Lewes Elementary fourth-graders enjoy Colonies Day

Fourth-graders at Lewes Elementary got a taste of what life was like for colonists during the school’s second annual Colonies Day Nov. 15.

“We just started last year; we took all of the hands-on activities in our curriculum, and we thought it would be a fun way to bring history alive to the kids,” said teacher Katie McDermott. “We talk about what kids would have done in the colonies in the 1700s - chores, games – or what family life would have been like.”

“We go around to each classroom and we do different activities, like in Mrs. McDermott’s class, we made butter balls,” said student Vivian Hoeller.

With a history-heavy curriculum, McDermott said the activities enhance the students’ understanding of what they are learning in class, which covers pre-Columbus through the American Revolution.

“Fourth-graders love learning about history,” McDermott said. “Last month, we took all the fourth-graders downtown to the Lewes Historical Society so they could see, in person, what the tavern looked like, and hear some of Delaware's history.”

Bringing history to life, students played marbles, constructed various objects as a team, churned butter, used feather pens to write with ink, and made pomanders with oranges and cloves.

“A lot of kids have never made butter before, or they've never thought about what a chore like one of their chores would translate to from the past,” McDermott said. “It's cool to see those light bulbs go off.”

“It’s fun and educational,” Hoeller said.

Hoeller enjoyed making pomanders by poking holes in oranges and plugging them with cloves to produce the pleasant smell that led colonists to use the creations in their houses or carry them around as a deodorizer. She couldn’t believe colonists usually had only one shirt and one pair of pants.

Fourth-grader Victor Zhlu said he enjoyed playing marbles.

“It was a cool game; seven people would have turns rolling a wooden ball, and then we would try to get the marbles out of the little black rope,” Zhlue said. “You hit the marble with the wooden ball, and if a marble goes out of the black rope, but the wooden ball is still in, you get another turn.”

“It's cool being in Delaware – one of the original colonies – and knowing the history of Delaware – who was here, who lived here and what happened when Europeans came over,” McDermott said. “It makes a connection to their past, and it's interesting to see what they want to do with that information going forward.”