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Christian Lawrence, a fifth grader in Mary Powell's class at St. Charles School in Bloomington last year, talks to Irene Thomas, an "Elder" who related her stories about work in the foreign service to St. Charles' students as part of a project launched three years ago by the IU Center on Aging and Aged. Thomas had another story to tell: as the mother of NASA's Don Thomas, she related stories of her son's career and gave out souvenir patches to the children sent by the astronaut. Photographer Tyagen Miller's documentation of the project opens at the IU School of Education, second floor, tonight.
Photographs of participants in an intergenerational project involving grade-school students and seniors citizens will be exhibited March 5-May 1 at the School of Education, with an opening reception tonight (March 5) from 4-6 p.m.
The photos are the work of Tyagan Miller. They document activities of "Learning and Growing Together," a program created by staff members from the IU Center on Aging and Aged and teachers from Bloomington's St. Charles School. The curriculum-based school program, created in 1996 and continuing each year since, brings adults (called Elders) into the school 's classrooms to discuss a variety of topics and share their experiences.
Second graders learn about World War II, a project about to begin its fourth year. Other areas of study are "Songfest," an intergenerational chorus in two fourth-grade classes; "Careers" in two fifth grade rooms; and "Oral History" in the seventh grade.
Accompanying the pictures in the exhibit will be excerpts from student, teacher and parent journals indicating the success of the intergenerational happenings.
"My second grade son said, 'These people are old, Mom. They're even older than you," reported one parent. "He was describing his World War II classes. Every time the Elders come, my son tells us about it. We've learned about tanks, pilots, Greenland and heroes. He doesn't want them (the Elders) to leave."
And a fourth-grade student wrote this: "I think it's amazing what happens when you put a kid and an Elder together. Both learn new stuff, and in many ways they are the same."
Go to this Web site of the Center on Aging and Aged for information and links on aging:
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