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A Message in a
Bottle is Found!
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September 2003 Story
by
Gary Olsen and Cathy Czipar-Hall
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| Irving Elementary students finally hear from someone
who found one of the bottles they dropped in the Mississippi
River more than a year-and-a-half ago. The first bottle
wasn't found far away, but something magical happened to
the people who found it. |
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 id
you ever put a message in a bottle and send it on its
way down the Mississippi River or tossed it from a beach
on the ocean, perhaps? Seven Irving Elementary did this
very thing in their study of the Mississippi River. They
even got the cooperation of the Department of Natural
Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the students
worked several days on making the contents of their bottles
special. There were drawings, a questionnaire ("Where
did you find my bottle?"), some pencils with Irving
School engraved on them, a lovely handwritten letter,
and a dollar bill as a small token of appreciation for
the effort of responding to the questionnaire.
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The
bottles were thrown into the Mississippi during a minor
flood stage in April of 2002. The large sized plastic
soft drink bottles bobbed up and down on the waves like
a flotilla of brightly colored boats. They quickly sailed
out of sight on the swift spring current.
Days
went by.... weeks, and then months. No word. According
to the Army Corps of Engineer's Lockmaster at Dubuque,
all the flood gates were open down to Alton, Illinois,
the last lock and dam on the river, so if the bottles
stayed in the channel, they could be all the way the New
Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The students studied maps
of the Mississippi. Since the launch, the National Mississippi
River Aquarium and Museum has opened, and exhibits there
have refueled some of the students' wonder as to where
the bottles finally ended their voyage. Were they hit
by a barge or boat and sunk? Were they trapped in a backwater?
Did a bottle get eaten by a giant catfish or a bayou alligator?
Anything is possible. Then one day, an e-mail arrived.
The
project leader, Cathy Czipar-Hall, at Irving almost lost
her breath when she read the e-mail from a couple who
were boating in the Dubuque area over Labor Day. Kerry
and Tom Gregor were camping on an island in the Mississippi,
went exploring in the island's interior, and found something.
The couple didn't know what it was until they closely
examined the contents of the well-capped soft drink bottle
to reveal a dollar bill!
The
couple was excited to say the least, and their letter
to Cathy was filled with heartfelt emotion. When they
read about the kids, their website (where they could actually
see the children who sent the message in the bottle),
they became caught up in the spirit of the project.
"When
I read the messages, I became emotional," said Mrs.
Gregor. "We couldn't wait to get home to share our
treasure and respond to the questions. The experience
made our weekend."
The
movie we've produced on this page tells the whole story
in the faces and the voices of the children, and it's
extraordinary, even though the first of the seven bottles
was found about a mile from where it was launched, it
connected with someone in a very unique and personal way.
It didn't matter if the bottle floated 50 miles or 50
feet.
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Below
is the original story and film that appeared in April
2002
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Message in a Bottle
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Irving Elementary students learn about
the Mississippi River
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April 30, 2002 Photos and Video Adventure
by Gary Olsen
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 essages
in bottles floated down the Mississippi River is an interesting
way to learn about the river. The idea for the concept began
as a Christmas party conversation at the home of Cathy Czipar-Hall.
It quickly grew into a full-blown project for Cathy's class
at Irving Elementary.
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Our
First Movie
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are RealMedia files requiring RealPlayer to be available
in your browser. The program is free and available
here to install so you can enjoy all of the multimedia
content our website has to offer. Click
here for instructions and a link to the software.
The turtle is for slow connections, the rabbit for
fast. Both of these movies have stream capabilities. |
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So her
students created original drawings, a questionnaire (the most
interesting part), a free Irving pencil, a letter of introduction,
a
Web site
link, and a one-dollar bill in plain view inside the 2-liter
pop bottles. "Don't you think if someone sees a bottle
floating by and there is a dollar inside, that they might want
to pick it up?" asks Cathy of her students.
For a 10
minute documentary on the preparations for this interesting
curriculum piece that combines geography, science, writing and
art skills, click on the appropriate button above. If you need
help in learning how to play video clips on your computer, read
the column below.
Also, you
can click on any of the photos on this page to download a larger,
more printable version.
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Instructions
For Those Outside of Our School Network (The General Public)
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We are now providing a choice of RealPlayer applications for you to download
and install on your computer to enable you to view the video and audio
files. One is RealPlayer8 and the other is RealOne Player, which is an
excellent player with many new features. It's easy to install, so just
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the on-screen steps. You will be required to register with Real.com, but
these are free software applications (there are versions you can pay for
if you choose, but they are not necessary for basic viewing and listening).
Which
Player is Best for Me?
 Of
the two types of free players available, RealPlayer 8 is the traditional
player that is free and will work beautifully to access Web based multimedia
files from our site. There is also a new player available, which is also
free, called RealONE. Either player will probably work for your operating
system. If your system is older (Windows 95, NT), however, you may want
to use the RealPlayer 8 software. If you are running a newer, faster system
like Windows 98, ME, XP, or 2000, go for the RealOne player.
Macintosh
Owners:
 You
can get a RealPlayer for Macintosh, Visit Real.com
to download their free player options. Remember, look for the FREE players.
They are sometimes difficult to find on their Web site.
Oh, and one more
thing... sometimes when you click on a sound or video file in our Web
site with the RealPlayer installed, you get a little commercial window
that pops up on your desktop. It's annoying, but a small price to pay
for the privilege of having the free RealPlayer on your system. Just click
it off, and it will disappear.
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Instructions
For Machines on our School Network (Teachers and Staff)
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| We are
recommending (and IT is supporting) RealPlayer8.
This is for ALL computers on our network (in all school and administration
buildings throughout the District). This includes all Windows 2000 machines.
Click here to get the free player from
our network server. If you do not have administrative priveleges,
please call your building media specialist to help you. |
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