Send Some Okie History Out West
We got a letter this week from Gloria, a 5th-grade student in Napa, Calif.
Gloria is writing a school report on the State of Oklahoma and she’s asking readers of The Oklahoman and its Web site for facts, postcards, brochures or souvenirs that tell about the Sooner State.
Well, Gloria, I grew up on an Oklahoma farm so I can tell you a bit about rural life here. The dirt is an orangey-red, the people are hardworking and proud, and sometimes a farmer’s most prized possession is John Deer-green.
Gloria says she’ll be writing about the state’s agriculture, history, economy, historical figures and events in her report. She signs her letter “Thank you very much for your support in making me a great researcher of your beautiful state.” Well, she’s already got the Okie-trait of politeness down pat.
You can write Gloria Maravilla at 2700 Kilburn Ave., Napa, Calif. 94558.
You can also post a comment on this blog or by e-mailing me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com and I’ll forward appropriate responses to Gloria.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Gloria,
I created several pieces on Oklahoma history specifically for school children. Knowing history is boring to many school age children I put the stories in poetry form. By design I focused on the more colorful aspects of our history with the goal of stimulating enough interest to want to learn more. Some elementary school children used some of this work as their topic to memorize during our 2007 centennial.
Here is a link that I hope will find helpful
http://spiritedhorse.com/
There are two sections on Oklahoma – People And History and Scenic Beauty.
Although your interest is history I would encourage to at least read the Scenic Beauty section. The goal of this section was to dispel most people impression, a Hollywood myth, that Oklahoma is a barren and flat land. This is important to our history.
Oklahoma has more variations in scenery than the majority of states. Oklahoma with 11 different ecoregions is one of only four U.S. states to have more than 10 ecoregions. Oklahoma has four main mountain ranges, in addition to several smaller ranges.
Good luck, and I hope you enjoy what you learn about Oklahoma.
Nick