Collins School

A few weeks ago I went to Collins School. I had to dress up as I would have in 1879, and I found out what it was like to go to school back then. First we hung up our bonnets and lunches in the cloak room. Then we lined up on stage while the teachers showed us where we would sit. I got a seat in the front row.

When we were all seated the teacher showed us the school things children would have used back then. There was a history book, a slate, a slate pencil and eraser (a sock), a copybook, and the McGuffey reader. After we had all seen the things we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang My Country 'Tis of Thee. After that we got out our McGuffey readers. The kids with a one on their name tag went on stage first. I was a one. We read the first few paragraphs together, then answered questions about them. Then it was the twos turn, after that the threes turn. Then we made a craft.

After the craft the teacher told us about the history of the school. It took awhile, maybe an hour. Then the teacher gave us sheets of paper and we copied out the letters from the copybook. After that it was lunch/recess time. I barely had time to eat my lunch (or maybe it was that big apple I had) before the teacher called for the kids to pack up their lunches in the cloak room. We played a short game of Ante Over, then we went back inside.

When we were all inside we had a math relay. First the ones, then the twos, then the threes. Guess who won the ones math relay? Me! I tied with another boy, but when the teacher said "Draw a line and add." the boy forgot to draw the plus sign. I remembered so I won. Before it was time to go we had a spelldown. It was easy. Each row stood up, one at a time, and the teacher gave them a word. The first person said the first letter, the second person the second letter and so on. No one spelled a word wrong. After that it was time to go.

Now I will tell you some facts about the school. It is the same brick building it was a hundred years ago, but the furniture had to be replaced. The old black stove and the floor in the cloak rooms are the same as it was a hundred years ago. When the school was being repainted and the blackboard was taken down one of the workers found some writing on the wall. When one of the teachers saw it she recognized her mothers name on the wall, along with the names of the people who were going to that school at the time. She can't ask her mother about it because she's dead, so it remains a mystery. Well, that's all I have to say. Here are some pictures so you can see my costume, the school, my desk, the old black stove, and the cloak room.