When a Boxcar is a 'Teacher'

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The gift of learning and history went full circle — and it all revolved around favorite daughter, author Gertrude Chandler Warner.
More than 100 third graders packed the Putnam Elementary School Library April 1 as the Aspinock Historical Society presented a set of Warner’s Boxcar Children books in a special boxcar holder. 
Pat Hedenberg, boxcar museum director, presented the special gift saying the students can now borrow and read all the Boxcar Children adventures “and then you can write your own adventures.” 
In the near future, the third graders will be taking their annual adventure (um, trip) to the Putnam library, the Aspinock Historical Society and the boxcar museum. They’ll be learning about Warner and the times she lived in through programs, crafts and games. 
Aspinock Historical Society President John Miller told the students: “Here’s what I want you to remember. History teaches us about the past, so we can understand the present — and build.”
Putnam Municipal Historian Bill Pearsall asked the students if they knew how old Warner was when she wrote her first book. Nine. He challenged them to sit down and start writing.
Three residents who had Miss Warner as their third grade teacher, Gerry Tetreault, Sandra Ames and Ilene Bourgue, were on hand for the presentation. Ames, holding up an apple, talked about Warner having an apple sitting on her desk for the longest time. Finally the students asked why she didn’t eat the apple and she said there would be a lesson in the apple. A few days later she told students there was a star in the apple. “How could that be?,” Ames said. Warner finally cut through the circumference of the apple and the seed layout resembles a star. Ames passed around the “star” apple. Modern students learned something new — now Warner is “extending her teaching through a new group of children.”
For his part, Mayor Barney Seney urged the students to remember history and read, read, read. “The more you read, the more you know and you can explain yourself,” he said. 
Following all the speeches and presentations the students had presentations of their own. STEM teacher Cassondra LaVallee said they created their own versions of the boxcar and Warner’s world — thoroughly and in great detail. The students scattered to their creations and proudly answered questions from the guests.
LaVallee said back in August the United Arts team was thinking about ways to incorporate play and project-based learning and build relationships with the local community. Librarian Kathy Dunton helped think of the project — they came up learning about Warner and creating projects that represented her world. The project included engineering and design processes. Bill and Terri Pearsall came to talk about Warner and the students went on a bus tour. LaVallee said she knew after that the project needed to be expanded. “I wanted students to understand that places change over time and give them an opportunity to create an important part of Putnam’s history.” Students went around in teams and discussed how they might recreate these places, she said. 
Each team worked through the design process. Once a final design was chosen, they had to order materials necessary to complete their design and explored safety, for example hot glue guns and some cutting tools.
For the most part, LaVallee said, this was the first three-dimensional structure some students had created. She said sometimes the STEM room looked like a natural disaster had swept through but all the students helped clean up. They discussed what worked and what didn’t. “All of this work has brought us here today.” 

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caption, page 1: Some 115 Putnam Elementary School third graders were immersed in Warner history, gifts and projects. Expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.

captions, page 4 
clockwise from top left:

Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum Director Pat Hedenberg shows the students the gift, a set of Boxcar books with a boxcar holder. 

Mayor Barney Seney speaks to the third graders.

Sandra Ames, who was a student of Miss Warner's, tells the students Warner's story about the "star in the apple."

The students' models were on display.