We wanted to educate the children about lead to help reduce their exposure. And we've had a real positive response from students and teachers at Patterson-Kennedy. They want groups like ours to come back in the future. Part of their urgency about getting the book into the school library is their eagerness to provide information for future students, she said. By having the children produce artwork for the book, UD students provided two benefits, said Candy McIntosh, resource teacher at Patterson-Kennedy.
Children love to listen to other children and view other children's work.
Their stop in 1918 shows Emily's house being built, complete with lead in gasoline that may have seeped into the ground, in the water pipes and in the paint used inside the house and outdoors. Returned to the present, Squirrely tells Emily how to help her baby brother avoid lead, how to run a faucet for 30 seconds before drinking a glass of water or brushing her teeth and how to wash her hands thoroughly before eating. Squirrely also gives nutrition advice, telling Emily to eat foods with lots of iron and calcium. The idea of the seminar is to work on the process of a project, which is good because corporations today emphasize teamwork and leadership roles and facilitating actions. But this project had a direct service aspect to it, and that was exciting to me.