3rd grade teacher seeking ideas

[MeMom]

Our school is doing a Culture Day activity in mid-March. The third-grade (my class and four others) is responsible for highlighting Europe. No small task.

I'm in the market for anything free anyone is willing to send me that represents your area. It can be a newspaper, postcard, or anything Disney-Europe related, because my kids know their Disney!

We have a contact in Germany who is going to send some things, so we're very excited about that! I told her even a cereal box that had German writing or a poster or advertisement that would just be trashed, we'd be happy to have, so anything anyone might be willing to send would be appreciated. We are a low-income school, so I can't afford to pay postage. I'm just a teacher looking for a way to bring the world to these kids, and I thought of the Disboards.

If you want to see what I'm like (and my family) to see if you think we're "safe" to deal with, you can check out the Baby and the Tramp link in my signature. It is our TR with plenty of pictures.

I don't want anyone to spend any money on anything, other than if you're just willing to mail it to me. We plan to get a refrigerator box and make one of the red phone booths. Maybe you could even share a bit of information about what a normal school day is like for your kids, and I could share that with ours.

Again, forgive me for being a "beggar", but I would like to make this a nice study for the kids. Thanks for any input or ideas anyone can give. We have over 600 kids in our school who will be participating, and we want third-grade to do a great job representing Europe. Feel free to PM me, as well, if you would like. We are in the Nashville, TN school district, by the way.

 

[emily1982]

pm sent!

 

[BRobson]

PM sent

 

[rpbert1]

PM sent

 

[MeMom]

I'm so excited about the responses I've gotten!

Just to let you know, our school goes from pre-school to 4th grade. We have around 650 kids, and 97% are at poverty level, so we have a great mission to do in serving them.

When our grade level was assigned Europe, being of Disney-mind, I immediately thought of the Epcot countries of World Showcase. So, if you have or know of anyone or anything that can help us highlight Norway, France, Italy, Germany, UK/Ireland - we're doing those for sure, and then anything else we can do.

I appreciate anything at all, and I'm very impressed already with your kindnesses just in this one afternoon I've had this up. Thank you so much!

 

[irisheyes123]

pm sent

 

[natalielongstaff]

pm sent

 

[aaronandterri]

pm sent x

 

[kev kendall]

pm sent

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

pm from me too

 

[Lamandpercy]

PM sent.

 

[saratogagirl]

pm on the way x

 

[Danauk]

PM sent

 

[MeMom]

PM sent

I got two things from you today. Thank you so much!

 

[rpbert1]

Glad you recieved them.

 

[cherjp]

hi pm sent to you hope i am not too late.

 

[MeMom]

pm from me too

I just got your package in the school mail. The pictures are awesome! Thank you so much. The kids will really enjoy hearing about your son's school days. Thank you for sharing your country with us!

 

[MeMom]

Can anyone tell me the correct way to pronounce Schultute - the cone-shaped gift for schoolchildren in Germany? Do you hear the 'c', or is it more like 'sh'? Do most families do this today, or is it a thing of the past? What are popular ways to decorate them? What are common items that are put in them? Are they kept to use for other family members, kept by the child, or thrown out? I've read about these and would love to incorporate this into my study, but I'd like firsthand knowledge.

Lizzy Lemon, my teachers loved your pictures - especially the landscape pictures and the one of the horses and carriage carrying the Queen!

As for the red phone booths, are those all over as the standard telephone booths, or are there just a few? Are they fizzling out with the modern cell phone age?

Also, more questions, if anyone has a minute to answer:

Do school children in your area go home for lunch or stay at school?
What are your school hours? General subjects? Do your children wear uniforms? Are there any first day traditions in your area, or any traditions through the year?

Can you tell about holidays that are specific to your country?

What are some recreational activities your family enjoys? Tell me about sporting events, amusement parks, etc.

What type of currency do you use and what is it worth in relation to our dollar?

Anything you are willing to share will help us as we present this to our kids. Thanks for the help. We are having fun working on this!

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

Hiya - me again

Red phone booths - not as common as they used to be due to mobile phones! They tend to be found in villages more than towns. Often they are just glass boxes now.

Children in our area under 11 tend to have the choice of staying at school or going home, although I have heard recently of some local schools insisting the children stay in school.
This is what happened in my son's junior school
School hours 8.50 - 3.15pm
Subjects - literacy, numeracy, science, history, geography, music, art, religious education and on Friday afternoon they were rewarded with a play session
School uniform - black trousers, blue sweatshirt, white shirt
No first day traditions
This school had a high number of Muslim children so they didn't do some of the things another school might have done such as a Nativity play at Christmas or May Day celebrations where the children make decorative maypoles and walk through the streets on May 1st.

Holidays specific to the UK may include days off on the Monday nearest to May 1st, Spring Bank (Monday nearest to the end of May, school also close for one weeks half term), August bank holiday (last Monday in August).

Family recreation - not much in our case as our boys love football and DH and I are not designed for playing football! We love walks in the countryside, holidaying in our camper, eating out and going to the cinema and theatre together and the boys love to go swimming. Locally amusement parks are Alton Towers, Drayton Manor Park, Twycross Zoo. You will be able to see these on-line if the school has access to computers, if not I can send you some leaflets.

I also meant to send you some currency but forgot. We have 100 one pence to the pound. 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 coins. £5, £10, £20, £50 paper notes. We can get about $1.90 for each £1 at the moment so each $1 would buy about 53p. The prices here are much higher than your though. For example I bought some Crocs in WDW $39, they are £39 here, petrol or gas is £1.04 per litre, milk £1.95 for 3 litres, bread £1.20 a loaf, cinema ticket £4.80 even the admission tickets to the above mentioned theme parks are about the same as WDW but in no way match up to the entertainment value.

Hope this helps, as I said in my correspondence my youngest son has now moved onto the next stage in his school life and it is completely different to what I have mentioned above.

I've also sent you a couple of school uniform photos of Ashley. The all black uniform is the one he currently wears at senior school.

 

[MeMom]

pm sent

We got your package yesterday. So many fun things! That was wonderful, and thank you so much for your kindness.


Lizzy Lemon - Thanks for the additional pictures and information. That does help.