Ms. Hartshorn’s Classroom Newsletter

February 21, 2008

Dear Families,

Last week we were treated to a lovely slideshow of children living in Kenya. We saw their school (900 students!) and many of the faces of the children, some of who are orphans and receive most of their nutrition from the midday meal they receive at school. We have written friendly letters to some of these students. We found many of the names to be interesting, such as Milka, Dankan and Rose Mary. We have sent photos of ourselves in the classroom, large pictures that we drew and a few photos of us playing in the snow. Our letters included stories about what we like to do in the snow, and how we hope they are happy and have a good future. We told them how much we liked seeing the pictures of their school, their country and the beautiful, wild animals we saw, like zebras, warthogs, and hippos. View this slideshow led us to a great discussion in the classroom about "preconceived notions" we sometimes have about people or peoples of other nations. One child said, "All orphans are poor because they have no mother or father." Another child said, "I have a Mom and Dad, but I don’t have much money." Once we discussed some of our thoughts or what we thought we knew about Africa, and Kenya, in particular, we talked about poverty. This week I will be showing a book to the class titled Material World. I think this book will help us see how families in different parts of the world live, and what they actually have or own, compared to typical families in this country. There’s also an email/web page that Jennifer Tripp Mead (Ciara’s Mom) sent me earlier this year that I think will make an impact us. It’s a collection of photos of the food families within particular countries consume in one week. It’s pretty amazing to look at the amount of food consumed, as well as the amount of packaging that is included in some cultures. Some cultures eat a great deal of fresh produce and products, while others eat a good deal more refined and pre-packaged items. It will be interesting to see what your child has to say at home about this. If you hear any comments or questions, I’d love to hear what they are if you could send me an email. They might lead to further discussion or exploration.

With all of the excitement of Valentines’ Day last week, I must say there were three major highlights---making ice cream with Mrs. Orr’s kids using cans in the gym, making ice cream with our fifth and sixth grade learning buddies using baggies in the classroom, and eating ice cream sundaes in the afternoon! It was great fun to actually watch the liquid of the cream mixed with sugar become a solid as it was kneaded between a combination of ice and salt. It took some time, but it became ice cream! Oh, and we mustn’t forget opening all of those fabulous Valentines from our friends in first and second grade. The sounds of "Thank you. That is a very nice card. I just love it. It must have taken you a long time to do all of these. Did you get my card? Keep looking—it’s in there!" were just delightful. I sat back and watched your children express their friendship toward each other so tenderly-- it was a magical moment for me.

I’m going to make this newsletter short, and end it with several photos taken last week.

I hope you and your children enjoy the February break, and find some wonderful sharing time with each other. I’m off to visit my parents in Florida for part of the week, and hope to let the sunshine bake this nasty cold right out of me.

You’ll get another newsletter the week of March 10^th.

Be well~

Brenda

Dates to Remember: