A Treasure (Box) of a Little Town!

My treasure box is a bit unique. We just finished all of the activities this past week - which is why my post is so late. I am also hoping to get it done before Hurricane Sandy takes down my internet - so here goes!

In our school district we are privileged to have an organization known as the Northern York County Historical and Preservation Society (NYCHAPS) http://www.northernyorkhistorical.org/
This group of people have, in the past, helped to provide our students with a wealth of information about our local history. We used to (notice the past tense) celebrate Heritage Week in October to coincide with our annual Farmer's Fair here in Dillsburg  http://www.dillsburgfarmersfair.org/
Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and the fact that it takes away so much "teaching time", we now have 1 assembly day for the entire school. I decided to link our local history with the Philadelphia experience for Social Studies as part of my New Nation Notebook assignment, so the treasure box became Dillsburg!

A member of NYCHAPS (a retired teacher friend) came to speak to the students about his woodworking. He runs a Wheel Wright's shop on the property owned by the society. He provided many primary sources - tools, pieces of wood they have excavated from a local barn, and copies of documents deeding the land to the Logan family - the founders of the tavern now being restored. We did many compare/contrast activities, and he even had the kids try to recreate a barn truss using no tools. This activity not only involved my classroom, but the entire 3rd grade. He had their rapt attention for the entire hour! One of the most fascinating tools he shared was a saw that had been made in England in the year 1752. He was able to link to my history lesson (I will eventually have all of the 3rd graders as we rotate throughout the year by topic) by explaining to the students that the saw represented one of the reasons the colonists wanted freedom. It was something they could only buy from England at the time, and will serve as a great springboard for my lesson on the Declaration of Independence in November!

Another activity we did was a sort of scavenger hunt, using current photographs of buildings in our "downtown" area. I have several sources, both primary and secondary, that relay the history of our town. The kids were given the photos of the buildings, along with a brief description of what they were used for in the 1750s through 1800s. Some of the familiar sites were doctor's offices, hotels, theaters and even an opera house! They were fascinated - and then able to share the information with their families during Farmer's Fair. I used photos of buildings that they would all see that weekend! We placed the photos on a roll of paper to resemble a birds eye view of town - and this became a map lesson!

One of their favorite activities was looking at photographs from an old calendar that was printed for a town anniversary back in the 50s. The photographs are some of the earliest of the way our town looked "way back then". We were able to compare businesses (blacksmith, grist mills, railroad, stagecoaches for mail delivery) with current ones. They were able to read short descriptions, then create a first person story of what their life may have been like had they worked at one of those places.

The last activity was learning about the history of Farmer's Fair itself. This was a bit more current, since it was the 97th anniversary of the celebration. I have a photocopy reprint that was done of a first person history of the town. In it, the gentleman describes how this event was celebrated as he remembered it. The kids loved learning that each grade level created a secret float (but the school board stopped it because it took too much time from their studies) and that the costume parade included kids dressed mostly as hoboes and fairy princesses - I had to explain what a hobo was! They were then assigned to work in groups to create a poster of different sections of the story - making sure that the drawings were accurate for the time period. We displayed the timeline in the hallway for everyone to see.

Most of the kids went to see the NYCHAPS display over the Farmer's Fair weekend - my wheelwright friend was there! Some made cookie cutters with the tinsmith, watched them make apple butter outdoors in a huge kettle, and saw the actual barn that they pretended to build at school. They were able to pass on bits of history to their families as they enjoyed the fair, and we will now have a more personal link to the events that were taking place in other parts of our new nation as I begin teaching that portion next week!