From:
Jennifer Sheerin
To: Guy
Subject: Your penguins are awesome!
Date: Monday, January 22, 2001 12:26 AM
Dear Guy,
I came across your website when I was looking for info for
a penguin unit that our kindergarten class in Lexington, Mass.
is about to start. I think your project is great and especially
loved it because our class recently completed a papier mache
project.
I was wondering if you ever need hosts for your penguins?
The school I teach at is really great and we have an excellent
website.
I think your project is very interesting and I would love
to have the opportunity to show one of your penguins what
life is like in Massachusetts. Our class does many projects
that are involved with the environment including collecting
and hatching frog and toad eggs, hatching chick eggs, and
hatching monarch butterflies. In addition I've just come across
information on the plight of the Yellow-eyed Penguin and have
E-mailed The
Yellow-eyed Trust-(*link dead*)-to see how my class might
become involved in purchasing trees to be planted for their
environment.
I teach in an integrated special needs kindergarten class
with five special needs students and twelve typically developing
students. This year has been especially exciting because we
have really looked for unusual and different ways to connect
with all the students. I know a visit from one of your penguins
would really be special.
Please check out our website: Hastings.ci.lexington.ma.us
If you'd like to see an example of the papier mache project
our class did, it is the one on Humpty Dumpties.
Our school encourages taking risks so..... that is why I am
e-mailing you! I'm sure your penguins are in great demand,
but if one should be in need of a fun (and educational) vacation,
please consider having it come visit us!!!!
My school e-mail address is : *************************
Thanks for taking
the time to read this,
Sincerely,
Jennifer Sheerin
From: "Guy"
To: "Jennifer Sheerin"
Subject: Re: Your penguins are awesome!
Date: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 12:33 AM
Dear Jennifer,
Thanks for your
e-mail. It's good to get feedback, especially from someone
in your field of work. It shows that I must be doing something
right.
I checked out your
website and I must say it looks great - I just wish I was
that young again. As to your request to have a penguin come
and visit, I'm sure we can arrange something. I have a penguin
sat with me here who looks like she might like a trip to Lexington.
I'll have to let them fight it out between them because there's
always a rush when they hear there's another trip imminent!
I have a penguin
at the moment (hopefully) who's doing a tour of Antarctica
and the South Pole, penguin watching. Are you aware of 'Wallace
and Gromit' and 'Chicken Run'? If so then you've probably
heard of Aardman Animation. This penguin of mine is off touring
with Nick Park who is Wallace and Gromit's dad (creator) and
the brains behind Aardman. If you haven't heard of them then
this is all gobbledeegook (I like that word). The kids should
know!
I'll send the
lucky penguin off quite soon because I'm off round the world
at the beginning of April (well, Australia, New Zealand, Cook
Islands and LA) so I'm quite busy organising that as well.
I intend to take the project with me and make it global. I
will still be contactable via e-mail though so the site will
continue to be updated.
Let me know if
you're still interested and the address you'd like the penguin
delivered to.
Thanks again for taking an interest.
Speak to you soon
Guy
From: Jennifer
Sheerin
To: "Guy"
Subject: A penguin visit to Lexington
Date: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 1:52 AM
Hi Guy,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!
I'm thrilled that one of your penguins will be able to come
and visit our class. It sounds like you and your penguins
are meeting some very interesting people and having some amazing
adventures! I'm looking forward to seeing the web postings
from your penguins trip with Nick Park. His work is so great
and I'm sure he will do a lot of fun and creative things with
his penguin pal.
I'm glad you had
a chance to check out our school website and I'm glad you
like it. I'm already starting to think of some of the possibilities
your penguin's visit might offer as far as developing a project
we might post on our website as well. Please let me know how
you would like me to document your penguins visit so that
it is meaningful and useful for your project. It would also
be helpful to know the approximate length of the penguins
visit so that we can plan accordingly (we'll want to make
sure she gets to do all the great stuff there is to do in
Lexington !).
My address at school
is:
Jennifer Sheerin
C/O Maria Hastings School
2616 Massachusetts Ave.
Lexington,
Massachusetts 02421
I think this is
the best address to send the penguin to.
I'm at school these days more than I am at home!
Let me know if you need any more info.
Talk to you soon,
Jennifer
From: "Guy"
To: "Jennifer Sheerin"
Subject: Re: A penguin visit to Lexington
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 9:30 PM
Dear Jennifer,
I have a penguin here frantically packing his bags and looking
forward to meeting you. He loves kids and looks forward to
helping you in the education of your classes. His name is
Jack, he stands at 14 inches tall and weighs 390g. I should
be sending him off in the next week or so, I'm busy packing,
myself, for my own big trip.
What you do with
him is really up to you. Obviously, it would be great to have
him involved in the teaching side as much as possible. It
would also be great if you could regularly keep me up to date
(via e-mail) with his progress and the work you are all doing.
