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| 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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