D-Day Graves....and Mrs. Olsen

We are now approaching the end of the year...all students in 9th grade have been given a detailed test guide.  AP European History Students are getting ready for their senior presentations, and we are still finishing up some great books in READING your WAY through HISTORY.

Mrs. Olsen has exciting plans for the summer.  She'll be visiting France with student Brandon Gunn as part of the D-Day Fallen Heroes project---the Albert Small Memorial Scholarship.  She and Brandon are representing the state of Oregon as the commemorate a fallen paratrooper who died on June 6, 1944, and is buried in the Normandy Cemetery.

Our fallen hero, Gene Morrison, didn't make it out of his plane when German anti-aircraft fire destroyed the cockpit.  He was only 22 years old and had been married only a few months before he was deployed to Britain to prepare for the invasion. We'll also be visiting the graves of some other fallen heroes from Oregon.  Thanks to Albert Small's generosity, we're prepared to honor Oregon's sons who are buried in France.

Pot menders and saving money

Ninth grade students are now learning about the Great Depression....and we are making a lot of links to today.  Many of our students are living in families with financial distress...and they are not alone!  We are making many links to "buying on margin" and "predatory lenders."   They know that the great installment buying scheme of the 1920's was similar to today's credit card debt.

In the 1930's money was scarce.  Everyone was encouraged to make due and mend.  Even special pot menders were created to mend the holes in pots.  I have a collection of pot menders (exactly pictured below) that students will hold in their hands.  There was a small slice of cork attached to the metal potmender.  It formed a "suction" that sealed the pot.

Pot menders are one of the collectables of the great depression.  They encouraged thrift and "make do."  During this unit, students will also examine a quilt from the Great Depression.