Any photos you take would be fantastic and I'll put them up
on the site as soon as they come in.
Feel free to take
him out on 'adult' evenings as all my penguins are pub regulars
(I think it's the Welsh in them). Also sightseeing round Lexington
(or anywhere you think fun or appropriate) would be good because
I'd like to see where he's going to be staying and I'm sure
anybody who visits the site would like to, also.
Thanks a lot for
your enthusiasm. It's people like you that will keep this
project going and, hopefully, will make it even bigger.
Take care and I
look forward to hearing from you soon.
All the best
Luv
Guy
XX
From: Jennifer
Sheerin
To: "Guy"
Subject: Jack's Visit
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 2:36 AM
Hi Guy!
It was great to hear from you and I can't wait for Jack's
arrival. If it's not to late, I was hoping that I could have
you add "The Children In Room #3 Kindergarten" to the school
address instead of just my name. I think the children would
be thrilled to see a package addressed to them. If it's too
late, that is fine. In the end, we'll all open and welcome
Jack together.
We'll take good care of him.....I promise!
Talk to you soon,
Jennifer
From: "Guy"
To: "Jennifer Sheerin"
Subject: Jack
Date: Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:11 PM
Hi Jennifer,
I must apologise for not contacting you sooner but I sent
Jack off on Saturday the 10th of February so he should be
with you anyday if he hasn't already arrived.
Unfortunately the trip to the South Pole with Nick Park didn't
come off because Nick was worried about taking Hudson, the
penguin, through customs. I am hoping, though, that he will
be going to live with Nick whilst he writes the new Aardman
movie.
I hope you are well and the kids are behaving themselves.
Speak to you soon
Guy
XX
From: "Jennifer
Sheerin"
To: "Guy"
Subject: Arrival
Date: Sunday, March 04, 2001 5:15 PM
Hi Guy,
Just a quick note to let you know that Jack arrived the day
before our winter vacation. The children were very excited
and we are looking forward to having him help us learn about
penguins as we wrap up our penguin unit.
Next week we will take him with us to the New England Aquarium
in Boston where we will see and learn about three different
kinds of penguins. We're hoping to get some good pictures
of Jack visiting his distant relatives!
Jack had also been busy using his beak to help point out words
and read poems about penguins to the children!
We'll take good care of him and update you soon on his Lexington
adventures!
Thanks for sharing him with us.
Hope all is well!
Jennifer
From: "Guy
Wooles"
To: Jennifer Sheerin
Subject: NZ penguins
Date: ????Hi Jennifer,
How are you and Jack doing? I hope you are well and staying
out of trouble.
Just thought I'd send you an update to let you know that I
am still alive.
I am currently in Oamaru staying with Dave Houston. I've been
here for quite a while now (off and on) so I hope he doesn't
get sick of me! It's been good to see Dennis again also. I've
been to Moeraki to see the boulders and to the lighthouse
to see Janice Jones who looks after all the sick penguins.
Did you know that one of her old patients, a yellow-eyed penguin
called Inca, still comes to visit her in
the hope that she'll give him some food?
The blue penguins at Oamaru haven't been turning up for their
fans due to a bad storm a few weeks ago. It looks like the
storm forced their food-source out to sea so they had to follow.
The nests here should be full of fat penguins on eggs, but
they're not. They've only just started returning now after
an absence of approximately 17 days! But every time I go down
to see them none come in - everyone down there thinks that
I'm a jinx! The funny thing is that I've seen quite a few
rare yellow-eyed penguins but hardly any common blue penguins.
I'm going down to Dunedin in the next few days and then on
to Invercargill and eventually round to Milford Sound. I've
already met the people at the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust and
they now have a paper penguin all of their own called Herbie.
Hopefully I'll get them to take me down to the reserves.
I've already done Australia. I did the south-east and the
east coast and then flew to Darwin and came down through the
Northern Territories and central Australia to Alice Springs
and Ayers Rock. So I managed to do quite a bit but unfortunately
I didn't get to the west coast - that's another trip!
Anyway, I hope you are looking after yourself and Jack and
that you are having a good holiday. I'm looking forward to
seeing and hearing what you did.
Take care of yourself,
Guy
XX
From: Jennifer
Sheerin
To: paperpenguins@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: NZ penguins
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 08:55:47 EDT
Hi Guy,
I am sorry I have not been in touch sooner. Jack is well and
has been enjoying a lazy summer break between June and September.
The children at school enjoyed Jack's visit. Jack helped out
with many classroom activities and also accompanied our class
to the New England Aquarium where he had a chance to visit
with one of the penguin handlers. I do have some pictures
and will send them shortly.
Autumn is a beautiful time of year here. As the weather turns
cooler the leaves turn and the colors are amazing. I would
like to keep Jack a little longer and will take a few more
pictures of him during this season at some Historic places.
Sounds like your trip has been very interesting. Take care
and I'll be in touch soon.
Sincerely, Jennifer Sheerin
