Pioneer Games - And Butter
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Henley Elementary School fourth-graders (from left) Gaines Cleland, Payton Case, Maddox Duren, Brynne Hedlund, Gunnar Olin and Jalena Elko show off their tin star Christmas ornaments they made during Pioneer Day.
Henley third- and fourth-graders learn about what it was like in the 1800s
Henley Elementary School fourth-grader Samantha Cunningham shake mason jars of heavy cream to make butter during the school’s annual Pioneer Day.
Samantha Cunningham grabbed the mason jar of heavy cream and shook it hard for 10 seconds before passing it to her classmate.
In about 10 minutes, Cunningham and her Henley Elementary School classmates would have homemade butter and be able to spread it on crackers and taste it.
Cunningham and her classmates also learned to play hopscotch and marbles and make twirlers and whirly-gigs and used a hammer to create a tin star Christmas tree ornament.
The activities were part of Pioneer Day Friday for all third- and fourth-graders Henley Elementary School. The students spent the morning learning about games and activities children their age did during the 1800s. They were encouraged to dress the part as well and some girls wore pioneer-style gingham dresses with bonnets. Fourth-grader James Palmer dressed as Davy Crockett.
The day ties in with the social studies curriculum, which focuses on Oregon and the Oregon Trail in fourthgrade and the nature of communities in third-grade.
“We talk a lot about how kids didn’t have stores they could go to,” said Amanda Hulsey, a fourth-grade teacher who started Pioneer Day about six years ago. “They had to entertain themselves with what they had.”
Some of the favorite games are marbles and hopscotch, and often after learning how to play during Pioneer Day, students use chalk to draw hopscotch on the playground.
“Those games are kind of a lost art until you reintroduce them,” Hulsey said.
Press release provided from the Klamath County School District.
