Oldpirate
Contributor
If you're like me, you might remember the children's book "Paddle To The Sea" and maybe watched the video back in elementary/ school. (It's on YouTube if you want to see it: YouTube - Paddle To The Sea - Classic Children's Film - Part 1 of 3 )
A 3rd grade teacher in Muskegon Michigan is using this classic children's tale to teach her students about Michigan and Great lakes history and geography, and I thought it deserved attention.
Her students have worked with a local woodworker and willl be paiting and decorating dozens of toy canoes, then dropping them into Lake Superior. She is asking anyone who finds one to report in at the web site and release the canoe on its journey. Hopefully one or maro may find it's way to the Atlantic Ocean!
Plus, as divers we might actually see one of these little canoes during a surface interval, so keep your eyes open. They will each have a lasered-on message telling the finder what do do.
Here's the news release she sent out:
I am a 3rd grade teacher at McLaughlin Elementary in Muskegon Public Schools. I wrote a grant for a Paddle to the Sea project. Paddle to the Sea is a childrens book written by Holling Clancy Holling. The project is for our 40 3rd graders to carve a canoe out of balsa wood and let them go in Lake Superior, as in the story. The canoes would be labeled so we could track them on our website.
After talking to a local carver I ordered basswood instead of balsa because of its durability. Unfortunately this made it impossible for the children to do the carving with their parent. My 92 year-old, retired MPS teacher, Kenneth Kolberg and my incredible husband, Gary Schottke, cut and routered 43, 12- inch long canoes.
I had originally planned that the canoes would be labeled with a plaque. I went to Classic Sign and Stamp and they informed me that they could be lasered instead. Attached you will find a photo of a carved canoe lasered.
The children have since sanded their canoes and they are now getting lasered. The children will paint them yellow Thursday April 29. They will then get to paint their original designs on them Friday April 30.
The canoes will be numbered to go with the child who created it.
When all the canoes are ready 20 will be sent to Houghton, MI where Dave Poplawski will drive them up to the Keweenaw Peninsula and release them into Lake Superior. The other 20 will be sent to Sault Ste. Marie locks where they will be released on the south side of the locks by U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Kevin Sprague.
As the canoes are discovered by people, we hope they will visit our website (the information to do that is lasered onto each boat) and record where it was found so that we can follow the journey of each boat.
We know this will be an exciting adventure for months or years to come.
Funding for this project was made possible by grants from the Muskegon Public Schools Education Fund and the Muskegon City Teachers Clubhouse Fund. We would all like to thank them for their support.
Contact info:
Kathleen Schottke
231-720-2767
kschottk@mpsk12.net
Paddle to the Sea website
Thanks everyone. Report in here if you find one!
A 3rd grade teacher in Muskegon Michigan is using this classic children's tale to teach her students about Michigan and Great lakes history and geography, and I thought it deserved attention.
Her students have worked with a local woodworker and willl be paiting and decorating dozens of toy canoes, then dropping them into Lake Superior. She is asking anyone who finds one to report in at the web site and release the canoe on its journey. Hopefully one or maro may find it's way to the Atlantic Ocean!
Plus, as divers we might actually see one of these little canoes during a surface interval, so keep your eyes open. They will each have a lasered-on message telling the finder what do do.
Here's the news release she sent out:
I am a 3rd grade teacher at McLaughlin Elementary in Muskegon Public Schools. I wrote a grant for a Paddle to the Sea project. Paddle to the Sea is a childrens book written by Holling Clancy Holling. The project is for our 40 3rd graders to carve a canoe out of balsa wood and let them go in Lake Superior, as in the story. The canoes would be labeled so we could track them on our website.
After talking to a local carver I ordered basswood instead of balsa because of its durability. Unfortunately this made it impossible for the children to do the carving with their parent. My 92 year-old, retired MPS teacher, Kenneth Kolberg and my incredible husband, Gary Schottke, cut and routered 43, 12- inch long canoes.
I had originally planned that the canoes would be labeled with a plaque. I went to Classic Sign and Stamp and they informed me that they could be lasered instead. Attached you will find a photo of a carved canoe lasered.
The children have since sanded their canoes and they are now getting lasered. The children will paint them yellow Thursday April 29. They will then get to paint their original designs on them Friday April 30.
The canoes will be numbered to go with the child who created it.
When all the canoes are ready 20 will be sent to Houghton, MI where Dave Poplawski will drive them up to the Keweenaw Peninsula and release them into Lake Superior. The other 20 will be sent to Sault Ste. Marie locks where they will be released on the south side of the locks by U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Kevin Sprague.
As the canoes are discovered by people, we hope they will visit our website (the information to do that is lasered onto each boat) and record where it was found so that we can follow the journey of each boat.
We know this will be an exciting adventure for months or years to come.
Funding for this project was made possible by grants from the Muskegon Public Schools Education Fund and the Muskegon City Teachers Clubhouse Fund. We would all like to thank them for their support.
Contact info:
Kathleen Schottke
231-720-2767
kschottk@mpsk12.net
Paddle to the Sea website
Thanks everyone. Report in here if you find one!
