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September 12, 2002
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD
West Elementary fourth grade teacher Amy Johnson tells
her class about Raleigh, the first destination for the
class’s ram.
Traveling Ram
West students learn about NC
by mailing Tar Heels’ mascot
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
West Elementary School
fourth grade teacher Amy
Johnson has found a way to
teach her students about
North Carolina history and
it doesn’t involve textbooks.
Johnson is using a stuffed
University of North
Carolina ram. Her class
wanted to mail it Tuesday
and to help get it to Raleigh
was Kings Mountain post-
man Jerry Clontz.
Participating in the activi-
ty are Johnson's and Gwen
Whisnant’s fourth grade
classes: “4b 3 SALE AO TAAL
The idea came to Johnson :
from reading.
“Really I got the idea out
of a magazine,” she said. “A
teacher had sent a teddy
bear around the world. She
would leave it in a public
place with a little note ask-
ing somebody to pick it up
and learn about it that way.”
With the fourth grade
studying North Carolina in
Social Studies, Johnson
thought of a few variations
of the activity which includ-
ed sending the ram around
the state.
The activity is going to
last all year long and
Johnson said she hopes to
see pictures with the ram
plus historical and other
information about the town.
“Anything important
around their town - popula-
tion, anything - theyre
sending it.,” Johnson said.
“We're just leaving it up to
them and we're going to
learn about North Carolina
that way.”
During part of Tuesday’s
class, Johnson asked stu-
dents what they knew about
Raleigh, the first destination
for the ram.
“Well, Raleigh is the place
they get together and make
these laws,” Johnson said to
her class.
The state fair was also
mentioned by students.
Other destinations for the
raminclude Wilmington,
Asheville and Winston=-/ =
Salem.
Johnson said, while she
uses textbooks as supple-
ments, she prefers doing
other hand activities.
She tries to do that for
other subject areas such as
science.
“Everything, science, we
do experimental learning
and stuff like that instead of
out of a textbook,” she said.
The textbook is used more
as a supplement, she said.
Although there are no
texts involved with the
activity Johnson said the
students will have to com-
plete projects such as mak-
ing cups using the informa-
tion they learned. Students
will also turn in a notebook
at the end of the year.
Jeff Miller earns
Eagle Scout Award
Jeff Miller of Burlington
recently received the Eagle
Scout Award. He is a mem-
ber of Troop 126, sponsored
by Brookwood Baptist
Church in Burlington.
He has held the offices of
senior patrol leader, troop
scribe, and troop bugler. He
belongs to the Order of
Arrow.
He is a member of the
National Honor Society and
the recipient of the Mu
Alpha Theta mathematics
award.
His Eagle Scout project
was to build retaining wall
steps to replace a collapsed
bridge and four wood duck
boxes at The Cedar Rock
Park.
He is the son of Art and
Aileen Miller and the grand-
son of Winston and Peggy
Miller and Thomas
Heritage, all of Burlington.
He is the nephew of Mrs.
Play Our
Football
Contest &
Win $50.
Page 3C
Jean Harris and Mrs. George
Thomasson and great-great
grandson of recently
deceased Elizabeth G.
Arthur, all of Kings
Mountain.
Page 3A
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Before she starts a class,
Lynn Eskridge likes to read
from a statement.
The statement talks about
the historical importance of
baskets and that the craft
was universal among
ancient civilizations.
While she teaches basket
making classes now, a class
she took in the 1970's is
what got her hooked on the
craft. That was when
Eskridge took a Navajo
weaving class.
“I may have always been
interested in weaving of
some kind,” she said. “But
that was one of the first
encounters that I had with
hands-on weaving.”
Although she took classes
in the 1970's, Eskridge made
her first basket in 1983.
The first basket she made
was an Appalachian egg
basket and she said while it
‘was difficult, something
about it was interesting.
“Something about it
touched me,” she said. “I
really enjoyed doing itsol
just kept on with it.”
For a time, finding others
that made baskets was hard.
She did have a place to buy
supplies though.
After reading a book and
teaching herself a few steps,
Eskridge got interested in
making white oak baskets.
To learn more about that
she took classes about mak-
ing the baskets at a folk
school near Murphy.
Closer to home, Eskridge
will be teaching a class
Monday and Tuesday at the
Cleyeland County Arts
Center in Shelby, where she
also volunteers.
The process involved with
white oak baskets involves
cutting a tree in halves,
quarters, eighths and sepa-
rating the growth rings.
Then one has to scrape the
wood to make it flexible
enough to make a basket.
Eskridge would not take
the easy way in making a
basket.
“It's pretty labor intensive
and it’s a lot more satisfying
than ordering your materials
and making the basket,” she
said.
Starting the basket mak-
ing process from the tree is a
traditional way of making
baskets in the Appalachian
Mountains, she said.
Appalachian inhabitants
used materials they had
handy and Eskridge said she
also likes to use different
materials to experiment.
Eskridge is not making a
living with her baskets but
said it serves as a creative
outlet.
Working with her hands
and having something to
show for her time is one of
things she said is rewarding
about it.
“If I sit down for an
he
erald
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Lynn Eskridge works on a basket
evening and watch tv, I real-
ly can’t do that. I get real
antsy if I'm not doing some-
thing with my hands. I
guess that’s how 1 relax
too.”
She has two areas she uses
primarily for her work - in
the garage and a cabin in the
backyard of her home.
When she works in her
cabin, she has to haul water
to keep the reeds moist.
» Through the classes she
took in the mountains, she
was able to find different
people and learn about bas-
ket makers in other areas
too. ;
“You're exposed to differ-
ent styles and different ways
to make material,” she said.
“Although there's a basic
way to do the materials, you
learn tips and new ways to
make the job easier.”
Even working with artists
of different mediums can
cause one to learn some-
thing different.
“Like anything, when you
start interacting with other
artists and people even that
work in different mediums,
you're going to learn some-
thing,” she said. “And
you're going to take away
something that you might
incorporate into a basket.”
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