Schools

Third Graders Take A Trip Back In Time

An essay written by third graders about their field trip to a one-room schoolhouse.

A Trip Back in Time

                            by Ms. Ambrosch’s 3rd grade class – “The Shining Stars”

   On May 18, our class visited the one-room schoolhouse next to Ledyard Center School.  As we entered the door it seemed like a portal to the late 1800s.  Everyone had dressed in old fashioned clothes. Boys wore suspenders, colorful plaid shirts, and long socks with rolled-up pants. The girls wore pretty, patterned skirts and dresses with bonnets or kerchiefs. Our teacher was dressed like one from long ago. Other adult helpers looked old fashioned, also. 

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   We slowly and gently got to turn the pages of very old books …some were from the mid 1800s!  Then, we solved old math problems on slate boards.  We had oatmeal raisin and sugar cookies with strawberries for a snack.  Before that we washed our hands in a basin of water with an old fashioned piece of soap.  We got water to drink by scooping it with a ladle from a large pot.  The class also had to recite a poem called “Try, Try Again” by standing up next to our seats.  We had to memorize it before we went. 

   The class had an old fashioned lunch outside.  Everybody got a container that was tied up with twine and a cloth napkin. Inside there was sausage, chicken, a carrot, and a corn muffin.  Our teacher passed out apples in a basket and bread on a cutting board. For dessert, we had pound cake with real maple syrup drizzled on top.

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   When we went out for recess, we played with old-fashioned wooden toys.  We rolled large wooden hoops with sticks, played “Graces”, made a wooden man dance, used a “buzz saw”, flipped “Jacob’s Ladders”, and tried to get a wooden ball into a cup. 

   When recess was over, our teacher rang a huge, thunderous bell to get our attention and line up. Joyfully, we skipped along the path and walked through the “portal” back to 2012.  It sure was fun being in the past for a day in the one-room schoolhouse!     


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