Thought this was a neat link.

Catch \'em early enough and ...

__
/im

[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 09-15-2000).]

Thanks for the link Tim. I feel it is most important that we help to spark the interest of our children as they will be the future "keepers" of these national treasures.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

That's a great source material for a unit on lighthouses. I'm going to contact the Society and see if it'e permissable to copy it and add it to the Educational Kit that the NJ Lighthouse Society makes available for a donation that covers the cost of the materials. It deals with NJ lighthouses, but this would work well with it also.

I just donated two units to my children's old elementary school. I realized when I was driving there that my son had graduated from ther 11 years ago.

Time flies.

Dennis

I'm into my second year of going into the classroom and talking to these young folks about lighthouses. Its been alot of fun and I find they really get interested in the folklore and history without much prompting. I find that it takes about the first 10-15 minutes "to break the ice"....then it becomes shear pleasure. I've been with 4th, 5th & 6th graders and one thing is obvious....no matter whether they've ever been to a lighthouse or not....there is something quite magical about the "lights" that the youngsters are totally facinated with. When you talk to them you can see their eyes really light up because, in alot of cases, not only have they never been to a lighthouse, but they don't know what they are or that there was such a thing.
From my vantage point....that's where the treasure lies. Its as though someone has empowered me to enlighten them about these fantastic structures. Talk about a feeling of joy when I leave the classroom...man....that's what it all about!

My next project is to go into some of the senior citizen centers and do the same thing. They may not be the "future" as in the case of the children....but they were a part of the past when the "lights" were a working part of our culture. Maybe they'll teach me a few things about'em!!

[This message has been edited by Brent (edited 09-19-2000).]

Educational Resources http://www.lilighthousesociety.org/educationalresources/default.htm

Learn more about a fun educational activity idea: Letterboxing & Geocaching http://www.lilighthousesociety.org/letterboxing.htm

Lighthouse Educational Resources Links http://www.lilighthousesociety.org/educationalresources/links.htm



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KRISTIN ERIN SCROOPE
kristin@scroope.net
http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/lhlist.htm
http://www.LILighthouseSociety.org

I couldn't agree more about starting them early.
So, as a means to get my 10 year old nephew and I out of my parents house so Mom could start her pre-Thanksgiving cooking, I took Nick to see the Tybee Island lighthouse yesterday. It was a 3 hour trip from Augusta, GA to the Savannah area but Nick was as good as gold for the entire trip. If he wasn't playing his video games he was reading to me. He was so excited about being able to visit the lighthouse, that he was up at 7 AM and ready to go!
The minute we got there he popped out of the car and started taking photos like crazy! Guess I've kind of rubbed off on him. So, we walked around and took photos for awhile before heading for the gift shop. He got really excited when he heard that we were going to climb to the top. Once he had that ticket he was off and running. He charged up the light and was so proud of the fact that he made it up to the top. I don't think a single person who passed us for the rest of the day didn't know that "This is my first lighthouse and I made it up all 178 stairs!"
He asked a few technical questions about lighthouses on the way home in between the "Thanks, I want to do that again!" or the "Wow, that was awesome" type comments.
I had been to Tybee almost 2 years ago and wasn't really planning on going during this trip but when Nick asked if we could go to one I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend some good quality time with Nick and to hopefully foster an interest. Like Ron said, kids will one day be our future "keepers."


shirin

Yesterday I was on the forums for a good part of the day.I was surprised at the number of people that have Programs for kids.I have given a lot of thought to this since I got home.Having met other people working with lights I have noticed the only one that is Younger all the time is BILL.We are many of us getting along in age and we need to have someone to replace us one day.
who else but the upcoming kids.The only thing is we need to get them interested in the lights.As I said there seem to be many programs in the works but you usually have to search for them they have no socalled advertising.I say we need to get them known.programs such as our postcard exchanges are great,but they are going to people who are already into the lights.Right now I still have a bit of trouble getting aboutand spend a lot of my time at home.We should be pushing these programs to every one who will listen and help get themout.The U.S.Lighthouse society has a great program on paper but they need some one to get them into the schools.These lights are a great part of our history.If it were not for the ships they were built to guide where would we be.these towers were like the street signs we have today and the danger signs we see along todays streets they have done much in the development of our world.and to let them go would be a catastrophy.LETS GET THESE KIDS PROGRAMS OUT WHERE THEY BELONG.WE the have means Now lets get it done.Bill O'Brien

Elinor DeWire was a guest speaker at this years Harbour Lights Reunion in Baltimore. Elinor is a noted Author of numerous articles and books about lighthouses, an Historian and Educator. For years Elinor has been teaching young folks about our lighthouses. The link below will take you to Elinor's website, Sentinel Publications.

http://www.sentinelpublications.com/

You will also find Ida's Scratching Post, with Lighthouse Kitty, in the Lighthouse Digest. Elinor is the author, and this is for the education of our youth about lighthouses.

She is also on the planning committee for the International Lighthouse Conference which will be held in New Bedford, MA in 2002. This will be a huge event which will be geared toward educating young folks.

I think that it is wonderful that you took your nephew to Tybee Shirin. I'm sure you feel great satisfaction in knowing that you may have sparked the interest of a future "Keeper of the Flame". That is honorable and I'm sure that Nick will never forget his first lighthouse climb as well as the fact that you, Aunt Shirin, is the one who inspired him.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

Pretty interesting educational activity idea...To make visiting Horton Point Lighthouse a little more interesting, the kids in the Southold school district actually participate in this activity as part of their local history curriculum.
Lighthouse Cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=7432

More about Horton Point Lighthouse & Nautical Museum: http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum36/HTML/000014.html




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KRISTIN ERIN SCROOPE
kristin@scroope.net
http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/lhlist.htm
http://www.LILighthouseSociety.org

Fourth Grade Presentation in Sag Harbor NY??? JChidester 4 03-01-2000 09:55 AM http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum5/HTML/000197.html


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KRISTIN ERIN SCROOPE
kristin@scroope.net
http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/lhlist.htm
http://www.LILighthouseSociety.org

We do a good number of tours for school groups during the year at Mukilteo Light Station. I have been fortunate enough to do some of these tours with the children and I must say their teachers have done an excellent job helping them learn about lighthouses in general. They come up with some very intelligent lighthouse related questions during our presentations. It is always inspiring when I do tours with children to know that the future generation, at least here in the Mukilteo area, will keep our light shining bright.
Darlene

The Chesapeake Chapter of the USLHS has a good school program as well. One of my friend's mother is the principal for one of the elementary schools back home and this spring she will have the Chesapeake Chapter back for their 2nd lighthouse presentation. She even got HL to send Little Lights for each of the children. I had told her about the Chesapeake Chapter and the Little Lights and was happy to hear that the presentation went over really well.
I've also gotten my best friend to incorporate lighthouses into her classroom as well. She will be using the book "Keep the Lights Burning Abbie" for some of her 2nd graders later on this year.
A good part behind the incorporation of lighthouses in these two cases was just by my sharing the information. You never know where your lighthouse enthusiasm and knowledge will be put to good use.


shirin