Stirring pumpkin soup, dipping wax candles and struggling with quill pens, 5th graders at Hickory Creek-Frankfort Junior High School recreated the lives of North America’s earliest European settlers.
Girls, some in long dresses and little white paper caps, and boys, some in vests and makeshift kneebreeches created by stuffing their pants legs into long socks, learned some of the skills and games taught children in those early days.
The day was both a reward for studying hard and a reinforcement of what they’ve learned, teacher Donna Wilfinger said.
“Instead of just hearing (about colonial life) . . . they like to pretend,” she said. “It’s a lot of preparation, but they have a blast.”
Those old fashioned school days could involve real chores, according to 10-year-olds Nick Basham and Bobby Ferguson, who clutched quill pens in ink-stained fingers and tried to copy a curlicued alphabet.
“Getting the ink on the paper and getting them to look like letters” was a pretty tough job, Bobby said.
Even getting started was hard, said Nick, who had trouble “getting the right amount of ink.”
In another room, a Crock-Pot full of bubbling pumpkin soup was just waiting for adventurous snackers, who also had a choice of such colonial delicacies as magenta-tinged pickled eggs, baked apples, currant pound cake, corn soup, succotash stew and Indian pudding.
These dishes could be washed down with a rather intimidating beverage known as swizzle, a concoction including vinegar and ginger.
“We get to taste-test all the food,” explained Merry Spehr, 10.
“Smell (swizzle) and you’ll faint,” said Hana Katsenes, 11, who was also turned off by the spicy cucumber relish. “It’s gross,” she said.
Creativity came into play with the quilting project, in which each youngster decorated a square for a class quilt.
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Mike Greene, 10, decorated his square with drawings of sports equipment, while Anne Look, 10, embellished hers with flowers and a seashell enclosed in a curved green border.
Erik Rancatore was less than thrilled with quilting. “The needle won’t pay attention,” he complained. “It keeps poking me.”