2nd Grade
Community Connection Cards
By taking the information we learned in our regular classroom about Buxton, Iowa, we can talk about Community and how their community was different than others at the time. What can you tell me about what you learned?
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‘How was Buxton a unique community?’
*high population, jobs, racial equality, railroads, coal mines
*high population, jobs, racial equality, railroads, coal mines
The Buxton Wonders Baseball Team was partially sponsored by the Consolidation Coal Company through the donation of land to play on, building bleachers and even paying for uniforms for this traveling team. It is reported that this team always had both African-American and white players and traveled to such places as Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama, though they were not always well received in other towns. Admission to the Buxton home games was $0.50, and often the city band held concerts after the games.
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Courtesy of University of Iowa Libraries and Archives, Osborn, Nancy, "Buxton Wonders Baseball Team," 1915
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What caused Buxton to become a ghost town?
Courtesy of Library of Congress, “Buxton Review,” Iowa State Bystander, 26 June 1914
Postcards:
Postcard images of Shell Rock, Iowa
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Postcards of Waverly, Iowa
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Who invented the first postcard?
World Postcard Day: October 1st
The idea of the postcard originated in Germany in 1865. It was the Austrian government, however, that on October 1, 1869, issued the first postal card and these were an overwhelming success with 140,000 copies sold in the first few days and 10 million copies in a single year. The early postal cards had their critics. Many people thought it was improper to mail messages on cards that anyone, especially the servants, could read.
I know that you looked at a postcard of Buxton when it was a thriving community. Have you ever thought about the community you live in? What are places in our community that would explain our community to others? What part of our community is thriving? How do all of the people in our community show that they can live and work together in harmony, just like Buxton did?
What do you think about asking other communities to send us postcards explaining their community? What would they look like?
Your Challenge: Create a postcard that describes your community. Where is a common place that people would recognize in your community? What is special in your town? What will you put on it? What image explains community here in our town?
We can use Google Maps to get images of different places you are thinking about to use for your postcard!
How to make it:
1. Find the place you are thinking of on Google Maps. Print out your image.
2. Practice sketching your idea out in your sketchbook.
3. Get your postcard. It will be tagboard and cut to the right size of 4 inches by 6 inches.
4. Start to create the front of your postcard. You can use crayons, markers, colored pencils, construction paper/glue/scissors, and watercolors. You can mix these up, as well.
5. When you are finished, get a photocopy of your piece.
6. Get the back of your postcard ready, draw a line down the center of your card.
*write your address on the right side of the line. (see white board for directions)
*write your message on the left side of the line. Make sure you use “Dear....” and “From, ....”
7. Ask anyone you know to send us a postcard at school.
8. Be on the lookout for your postcard to come to you in the mail!
1. Find the place you are thinking of on Google Maps. Print out your image.
2. Practice sketching your idea out in your sketchbook.
3. Get your postcard. It will be tagboard and cut to the right size of 4 inches by 6 inches.
4. Start to create the front of your postcard. You can use crayons, markers, colored pencils, construction paper/glue/scissors, and watercolors. You can mix these up, as well.
5. When you are finished, get a photocopy of your piece.
6. Get the back of your postcard ready, draw a line down the center of your card.
*write your address on the right side of the line. (see white board for directions)
*write your message on the left side of the line. Make sure you use “Dear....” and “From, ....”
7. Ask anyone you know to send us a postcard at school.
8. Be on the lookout for your postcard to come to you in the mail!