News
Second
graders take trip to the South Pole
Jan. 7, 2010
Students in Miss Laurie Welch’s class recently went on an adventure most people dream about.
They traveled to Antarctica with physical education teacher, Mrs. Karolyn Devito, in a ski-equipped C-130 airplane. However, since the class couldn’t take a month off from school to go to Antarctica, they made “flat” versions of themselves so that Mrs. Devito could take them all with her.
This class trip was just one of the many trips Miss Welch’s students have been on over the years. Each year her class reads, “Flat Stanley” by Jeff Brown, which is about a boy who wakes up as flat as a pancake one morning and because of his new shape he gets to go on amazing adventures.
Typically,
after the class reads the story, each student creates a flat version
of themselves and sends it to a family member who takes them on
various trips. The family member takes pictures and writes in a
“Flat Stanley” journal along the way.
This year, students were fortunate enough to go on an additional trip with Mrs. Devito, who in addition to her teaching duties is a 1st Sergeant of the 109th Airlift unit in the NY Air National Guard, which is based in Scotia. The 109th Airlift Wing’s missions include support of scientific research on the Greenland icecap and in Antarctica.
So, on her first trip to Antarctica, Mrs. Devito decided to share her experiences with Miss Welch’s class. She took many pictures along the way, wrote in each student’s journal and brought back certificates saying that they had been to the South Pole.
When Mrs. Devito returned from Antarctica, she talked to the class about her trip, showed them pictures of themselves on the plane, in the snow hiking up mountains, and even near a family of penguins.
“My class and I really enjoy going on these flat friend adventures every year and we never know where each year will take us,” said Miss Welch. “We were certainly very fortunate to go on this journey with Mrs. Devito and we are very thankful to her for all of the hard work and time that she put into this project for us.”
