Today Miss Chris came in and talked about being an elderly person. She brought in several birthday cards that all say in one way or another that being old is bad. Think about it? Why is it bad to age? Aging is a normal part of life and we should respect elderly people because they've been here a long time. They probably know a lot more about the past than we do. ...Todd

I think People should not give old people bad cards that say, "Old People Scare Me". I saw a card that said 25 was old and I do not think 25 is old. People should not make mean cards because it could hurt old people's feelings. If a grandchild gave a mean card to their grandmother than she would probably think that they do not love her or like her. I don't think you would like it if someone gave you a mean letter. ...Danielle

The greeting cards that Miss Chris showed us in NetGap were insulting to old people. They said bad things like "from here on it's all down hill. ...Trevor

I thought the cards we saw with Miss Chris were very offensive to our elders. Most of the cards said that you you get older than you were just not useful because you douldn't see or you weren't like everybody else. I think that card companies should not be able to make offensive cards. ...Stephanie

I think that the greeting cards that you can get at any ordinary store make older people look bad. I think the people that make these cards are being rude to older people, and why would anyone want to buy them? It could make elders really sad if they think no one cares about them. Elders are actually very helpful and can tell you a lot about the past. Anyway, Think of your own Grandma and Grandpa. Would you want to make fun of them? ....Lance

Yesterday we played a fun, but hard game with Ms Wasserman. Here is what we did: to alter our vision, we put on goggles with saran wrap all over then. To make our sense of touch bad, we put gloves on our hands. Half of the class held hands in a circle. We had to get a hula hoop all the way around the circle without letting go of hands. In the first round we could talk in the second, we couldn't. It was hard, but we did it. ...Kelli

We did this game because of a project called NetGap. Net Gap is where elderly people come to our class and tell us their oral history. When we do it, we have a person that video tapes it and we ask them questions about their life. ....Autumn

The game was, I think, to show us that some people need encouragement. The first round the kids encouraged each other to make it easier. In the second round everyone had to be silent. That made the game harder. I think it was a good game to learn from. ...Evan

Meeting Mr. Schimke / Meeting Mr. Mathieu

The game that we played with the goggles and the gloves showed us how it would be to play if we were old. The goggles were to make it like we had bad vision. The gloves showed a bad sense of touch. Still it was pretty easy, but sometimes we would get stuck. It was hard to see. ...Hunter

We got to play a game that you use a hula hoop, goggles and gloves. First you put on the gloves and then you put the goggles on. Then you get in a circle and hold hands with the hula hoop like a ring in a circle of rope. You make the hula hoop go all the way around. You need to tell them what to do or you will have to start over. If a bunch of old people played it, it would take forever. ...Nathan W.

I would like to know how our elders stay so active and full of energy. My grandparents are very active and they own a farm and they go fishing. I help them by baling hay, cutting their grass, and feeding their animals. I say I help my grandparents a lot. ...Nick