Traveling Teddies

                                                                                          9/13/10

 

Dear Second Grade Families,

 

Next week we will begin a journey around the United States and perhaps even the world!  Actually it will be our teddy bears that will be doing the traveling.

 

To help get us started each student should bring a small teddy bear (or other stuffed animal) to school by this Friday, September 17th.  We will take pictures of each student with his/her bear before it sets out on its journey.  Then we will help the bear "pack" its belongings: a picture of the bear with his/her student, a student made passport for the bear, project instructions and a "journal" to document the bear's travels.

 

The following options are available for our Traveling Teddies:

 

• Students will take their Traveling Teddies home and find a relative, friend, neighbor, or business colleague of a parent that they know who will be traveling soon.  The students will ask that person to take their Traveling Teddy along on the trip with him or her.  He or she will be asked to write and mail a postcard from the bear's travel destination to the bear's student friend back at Mounds Park Academy.  This will keep us informed about the bear's whereabouts.  The bear's human traveling companion will also be requested to make an entry in the bear's 'journal' about where the Traveling Teddy went while it was on its journey.

 

• The relative, friend, neighbor, or business colleague should return the bear to the child upon their return home.  The bear may then embark on another adventure when another familiar person leaves on a trip.

 

• Traveling Teddies are not limited to air travel.  They may certainly travel by car, train, or bus.

 

• Students may mail their Traveling Teddy to relatives or friends who live in other cities or states.  The person who receives the bear should then send a postcard to school, write an entry in the bear's 'journal', and mail the bear back to the student.

 

• Second graders are welcome to take their own bears on trips with them such as at Thanksgiving, winter or spring break.  The child should send postcards to school and write in their bear's journal.

 

• If you are uncomfortable in any way with your child's participation in the Traveling Teddies program, we certainly respect your feelings.  Your child is not obligated to take part in the program.

 

 

We will post the locations of our teddies' travels on both a United States map and a world map in our classroom.  We will also display the postcards that we receive in the mail from our bears on our Traveling Teddies bulletin board.

 

The journeys of our Traveling Teddies will help make our studies of map skills, geography, cultural diversity and global awareness come to life as our bears 'write' to us as they travel.

 

So pick the lucky teddy bear (think small) that gets to make this journey and send him/her to school with your second grader for pictures on Friday, September 17th^.   The going away party and suitcase packing will be at a later date.  We suggest that you NOT choose to send your son/daughter's favorite bear as there is always a chance that the bear might get lost during this adventure.

 

We can "BEARLY" wait for our "BEARY" special teddy friends to begin their amazing travels.

 

 

Thanks!

Ms. Scalia and Ms. Selb