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What? There was life before TV?
By JOEL POILEY WEST MEADOWS -- London Enos could not imagine life without television. Some of her classmates at Clark Elementary School found it hard to believe children's lives 70 years ago did not include video games and instant computer messages. Learning about life in a far less technological age has been an eye-opener for 10 classes at Clark. A Florida Department of Education Learn and Serve grant, secured last year by fifth-grade teacher Cher Gauweiler, enabled the school's fourth and fifth grades to interact with residents of the Hearthstone Assisted Living Facility in Carrollwood. Each month two classes went to the center, forming bonds with seniors that grew into friendships. Students would ask their new friends about their lives. With the information, they made posters presented to the seniors at a ceremony Monday. "I feel like I made two nice young friends through this," said Jean Stout, 74, a resident of the home. The students developed a strong feeling of community, and were amazed to learn that that generation had produced inventions such as record players, radios and refrigerators, said fifth-grade teacher Robin Napoli. At times they were frustrated when their older friends could not hear questions, or remember facts accurately. Fifth-grade teacher June Vento recalled one Hearthstone resident who told his young biographer he fought in the Civil War and was born in 1917. The student knew that was impossible, but recorded the information anyway. The grant included books that helped students understand the aging process. For a more visceral lesson, the children smeared Vaseline on glasses and wore earplugs. "Those things made them aware that this is something all of us are going to go through and what the golden years are about," Napoli said. London's partner, Brittanie Dede, said she liked learning how differently people lived in the early 1900s. Stout, their subject, explained how children entertained themselves. "We read, listened to the radio, played Monopoly and jumped rope," Stout read Monday from their poster about her. "I'd say refrigeration was the biggest upgrade from the block of ice in the old wooden icebox. But that's nothing compared to today."
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