Stuffed inside the potato chip cans are a glimpse into their elementary school lives.
Third graders at Sugar Grove Elementary School spend some media center time documenting their favorite color, book, place to visit, toys and activities at this moment in time.
They also stand next to a ruler measuring their height and trace their hand on a sheet of paper. Their memories and the glimpse of a few months into their third grade lives are stuffed into Pringles cans and stored away for two and a half years.
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All third graders at the Center Grove elementary school spend about half the year working on time capsules. The time capsules are opened at their fifth grade end-of-year party.
The project dates back at least a decade and educators continue it because of the school tradition it represents and because the practice helps their students see how they have grown and changed as individuals.
“It’s a school tradition, they know it is coming,” third grade teacher Susan Dotson said.
Parents are asked to send in Pringle potato chips cans to make the base of the time capsule. Pam Lorentzen, media specialist at the school, then spends a few minutes during each class’s library time helping the children fill out the paperwork, find mementos to put in it and helping them decorate their individual capsules.
Each year Lorentzen tries to add something new to the capsule, such as a hand print. And she tries to find a memento that represents a state, national or world event that students can be reminded of when they open the capsules. Past examples include an item to represent the Olympic games and a memento from when the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl.
“I try to make something that is unique for the year,” Lorentzen said.
Third grade is the year chosen because it represents a mid-point in their elementary school years, the students can do most of the work independently and they grow enough in two years to make the time capsule nostalgic, Dotson said.
“They can do it independently and they can see enough change,” she said.
Time capsules are not unique. Elementary schools, middle schools and high schools across the world and Johnson County work together to make time capsules. Sugar Grove’s time capsules are unique because no other school in the district has it as such a rich tradition, doing it year after year, Lorentzen said.
Dotson’s own children did the time capsules. Lorentzen’s did too. Sometimes their children will look at and remember the time capsules.
“It is a neat memory and something they look forward to,” Lorentzen said.
