A Travel Journal Entry by Uncle Reuben 1947

I transcribed the entry, above, from Great Uncle Reuben's travel journal for my class during The Uncle Reuben Project this year. It took my 2nd graders a little while to realize he was referring to bears. I wondered about the reference of Bruiser so I googled it along with words such as "Chicago," which is where they were living at the time. I believe he called the bear Bruiser because the Chicago Cubs had a mascot that was a bear named Bruiser at that time. Uncle Reuben had a sense of humor!

This is a follow-up post to my series on Uncle Reuben.I have also written about the project on Scholastic.com. Top Teaching/Shari Edwards

Uncle Reuben and His Canoe

Recently, I visited my aunt and uncle on their farm near McPherson, Kansas. I love going there because they are lots of fun AND my uncle is the family genealogist for his generation. Every time I visit I find another treasure!
As I was looking through yet another group of photos for the first time, I spotted Uncle Reuben! I have lots of pictures of him but this one was special because it showed him WITH "the famous" canoe! The picture isn't in the best shape but it is a visual connection between Reuben and the canoe.

This picture is absolutely going to be a part of The Uncle Reuben Project for Year 3! What a find!

The Uncle Reuben Project - Year 2 Open House

The Uncle Reuben Project - Year 2

Here are some end products for year 2 from May 2013's Open House.
More about the process later! It was an exciting spring!

• black and white dioramas
• canoe sketches and blueprints with measurements
• realia in the form of a 16.5 ft. canoe and two small metal models of Uncle Reuben's childhood home and school wth students to answer all of their questions
• video interview between "Uncle Reuben" and a reporter
• silent movie made by five 2nd graders
• posters about the 1920's popular culture
• photographs of transportaion from the 1920's and 30's
• posters of students' family trees that were completed at home with their families
• timelines of Uncle Reuben's life
• demonstrations of how to use the scale key on a map to measure the miles
• notebooks full of primary sources to explain to visitors
• 20 confident seven and eight year-olds proudly talking about their newly acquired knowledge
• one proud teacher who was already planning their next authentic learning experience in her imagination

Uncle Reuben's Canoe

Recently, I discovered that one of my uncles actually has the canoe that Uncle Reuben used to travel down the Mississippi River in the early 1930's. Now I have more research to do! Here are some pictures I took of it.

The rudder, shown above, was built by Reuben and added to
the canoe along with a sail.

The canvas on the bottom of the canoe is very worn.