Olivia Park Elementary students are turning senior citizens’ life stories into effective learning lessons for both the seniors and the kids.
By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
It was a wonderful discovery for a veteran teacher: Her third-graders a year ago loved to hear about her father-in-law who as a child arrived early to school to stoke the stove for heat and of her father who lived on a farm and rode to school by horse.
The stories were not as dramatic as they were intriguing. It was the simple anecdotes that captured the students’ imaginations, such as her father-in-law eating lard-and-pepper sandwiches for lunch during the Depression.
Diane Babcock wanted to expand the learning experience for her third-grade class at Olivia Park Elementary School this year. She wanted her students to go beyond hearing anecdotal biographies to recording them. She wanted to make it academically relevant as well, by stressing communication, writing and technology.
"These kids don’t know life before the microwave oven," Babcock said. "They think a record is a big CD. I want them to get a feeling about how far technology has come in a lifetime."
| Life experiences
Kyle Olson, a third-grader from Olivia Park Elementary in the Mukilteo School District, interviewed Red Jacobson, a 65-year-old Icelandic immigrant who boarded a ship to America during World War II.
Here is an excerpt from the biography Olson wrote about his “senior buddy”:
“Halfway … a hurricane hit and he almost died. He felt scared. The ship almost sank. “He made it safe to America, but didn’t know where he was. Then he saw a lady holding a torch and he knew it was the Statue of Liberty. He was excited and knew he was in AMERICA!” |
The students visited some of their subjects at the Seabrook Assisted Living & Retirement Center in south Everett and played host to senior citizens at their school. In pairs, the third-graders interviewed their links to the past and posted their stories on the Internet.
Ray Keil, an 87-year-old World War II Marine Corps veteran, had never been on the Internet until third-graders Brandon Berg and Jason Shim shared the biography they wrote about him. Then again, Brandon and Jason had never tried their hands at woodcarving until they met Keil.
"He started carving a rooster’s head and then told us to finish it," they wrote. "Jason tried to carve the tail, but it doesn’t look as good as Ray’s rooster head."
The students were energizing.
Mary Murphy, who will turn 90 in November, said she slept exceptionally sound the day her students took her on a long walk and tour of their school.
"They love the interaction with the kids," said Penny Draper, activities director at Seabrook. "Their eyes light up when the kids are coming here or they are going to the school, and they talk about it for days afterward."
Babcock, the teacher, received a $5,000 grant from the Northwest Council for Computer Education to pursue the project. It paid for 17 AlphaSmart writing devices, which are like laptop word processors for children, a video camera and a printer. The "Treasure From the Past" project received a James Moffett Memorial Award from the National Council for Teachers of English and the National Writing Project.
Not all the senior buddies were senior citizens. Vance Fetrow, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, lives at Seabrook. He helped Deanna Juarez and Vickie Kuder try to understand what it is like to be blind. Vance showed them his special computer, "which talks to him, reads him stories and reads his e-mail."
"Vance," they said, "is a good friend to have."
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446
or send e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.
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