Monte Vista Elementary School brought Colonial Day to their 5th grade students on Friday, June 1, to show students the difference between life during colonial times and today.
This event was full of hands on activities that taught them about life during those times in contrast to the conveniences that people experience every day today. There were six different stations set up that every student had the opportunity to visit. There was butter making, candle making, stencils, home decor, colonial games, and a station about colonial hygiene.
At the butter station each student got to learn how to make butter and then they made a batch of their own. At the candle making station students got to experience the time and patience that it took to make one candle and they discussed how that was their only source of light during the time of day when the sun had set. At the stencil station students learned how people had to create wall paper patterns by painting stencils on the wall one design at a time. They then had the opportunity to make their own stencil designs. Home decor was another station that taught a practice of creating patterns with aluminum tins and a needle that allowed light to shine through or was decorated with yarn as a way of decorating one’s home.
Students then got to experience stations that modeled people’s lifestyle during colonial times. One fun station was the colonial game station where students got to play games that were common in those days. The last station was the hygiene station. Here students learned about how people took care of personal hygiene. They also were able to create a type of air freshener that people would commonly make for their homes out of oranges and clove.
The day was put together by Monte Vista 5th grade teachers, Carolyn Luis, Danyelle White, and Marjorie Codding. At the time of the event students were wrapping up their curriculum about U.S. history and the revolutionary war.