April 30th, 2020 2020 is History!

2020 is History!

Hello! We are into the 7th week of being home. I don't know about you, but this feels like a very strange time. At first it sort of felt like a long Spring Break, but now with school being online and all of the other changes, things feel... different. I always wondered what it would feel like to experience first hand a big historical event. And now, I guess we are. Nothing like this has happened a long time. It occurred to me that some day people will look back on this time and want to know what it was like for communities like ours.

Do You Journal or Have a Diary?

I thought that it would be neat for us to do a collaborative journal of this time. What does that mean? It means we will work together to create a record of this time, with anything we feel is important or interesting or fun to share. We're going to collect stuff from students and families and staff and community members and put them all together so that people in the future can get an idea of what life was like during 2020 for the Sauvie Island School community.

We Are Primary Sources!

Have you ever heard the term "Primary Source"? A primary source is an original document or material from someone who experienced a specific event. You may have read primary sources in class- things like stories from people living during the Vanport Flood or on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, or a journal of an astronaut on the Space Station. Primary sources are different than newspaper articles or textbooks, because they were created by the person who was actually there. You and I are Primary Sources! We are living during an historical event. We can make, as a community, a document school kids can look back on to learn more about what day to day life was like for us during 2020.

How Do We Do It?

You can send me anything that you think other kids would like to know about this time. It can be a diary entry or a letter describing your life right now. It can be a photo of your backyard or out your window. It can be a drawing or a piece of art you made. Maybe is it a recipe for the cookies your family has been baking recently. Maybe it's a video of you doing your active minutes. Or a poem you wrote for class. A photo of your completed puzzle, something you built in your garage, or you winning at a game of Apples to Apples! 

You don't have to make something new, if you don't want to. You can send in something you did for an assignment, if you'd like. You can send in as many things as you'd like. Your families can send things as well! I'm hoping the teachers will send along a few items as well, like Ms. Ferris' Open Letter to Google Classroom. I'll be including the recipe for the chocolate chip banana bread I've been baking a lot, some pictures from our backyard, and probably a video of our family skating on our ramp. I'm choosing these things because these are the parts I think I'll remember most about this time. 

What If I'm Feeling Sad or Lonely and Don't Have Any Happy Things To Share?

That's okay. This time can feel super sad and super lonely. It's okay to share those times too. In fact, it's important to share those parts too. Primary sources aren't just about the fun things we do during this time. It's about everything. The ups and the downs. Not only is it important to include both the good and bad things we're experiencing so that our record is both true and realistic, making art or writing about our sad/scared/lonely feelings can make us feel better. 

Also, this is not required. It's optional. Don't feel ready to share? That's okay. If you change you mind later, you can send it then and we'll add it. 

What Do We Do?

You can send your items to me via email, or share them via your Drive, if it's too large to email, like a video or something. If you can't figure out how to share it, send me and email and I'll help! Please be sure only to send me things you and your family are comfortable with sharing publicly online.

After I collect a bunch of things from our community, I'll build a website that we can share with the world. We'll update it as we go, so it can grow as we add new things and our situation changes.

UPDATE!!: Ms. Perry showed me this great link with a ton of good ideas!

Happy Creating and Collecting! I can't wait to see what you make!