applied for a grant from Petco to acquire two leopard geckos and essentials for raising the lizards, which arrived Jan. 21. Now her students "are learning about how to handle the geckos," she said. "Along with it being pretty cool to have geckos, the students are learning how to care for them and will completely care for them each week in the classroom." Gross's team teacher, Rylee Pitner, received the same grant and now has a bearded dragon named Bob.

The fifth-graders on an end-of-quarter reward field trip to the top of the sand hill, with the school far below at right and Grand Coulee Dam in the background. Below left,