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Collegiate 3rd Graders Present Colonial Day

4/27/2018

Collegiate School 3rd Graders led parents and friends through a Colonial Living Museum throughout the Lower School this morning as part of Colonial Day, the annual culmination of the grade-level social studies curriculum.

The students have studied the Colonial era this year, beginning with an exploratory field trip to Colonial Williamsburg. A second trip to Williamsburg allowed students the chance to interview Colonial Williamsburg employees before diving into their research with the guiding question, How can we create museum exhibits and plan an event that represents the jobs, clothing, shelter and food of Colonial Williamsburg?

This morning, led by a fife and drum corps and a town crier, the 3rd Graders, wearing period costumes, presented projects in their classrooms depicting specific areas of Colonial life including professions (milliner, woodworker, blacksmith, wigmaker, militia member, gunsmith), dwellings, children’s games, government and taverns. They then headed to the Estes Multipurpose Room to perform the Virginia Reel, inviting parents to join in. In Burke Hall, they displayed their efforts at brickmaking. In the Weinstein Art & Music Wing, students in the art room presented their weaving and in the music room, they sang songs. In the Watt Library media classroom, the 3rd Graders told the story of The Jackal and the Dog, which addresses the differences between freedom and slavery, and invited some of the parents to read in various character roles as well.

The Colonial Living Museum was about giving the students more choice, keeping them more engaged and showing them that they have the ability to apply skills we have been working toward, such as doing research, says 3rd Grade teacher Lauren Brown.

“We are trying to prepare students to seek out knowledge in a more authentic way and guide them to take more control of their learning,” she said.

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