Owney visits Westridge

April 20,2011

Owney arrived at Westridge when Mrs. Siler was at MASL so he got to rest up after his travels before beginning his visit with the children and sites in Raytown, Lee's Summit and the Kansas City area. On the first day he went to an assembly - a musical put on by our second grade. Then he attended professional development in the afternoon. Thursday Owney visited with all the classes that came to the library. The children enjoyed seeing all the tags on Owney and we got out a map to see where all the towns were located throughout MO. Our art teacher made Owney a Westridge Eagle tag and Mrs. Siler added Crayola man from Hallmark. On Friday there was no school so he went home with Mrs. Siler. She took Owney and her grandsons to see African Cats. He loved it and is very thankful he doesn't have to survive on his own in the wild. He also got to eat popcorn. He checked out the boys Easter baskets on Sunday and was ready for a full day of classes on Monday. While in Raytown, if he had time, he could visit the Country Club Plaza, famous for their christmas light display, the Nelson-Adkins Museum, the Bingham Waggoner Estate, the Vaile Mansion, the Thomas Hart Benton home, see a Chiefs or Royals game, visit the Harry S. Truman Library, the new Sprint Center, UMKC, lots of shopping districts, Bass Pro and Liberty, MO. There is lots of MO history in our area.



Owney visits Westridge on PhotoPeach

Peculiar Elementary was delighted to see Owney! The students admired all his tags and were excited to add our own to his collar. Owney traveled all over Peculiar admiring the sights and mixing with the students. Good luck on your travels, Owney!

Heber Hunt Elementary School

On March 21^st Owney came to visit Heber Hunt Elementary school.  Our presentation shows some places we took him in Sedalia.  We believe Owney had already been here on the mail trains and he came to refresh his memory. We hope you enjoy our slideshow. Thanks Owney!

Noel Primary School LOVES Owney!

On Friday, March 4, Owney made a whirlwind trip to Noel Primary School. We had hoped to have more time with Owney, but due to the bad weather we had this winter, his visit was short--but very sweet. Noel Primary School is located in Noel, Missouri and has about 220 students in grades Early Childhood through 2nd grade. In preparation for Owney's visit, the students got to look at information about Owney on the Internet and learn more about his life. The weather was rainy when Owney visited, so he didn't get to go outside and play with the kids, but he did visit the library and the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms. Noel Primary School is in Noel Missouri and is known as the Christmas City. Many people come to Noel in the summer to camp and float on the Elk River, which meanders through the town. We really enjoyed visiting with Owney and wish him luck on his travels with the mail through the state of Missouri.

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Owney visited Noel Elementary School

Noel Elementary's favorite mail pouch pooch visited third graders on March 2 and 3 during their library classes. During his visit he got to watch as they looked at the Missouri Owney Project blog and Mona Kerby's website for information about him. The students enjoyed doing the online puzzles and watching the slideshows. They also enjoyed looking at the tags on the National Postal Museum site. Noel Elementary is located in Noel, Missouri. With the new census results, we have learned that our town's population is now 1,832. Our school has grades 3-8 and has approximately 400 students. Noel is known throughout the country as "The Christmas City" and every year thousands of Christmas cards are sent to the Noel Post Office to be stamped with a "Christmas City" seal. The reverse of the tag that we attached to Owney shows one of these seals. Noel is also known for its famous bluffs that hang over the highway and for the Elk River which runs through the middle of town. Noel is a popular tourist destination in the summer. We loved having Owney visit us!

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Owney Visits 3rd Graders in Southwest City, Missouri

On February 28 and March 1 Owney visited the third grade students at Southwest City School. Southwest City School is the southwesternmost school in the southwesternmost county in the state of Missouri. Our city has 970 people and borders the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma and has a stone marker where the three states meet. Unfortunately Owney was unable to visit the marker before he left us, but he did spend some time with the students in the library and at lunch. We loved having Owney visit us and would like to thank Mrs. Matzat for such a great opportunity!

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Owney Visits Northwestern R-1 School at Mendon, MO

The students of Northwestern R-1 School thoroughly enjoyed Owney’s visit to our school during the week of January 3-7.  Northwestern is a small rural school comprised of 180 students in grades PreK-12 and is located in Mendon, Missouri.  The school district is made up of several different communities, each with their own special attractions.  We were unable to take Owney on a tour of our area, but we would love for fellow Missourians to visit our special sites of interest. 

Area attractions include “Maxie,” The World’s Largest Goose, in Sumner, Missouri.  The Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge is nearby and was established to provide nesting, resting and feeding areas for waterfowl.  The refuge is considered a primary watering area for Canadian geese.

We also boast the “World’s Largest Pecan” in nearby Brunswick, Missouri, where visitors can buy the best pecans from the many area pecan farms.  Brunswick is located along the banks of the Grand River in Chariton County.  In 2005, The Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition traveled the Grand River to reenact the explorers’ original route.  Visitors can stop at a marker along the Grand River banks and try to visualize how the area looked in the early 1800s.

In nearby Rothville, visitors can drive down

Laura Ingalls Wilder Road

to a marker for one of the homestead places of the famous author.  Laura lived in our area for a very short time when she was a young girl.  She does not mention Rothville, Missouri in her series Little House on the Prairie, but we are very proud to be a part of her history. 

To our north fifteen miles, visitors can tour the boyhood home of General John J. Pershing.  General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, one of America’s highest ranked military officers, spent most of his childhood years in the small town of Laclede, Missouri before becoming Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.  If you are ever in the area, please visit our school or the local area attractions.

Owney had a great time visiting the elementary students and he even ate lunch with us!  Please watch the video and see where Owney has been in our school. 

Wow, what a time for Owney to visit us at Sullivan Elementary. Just as Owney arrived at our school we had a snow day and then we were told our library would be remodeled over Christmas Break. Owney spent time with us packing up books and the box he was packed in to go to the next school accidently got moved with some other boxes. Was it a race to find him and get him on his way!

Here at Sullivan Elementary Owney spent time with 4 different grade levels. The 5th graders were studying the Solar System so Owny spent time watching them work on their projects as well as checking out the completed projects. There were some interesting 3D solar systems out there. One class did lots of measuring the playground to make a solar system out there and then the snow came so they made a mini solar system in their classroom. In 4th grade classroom they were studying Missouri History but one classroom had something extra going on. Mrs. Jo, the librarian lives on a farm and her ducks and turkeys had laid some eggs that she brought in so Mrs. Smith's class could study the life cycle. One of the turkey eggs hatched and it was huge so they named it Petri. Petri went back to the farm for Christmas. We hear he is really growing! Third grade was working hard on multiplicatio tables so Owney got in on the practice one day. And in second grade they were preparing for the big school-wide spelling bee so he practiced spelling some really new and big words.

Sullivan Elementary is near Meramec Caverns, you know, Jessie James' Hideout! He headed down there because he heard about a river boat trip down the Meramec but the weather had caused the boats to remain at the dock. He did see lots of stalactites, stalamites and other cave formations. It was a great tour. He even checked out the Jessie James Museum. Then he headed for Fisher Cave and Ononadoga Cave to see other cool things that are in caves and visit with some conservation agents that take care of the animals that live in caves. He began to wonder if all of Missouri is covered with caves. He learned at Onondoga to be very quiet because the bats were hibernating. It was interesting because Owney didn't get too hot or too cold when he was inside the caves.

We here at Sullivan Elementary hope you will make a trip to visit us and see some of the wonderful things we have to do in this area.