Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Local Field Trip Provides Students a Window to the Past



Students from Excelsior and Oak Ridge visiting Usher's Ferry

Planning lessons for your classroom each day can be a challenge.  Planning an educational field trip off campus for 548 middle school students can be equally demanding.

Students from Oak Ridge Middle School and Excelsior Middle School had the unique opportunity to experience life in the mid-to late-1800s, just like the character Tom Sawyer did in the novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.  Students read the novel prior to their trip to Ushers Ferry and teachers talked about the background of the author and the time period, but those lessons really came to life when they traveled to Ushers Ferry. The staff at Ushers Ferry did a wonderful job of helping Literacy Teachers Julie Pfeiffer, Christy Good, Ryan Shaffer, and Instructional Coach Nicole Redington determine the activity and learning stations to offer as well as work out the details of taking all 7th grade students in the Linn-Mar District through Ushers Ferry over four days. 




Teachers led groups of students around the town and helped make the days even more fun by leading games over lunch and had a great time with the students. With the help of Karla Terry and volunteer coordinators, parent volunteers accompanied students throughout the village and were a monumental help with running some stations. One of the favorite stations parents helped at was the old-fashioned games station. Students played old-fashioned games like jacks, graces, badminton, Annie Annie Over and three-legged races.  Annie Annie Over was a particular favorite! Another station that was a hit was the butter-making station, and Mentor Coach Jennie Lorenzen became an expert at teaching students this particular skill! 




Ann Cejka and Kathy Scanlon from Ushers Ferry both gave students a taste of what it was like in a one-room schoolhouse in the 1800s, having students solve sample math problems, recite spelling words, and practice manners. Students also got a small taste of some of the discipline Tom Sawyer experienced at the hands of his teacher, Mr. Dobbins, by standing with their nose touching a circle on the chalkboard and wearing a dunce cap in the corner of the room. Students took a tour of the lower village, receiving information about town life in general at the time, and they learned about the importance of the river in the transportation of goods, people, and ideas. 




Instructional Coach Nicole Redington gave information about medical practices in the 1800s, such as tonsillectomies (students agreed that they are glad of the surgery practices today) and herbal medicines. Students were able to smell some of the herbs commonly used in medicines, and none of them were ones students thought particularly enjoyable! 




Linda Starbuck demonstrated woodstove cooking, and Mike Duss demonstrated blacksmithing. Both had a wealth of knowledge about the time period and about their particular area of expertise, and had students thoroughly engaged! Students had a great time at Ushers Ferry, and they were able to gain valuable insight about the town life Mark Twain described in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  This real world experience helped Linn-Mar students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promoted a deeper understanding of the novel, the content, and the time period.







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