Hello from Bloomfield, Nebraska

Hello from Bloomfield, Nebraska ! My name is Reann Risor, and I am the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Johnson (the Flat Stanley coordinator at our school). I work at the Bloomfield High School as Special Education Para and I was very happy to host your Flat Stanley.

We are a SMALL community. We have about 1,000 residents. We are mostly a farming community. The people in the area farm corn, beans, alfalfa and a few other items. Many people also have their own gardens to grow vegetables such as tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, green beans. Most here travel by car, truck, or by tractor for day-to-day traveling. When they must go farther, they will either drive or take a plane. The closest main airports to our area are about 2-3 hours away. most of the towns in our area are similar in size but there are a few larger areas within an hour's drive. Because we are a rural farming area, we tend to eat a lot of what we grow. We eat a lot of vegetables, meat and potatoes. We dont eat a lot of fish other than what we can catch in the nearby lakes and rivers.

Flat Stanley arrived here shortly after Halloween so he missed out on the opportunity to go trick-or-treating with my husband's little brothers. He was, however, able to enjoy some of the candy that they received and check out their costumes.

Flat Stanley has also been able to take part in Thanksgiving and Christmas here in the U.S.

On Thanksgiving, we celebrate the unification of a group of English settlers and the Native Americans. Native Americans were a central part in the growth of the U.S. They taught the settlers how and when to grow crops that were able to sustain the people during the long winter months. These days, most celebrate Thanksgiving by gathering with their families and having large feasts. In our family we feast on turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and many desserts such as pumpkin pie. After eating the meal, we spend time watching football games, playing board games with the family, talking with friends and family that we do not see on a regular basis, and many other activities.

After Thanksgiving comes a very busy time....Christmas. As on Thanksgiving, we gather with immediate and extended family and friends to eat and catch up on the past year. We also exchange gifts of many sizes. I spend Christmas with my husband and his family and we celebrate with my family the week before or the week after as they live about 12 hours from us. On Christmas, the young kids usually get up early and wake the rest of the family as they are eager to open their presents from Santa and the family. After opening presents, we gather with the family and enjoy a feast similar to the one we have on Thanksgiving.

I will be sending Flat Stanley back in the next week as I get some items to send with him. If you have any questions concerning anything I have shared or if you would like to more, feel free to ask. I will respond to them as quickly as I can and am glad that your students have such an interest in learning more about the world around them.

Very best,

Reann Risor

Here are some pictures of typical, country Fall scenes, Halloween costumes and decorations, the Christmas tree and decorations we put up,, and then some of our lovely winter that we get here...

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

Howdy partners !

We've just spent 2 terrific weeks learning about the state of Oklahoma.

Some of our in-workshop activities include :

-Doing an OK state coloring page

- Listening to the state song "Oklahoma" (from the musical)

- Learning where OK is on the USA map and meeting Flat Stanley from OK

- Making & tasting peanut butter

-Watching a video on how to milk a cow

- reading about our Flat Stanley’s adventures at a school in OK

- Playing with a farm and animals and learning their names and sounds in English

- Playing Moo-Neigh-Baa-cockadoodledoo (animal sounds) game

- Learning to spell in English, and spelling out "OKLAHOMA"

- Listening to the songs and watching videos of the musical "Oklahoma". Singing along

- Playing a memory game to win farm animal stickers

- Making an OK state map collage page

- Making home-made ice cream in a bag

Here are some highlights of the workshops in photos :

Making and tasting home-made peanut butter ...

Playing with the farm and farm animals...

OKLAHOMA discovery page ...

OKLAHOMA collage making ...

Making the ice-cream ...

Here's the home-made ice cream recipe we used, in case you want to try it at home ....

What you'll need:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
• 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
• Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Flat Stanley (Elisa) à la découverte de l'état de Michigan

I arrived in Holland Michigan on Monday, November 1, 2010.

I am staying with the Kelley Family. In addition to Ms. Brubaker and Mr. Kelley, there are 4 children here - Emily (11 years old, attending 6th grade), Duncan (10 years old, attending 5th grade), Ronan (7 years old, attending 2nd grade) and Spencer (4 years old, attending preschool). There are also 2 cats - Finnegan and Seamus. The cats live outside, and are not quite a year old yet.

