Archive: Around Town

It's one thing to study history.  But it's quite another to be a part of it.  That's what Lansing's 5^th graders learned in the first few weeks of school this year as they discovered family artifacts and learned a little about their families that they didn't know before.  "We all have history around us," says Social Studies teacher Maureen Trowbridge.  "First students brought them in if they were able to, or pictures of them.  Then they wrote a paragraph telling us about their artifact.  Then we set up a museum so that the students could share them with one another."

The museum was open Thursday for students and their families to share a little part of their own histories.  Artifacts were displayed in Trowbridge's classroom as well as math teacher Francesca Crannell's, who taught the unit with Trowbridge.  Students viewed the artifacts, filling out a questionnaire that asked them which three artifacts were new and interesting to them, which reminded them of their own families, and what item from today might be an important artifact some day.


Isabelle Corgel displayed a purse that her great great grandmother made.  "Her name was Ellen Schaeffer," she said.  "She made it to be like a fancy one to take to parties so it has lots of designs on it."  But items were varied and sometimes unexpected.  They ranged from hair clippers to old photo albums to an autograph book to an old guitar, a military uniform, and several old pictures, including some of old quilts.  "I saw a winter coat that the 5th grade girl wore, her mother wore, and her grandmother wore," Trowbridge said.  "I think the mother before that actually made it.  I found that really fascinating."

That connection to family is what made the project special.  Jason Yahn brought a poster that advertised an train that went behind his grandmother's cottage on Owasco late.  "It belonged to my great grandma, he said.  "I've only seen pictures of her, and I don't know much about her."  But that poster connected to an experience that she had that he could recall.  "The train picked people up at different places and brought them to the Auburn fireworks.  I thought that was kind of cool.  I also had a picture of the train.  As the train went behind the cottage the whole cottage shook."

 "The thing I enjoyed most about it was the students' enthusiasm," Crannell says.  "They were really excited to share their artifacts, and it taught them a lot about their families.  I think there was a mixture of stories.  Some students got a perspective about their families, and others were more interested that they actually had an artifact, and what an artifact meant."

The project also made the teachers think about their own family histories.  "I talked to many members of my family to have an example to show them," Crannell says.  "So I talked to my sister and my mother, and I learned things about my Great Grandmother that I didn't know."
 
Melissa Sprole brought in her Great Grandfather's gold and jade cufflinks.  Asked what she learned about him she said, "He wore dress shirts, I think."  And John Schafer had a cross that was first owned by his Great Grandmother.  "She lived in Germany," he said.  She went to Canada and then my Dad came to America."


Trowbridge conducted the exercise last year, but the museum is new this year.  Last year students told her they were disappointed that they didn't get to share their artifacts.  Trowbridge thought about how their idea could be incorporated into the assignment and came up with the museum concept.  This year students were excited about the museum, and especially excited to share what they had learned about themselves and their families.

And some found that their ancestors had the same experiences they did.  Carli Teitelbaum had brought her Great Grandmother's dictionary.  "The dictionary was hers from school, and she used it a lot," she said.  And there it was, to be used by another generation.

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