Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200353
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
To date, they and Kathy Dalton's second-grade class have received more than 8,000 postcards representing every state in the United States. The mail also has included a picture of the Blue Angels in San Diego, signed by the commander-in-chief, and pictures taken in South Dakota's Badlands, where "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was filmed.
A color photo of the Delicate Arch from an Indiana Jones movie is also part of the windfall from a project started in February.
When she saw an item in the Roanoke Times & World-News requesting postcards for a child's collection, de Simone decided to use this method to create interest in social studies.
She wrote to a newspaper in each state and asked them to print her request for postcards reflecting points of interest in that state.
Response has been overwhelming. Mail has poured in from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the second-graders have learned facts not available in textbooks. Traveling also has become inviting to the youngsters.
"I would like to go to San Diego," said Megan Showalter. "Every summer they have a contest to make sand castles."
"They are building a Lego Land in California," said Mark Shuey. "And I have made a pen pal in New Jersey. I've already sent him some pictures of Virginia."
"Somebody got the first speeding ticket in Newport, Rhode Island," announced Keely Carter, "for going 15 miles an hour! And they also had the first educated dentist and the first woman reporter."
"Cleveland had the first electric traffic light," said Tyler Trumbo adding, "I have cousins in Ohio."
The "Augusta Chronicle" in Augusta, Ga., contacted de Simone after receiving her letter, and wrote a feature article about the project. Later, in a follow-up article, the reporter named the states that had not responded.
Georgia residents wrote friends in South Dakota, and told them to get those postcards to Virginia. When an orange grove owner read that no cards had been received from Florida, he sent a half bushel of Florida oranges to Dalton's class.
Other businesses responded. A gift shop in Tennessee sent 30 calendars, featuring that state. A real estate company in California faxed the request to all its branch offices, resulting in a flood of newcomer magazines from all over the country.
Individuals took on the class as a special project. A husband-and-wife truck driving team sent cards from the states they traveled through, signed "B. and B."
A California couple touring the United States sent cards to the class instead of to their own grandchildren.
A large U.S. map in the hallway at Breckinridge features favorite postcards. One wall of the classroom is covered with others. More cards are filed by state in shoeboxes. Students browse through them and categorize them by state flowers, flags, maps, etc.
At the end of the year the cards will be divided among class members and find their way to scrapbooks, a reminder of a not-to-be-forgotten social studies project.
by CNB