Only one more week to go until we get to take the summer off to relax, travel, and rejuvenate. I, for one, can’t wait, while I love working at PCCS and throughly enjoy my time in the classroom, I also like to read, garden, and ride my bike, so those are some of the things I’ll be doing. However, before we get to that, we have one more week to finish. Read below to see what we did this week.
The highlight of the week was our field trip to The Grove in Glenview. I’ve lived here for over 25 years and I had never heard of it. It was fantastic! The kids got to pretend to be pioneer children in a one room school house. The schoolmarm was named Miss McDonald and she showed us what school was like in 1862. We read from primers, wrote with slates, used feather quills, and did a recitation exercise. She also explained how discipline was done back in the day. We also got to have recess and play with some toys they would have used back in the 1860’s. It was so hands on and so much fun.
After we took a break for lunch we shifted gears and headed to the pioneer house. Here we learned what they ate, how they cooked, we practiced sewing, milling corn, churning butter, who did what chores, where everyone slept, and again played some games. Then we went outside and built a log cabin, carried water from the well, swept the porch, washed the clothes, hung them to dry, and beat some rugs. Again, the hands on learning was so good for the kids to be a part of.
Friday afternoon we went on our last quiet spot for the year. I always like sitting around the lake watching the kids write. For this little bit of time, they are quiet, focused, and truly immersed in what they are doing. It’s so peaceful and I hope that you take your kids to quiet places in nature over the summer just to spend a few minutes relaxing.
As a combination of our writing and technology lessons the kids are creating a memory slide show. They seem to be enjoying reminiscing about the school year and adding fun photos and backgrounds to their slides.
That’s it for this week. Next week is full as we have field day, a book buddies meeting, graduation for the 8th graders, our field trip to the beach, and the year end celebration. I’ll post photos on last time next week and then head off to summer break. As always, if you would like to download photos of your kids, please go ahead (there are tons over on the gallery tab). You have my permission to use my photos anyway you like.
Have a great last week!
~ Mrs. Steinbeck