LIVING HISTORY DAY: Annual Ogdensburg event immerses students in past
By MATT MCALLISTER
JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS
SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011
OGDENSBURG — Ogdensburg Free Academy seventh-grader Aidan M. Shea apologized to French minuteman George M. Cherepon for spilling gunpowder he was attempting to pour while rolling cartridges for a flintlock pistol Friday morning.
"Don't worry about neatness," said Mr. Cherepon, a retired teacher from Star Lake. "In battle, worrying about neatness will get you killed."
The gunpowder wasn't real, but as Aidan and a classmate, Conner A. Perry, joined Mr. Cherepon for a spirited "Vive le Roi!" — French for "Long live the King" — the spirit of the annual Fort La Presentation Living History Day, held this year at Lockwood Arena, seemed evident.
Living History Day is the culmination of a yearlong project for fourth- and seventh-grade students from the Heuvelton Central, Ogdensburg City and Madrid-Waddington Central school districts, according to Julie M. Madlin, a junior high social studies teacher at Heuvelton and chairwoman for Fort La Presentation's education committee. She said students studied Fort La Presentation and the French and Indian War.
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Fort La Presentation, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, was the site of the last battle of the French and Indian War, in 1760, and skirmishes between American and British forces during the War of 1812.
"It really makes life in Colonial times come alive," said Mary M. Rasmussen, a fourth-grade teacher at Heuvelton Central School, as her group joined Fort La Presentation President Barbara J. O'Keefe for Colonial-era games at another station. "It's all very hands-on, and certainly better than just talking about, reading or watching videos about the subject."
Chloe E.L. Combs, one of her students, listened intently to Mrs. O'Keefe while scribbling into a hand-sized notebook and taking pictures. She was taking notes for a writing assignment in which she would eventually write a first-person account from the point of view of her favorite Colonial-era character.
"I'm a real history buff," said Chloe, who was interested in Mrs. O'Keefe's wares — wooden checkers and bowling pins, handmade dolls and other relics.
More than a dozen stations Friday featured experiences ranging from period campfire cooking and 18th-century clothing to ropemaking, fur trading and tinsmithing.
"A lot of it is still in style," said Mason A. Knauf, another Heuvelton Central fourth-grader.
Ms. Madlin said that despite muddy conditions forcing the day inside Lockwood Arena, things couldn't have gone more smoothly.
"All things considered, the day was awesome," she said following a cannon-fire display outside. "A Colonial experience was provided here today for about 280 students."
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Great Online Activities for Students
I stumbled across this website while looking for a Holocaust Activity for my 8th graders...
click here
click here
Living History Day Scheduled For Lighthouse Point
Colonial-era games like Tip-Cat, Fox and Geese, and Rounders - possibly the precursor to modern American baseball - will come back to life May 20 at Lighthouse Point.
Living History Day is the culmination of a year-long project for fourth- and seventh-grade special education students from Heuvelton, Ogdensburg and Madrid-Waddington school districts who studied Fort La Presentation and the French and Indian War.
Michael J. Whitaker, of Bishops Mills, Ontario, is one of about a dozen of presenters for the day, and will lead children through a modified game of Rounders - participants will be using baseball bats and softballs instead of sticks and stones, as were used by children in the old days.
"We're trying to show the young people that although there has been change over time, many things are still the same," Mr. Whitaker said. "It's one of those things that is getting shuffled lower and lower in school curriculums, but history doesn't have to be boring."
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If it's related to where students live and what they do, he said, history can still be interesting.
"History happened right here along the St. Lawrence River in Ogdensburg," he said. "Living History Day gives students the opportunity to actually live history."
Barbara J. O'Keefe, president of Fort La Presentation Association, said this is the idea behind the day's activity.
"Students will be thrust back in time," Mrs. O'Keefe said of the second annual event, running from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. "The excitement we see is wonderful. We want to make more of an impression within our local schools. We're using our past for our future."
While Rounders will be the subject of Mr. Whitaker's 20-minute presentation for the approximately 275 students attending, the day will be much more than just fun and games, said Julie M. Madlin, Fort La Présentation Education Committee chair and a special education teacher at Heuvelton Central School.
"Eighteenth century reenactors and heritage interpreters will demonstrate many activities, including open hearth cooking, life in the navy and army, colonial clothing, and the art of the tinsmith and blacksmith," she said. "They will experience the life and color of America's history that happened in their own backyard," Mrs. Madlin said.
Other activities include a children's muster, rope making, tent set-up and take down and camp life, toys, mapmaking, artillery displays and demonstrations, music and fur trading.
The event is supported by the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, several local school districts and Heuvelton parent-teacher association, and local Lions Clubs.
Living History Day is the culmination of a year-long project for fourth- and seventh-grade special education students from Heuvelton, Ogdensburg and Madrid-Waddington school districts who studied Fort La Presentation and the French and Indian War.
Michael J. Whitaker, of Bishops Mills, Ontario, is one of about a dozen of presenters for the day, and will lead children through a modified game of Rounders - participants will be using baseball bats and softballs instead of sticks and stones, as were used by children in the old days.
"We're trying to show the young people that although there has been change over time, many things are still the same," Mr. Whitaker said. "It's one of those things that is getting shuffled lower and lower in school curriculums, but history doesn't have to be boring."
ADVERTISEMENT
If it's related to where students live and what they do, he said, history can still be interesting.
"History happened right here along the St. Lawrence River in Ogdensburg," he said. "Living History Day gives students the opportunity to actually live history."
Barbara J. O'Keefe, president of Fort La Presentation Association, said this is the idea behind the day's activity.
"Students will be thrust back in time," Mrs. O'Keefe said of the second annual event, running from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. "The excitement we see is wonderful. We want to make more of an impression within our local schools. We're using our past for our future."
While Rounders will be the subject of Mr. Whitaker's 20-minute presentation for the approximately 275 students attending, the day will be much more than just fun and games, said Julie M. Madlin, Fort La Présentation Education Committee chair and a special education teacher at Heuvelton Central School.
"Eighteenth century reenactors and heritage interpreters will demonstrate many activities, including open hearth cooking, life in the navy and army, colonial clothing, and the art of the tinsmith and blacksmith," she said. "They will experience the life and color of America's history that happened in their own backyard," Mrs. Madlin said.
Other activities include a children's muster, rope making, tent set-up and take down and camp life, toys, mapmaking, artillery displays and demonstrations, music and fur trading.
The event is supported by the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, several local school districts and Heuvelton parent-teacher association, and local Lions Clubs.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Family Tree Project
Recently my 7th graders have been researching their families and how they were effected by history. Since it's an interdisciplinary project with English students read the George Ella Lyon poem "Where I'm From" and then created their own.
I was amazed at their creativity!
Where I'm From Poem
I was amazed at their creativity!
Where I'm From Poem
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