Early American Culture
Setting up the Bowling Court
Classes chose an Early American Community
to research and shared their findings with the whole school by making
videotapes demonstrating what they learned. The communities were Plimoth,
Massachusetts; Williamsburg, Virginia; Conner Prairie, Indiana; and Upton,
Kentucky.
Besides gathering lots of interesting facts about
the community of Plimoth, Mrs. Seymour's class also learned a song that was
sung there, asked Pilgrim riddles, constructed a marble box game like the one
in the book, Sarah Morton's Day, and tasted Fermenty, a delicious
porridge-like cream of wheat with brown sugar.
Students playing Colonial Games
Mrs. Powell's students researched
colonial careers and famous Williamsburg residents, led a Yankee Doodle sing-along,
demonstrated cross-stitching, colonial punishments, bowling, hornbooks, and
sampled gingerbread from an authentic Williamsburg recipe.
Mrs. Muratalla's class concentrated on family
histories and transportation routes that explained how the townsfolk of Conner Prairie came to settle in Indiana. They learned the
tunes, "The Erie Canal" and "The Riddle Song", which
pioneers coming into Kentucky and Indiana enjoyed singing. Riddles, apple and
egg games, and a husking bee were demonstrated. They served cornbread, learning
that it was the most used food in early Indiana.
Mrs. Wyatt's 1/2 Primary learned that their
hometown, Upton, Kentucky, was named for G.W. Upton, who gave one
acre of land to anyone who would build a house. They drew pictures of some of
the businesses there, including a bank, general stores, mill, stockyard,
railroad depot, and quarry. They had fun holding a shadow pie supper and a box
social where the boys bid pennies on boxes of cookies the girls fixed. They
also demonstrated an Apron party where the boys hemmed the girls aprons and a
"Tacky" party where everyone dressed up in things from the attic and
cellar. They learned about these activities from their research of articles in
the News-Enterprise one-hundred years
ago files.
Our Tacky Party
Click on the blue Early American Community names in the
paragraphs to view the students' multimedia Powerpoint presentations.
Yankee Doodle Midi File Barry Taylor http://www.contemplator.com/america/ydoodle.html