Holland has some interesting history. It was settled by people from the Netherlands, and there is a strong Dutch influence even today. I'm packing a map of the United States so that you can see where I am here. The Kelley's live about 10 miles from Lake Michigan. It's rather flat, and the soil has a lot of sand and clay. The weather here is very much affected by the lake - Holland can be quite a bit cooler than the inland cities in the summer, and quite a bit warmer than the inland cities before it freezes over in the fall and early winter. Because of the lake, Holland is known to get upwards of 100" of snow each year! It hasn't snowed here yet this season, but there is a chance that I may see some snow before I leave...

I missed the actually Halloween holiday, but there were still some decorations on the front porch. I put my costume on and posed... The Kelley family loved my costume! The children told me about their Halloween night - everyone gets dressed in a costume and goes to neighbors' doors during a time that is set by the city (so it may be different times, depending on where you live). They call this trick-or-treating. The people in costumes ring the doorbells of houses where the outside lights are on (this is the way that people let the trick-or-treaters know that they are participating), and when the door of the house opens, they yell 'Trick or Treat!!". Then they are offered candy. There are some houses that are decorated in amazing ways, with lights and scary mannequins that may even make spooky sounds, and some houses that have pumpkins carved with different faces. It's quite the holiday!

On Tuesday, it was a big election day in the United States, called Mid-term elections, because it did not include a presidential election. Many of the seats in the US Congress were being voted on, and several states were voting for their Governor (including Michigan). I was able to go along with Spencer and his mom to vote! In the United States, you need to be a citizen and at least 18 years old to actually vote, so Spencer and I talked with the nice ladies at the voting place. They gave us stickers for coming along :-)

I should mention how cold it was here today. At 9:00 this morning it still hadn't warmed to 30 degrees F! Eventually it warmed a little more, but winter weather has definitely arrived here. I'm bringing home the weather page from the newspaper so you can see how the weather looks for this week, as well as how it compares to the rest of the country.

Wednesday was a big day for me. I went with Spencer to see his preschool. Like all of you, Spencer is learning another language. His preschool is entirely in Spanish!

Then I went with his mom to Holland's Farmers' Market. The growing season is almost completely over in Michigan, as it has become very cold here, but there are still several crops that are sold from cold storage, including squash, peppers, apples, and Brussels sprouts. The market hosts farmers from the West Michigan area from mid-May until the first week of December.

Then I took a trip to Lake Michigan with Ronan and Spencer and their dad. Wow! This lake is so big that you can't see the other side! It looks like a sea, but there is no salt in the water, and there are only smaller fish. There is a lighthouse in Holland that is known to the people here as 'Big Red'. It helps to direct boats to the channel that leads from Lake Michigan to a smaller lake called Lake Macatawa.

It's been a great couple of days! I'll write more soon.

I miss all of you!

Flat Stanley

Here are some photos from Holland, Michigan! There is a photo of me with some peppers and one with me and some apples and one with me and some Brussels sprouts, and one with me and some squash. These are all from my trip to the Farmers' Market.

There's also a photo from Wednesday morning when I saw Spencer's Spanish preschool.

Then there are a few from Tuesday when I went to see Spencer's mom vote, and I also spent a little time with one of the family's pet cats, Seamus.

Finally, there are some photos of me and the Halloween decorations on the family's porch.

Here are the photos from my trip to Lake Michigan! The lighthouse is known here as Big Red - I can see why! There is a neat tile picture of the lake that Ronan and Spencer showed me. The sunset was really something tonight! I did get a bit sandy though :-)

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November 7, 2010

Hi Everyone!

I am on my way home now, and I'm anxious to see all of you!

On Thursday, I went with Ronan to his second grade class. They were very nice, and told me several things that they were learning about the city of Holland, Michigan. I found it especially interesting to learn that the first residents here were Native Americans, but the first white residents were French fur traders! Later, a man named A.C. Van Raalte settled here with many Dutch people and founded Holland.

I'm including a photo of Ronan's class.

On Thursday night, I went with Duncan and Ronan to their Tae Kwon Do class. I even got my own outfit to wear! I would need to practice a lot more to take these guys on again!

Friday was spent packing - I've collected several things while I've been here. There is a photo of me with the children that was taken in Centennial Park in downtown Holland. That is the central park for the city, and is often used for concerts and events, especially during the warmer months.

Thanks for sending me here - I've had a great time! See you soon !

Flat Stanley

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Back in Paris, our KidsCreate students have enjoyed learning about Michigan in the Fall. Here are some Michigan map collages they did :