Off the PROJECTS-L Listserv Subject: Community resources
From: Dot Schuler <dschuler@PLANTNET.COM> Diary, Grafton project, 1-21-99:

After two weeks of icy, snowy weather and only a few sporadic days at school, we finally had a week of consistency! We actually attended school Tues. through Friday this week (Monday was a holiday)! Our Grafton project had been interrupted, not only by the holiday, but by the school cancellations, as well. We took advantage of our only day with no rain, Wednesday, to walk around the community to collect data since many of the children needed to gather more information for their investigations of the community. Before I started doing project work, I wasn’t aware of the many community resources available to us. Just as significant, I wasn’t aware of the community’s interest in the children’s work. Since we began tapping those resources, we have always been overwhelmed at the support and enthusiasm offered by community members. Of course, I contact local businesses and community members for field experiences and visits from experts, but a great deal of the time, the resources emerge because the community hears of our projects and generously offers to help. So, when we started on our walk, I knew we would have many surprises in store, not only because all of our field experiences are rich adventures in learning, but, with the entire town watching us walk by, who knows what can happen! It’s a town of only 609 people!

As we passed the bait shop across the street, a man walked out of the store and yelled, "Mrs. Schuler, look at all those eagles!" I was so surprised to see the large group of eagles in the trees along the Illinois River, that it wasn’t until later that I realized he had called me by name. Upon asking the children if any of them knew him, none of them did! It’s amazing how a small town like Grafton keeps in touch with what’s going on!

We continued walking about one-half mile west on Main Street to the local grocery/hardware store. To our delight, the children spotted even more eagles, some perched in trees and others on ice chunks in the river, waiting to catch fish. When we arrived at the store, the owner first answered the children’s questions. Aran had already decided to do his project on the store, so he had prepared a list of questions to ask. Then, he took them inside the cooler, demonstrated the grinding and packaging of ground beef, and gave them pens with his business phone number, telling them to call him any time they wanted to. Afterward, as we stood in front of the building, sketching, we noticed more eagles, one of which was roosting in a nearby tree. We walked very close to the tree to get a photograph, while the eagle simply watched us! We wondered if the large number of eagles had anything to do with the fact that our calendar for the day had a symbol on it that indicated it was the "best" day for fishing!

After leaving the grocery store, we stopped at the local bait shop after standing across the street to sketch the shop and/or church nearby. The owner invited the children to look around the store. They observed things, took notes, and were particularly interested in the live bait (crickets, minnows). I asked if she knew who had been in the store earlier and called me by name. Of course, she knew! It was the mayor’s husband.

We continued toward the east end of town for lunch. We ate at the historic Ruebel’s Hotel. As we entered the front door, the owner, whom I had talked to on the phone to make arrangements, introduced herself, shook my hand, and informed me that they had decided to donate the drinks in order to cut down on the price of our meal. (She also told me that she had known we were nearby because everyone who had come in for lunch had told her, "They’re coming! I saw them walking down the street!") A man named Byron, dressed in his steamboat captain attire, had our tables set and talked to the children about the history of the hotel while they waited for their lunch. He had an eagle video for them to view and he "played" the player piano and sang for us while we ate. (We sang along when we knew the words!) Also during lunch, a customer approached our group as she was leaving and complimented the children on their good manners! Lunch was followed by a tour of the rooms. Then, he asked if we were interested in going next door to the new museum. (I had never been there.) He had already called Gary, the man who works there, and he was anxious for us to come. The museum had many pictures of Grafton during the Great Flood of ’93. Both Byron and Gary gave each of the children local informational booklets to keep.

We walked on to the local Fudge Shop because four children are doing an investigation on it and had been unable to collect all of their data. After sitting across the street to sketch the shop, we all went inside and looked around while those four children asked the questions that they had already recorded before the trip.

Interspersed with our stops, we conducted a "treasure hunt" for historical buildings. When the mayor had visited our classroom earlier, she talked about the history of our town and gave us a framed collage of pictures of the historical buildings, along with brief descriptions and interesting facts about each. Each child had a copy of the written descriptions, and, as we walked, we located each of the buildings and read the information that we had attached to our clipboards, along with our paper for note-taking and our sketch paper.

At 2:30, we returned to the school building, invigorated from the exercise of our bodies and minds! We each shared our favorite sketch, describing the details. Then, we shared our notes and recorded them on chart paper to display in the room. The chart will be a very helpful reference as we are now ready to engage in our investigations and representations!

One last note, and helpful hint! Another community member, one of our bus drivers, had been to a local auction and acquired plastic pencil holders on a nylon cord! All you have to do is squeeze the plastic holder, insert a pencil, release, and the holder has a grip on the pencil. Even though our pencils are usually tied to our clipboards, we inevitably have problems with fraying or untied string, because they are handled so much. With these holders, they go around your neck like a necklace, and they are long enough to write with comfortably without taking them off your neck. This was our first trip with the new "pencil necklaces" and they were wonderful! I hope you can find some! There’re a must!

Dot Schuler, Second Grade Teacher, Grafton Elementary School