COLONIAL DAY OFFERS STUDENTS GLIMPSE OF PAST

Teachers and parent volunteers at Alma Schrader Elementary School provided a series of activities Thursday to give fifth-grade students a glimpse of the difficulties colonial Americans faced to provide their families with basic necessities.

Students spent the day working at nine craft stations where they learned to quilt and cross-stitch, make buttons, rugs, butter and corn husk dolls, dip candles, stencil and tin punch. Roselyn Conrad, who teaches social studies for the school's three fifth-grade classes, developed the Colonial Day program to let students experience samples of colonial chores and activities.

"I think it's very valuable for the one day we get to do this, because they get to see how complicated some of these things are to do," said Conrad. "It backs up what I'm trying to teach them from our textbook and lectures, and makes it much more meaningful to them."

Authentic costumes

Several students wore colonial costumes to make their experiences more authentic. Nikki Cochran, 11, said she enjoyed the many projects and believes she could have lived during the colonial era.

"Except I'd want to bring my computer with me," she said as she adjusted her cotton shawl.

Conrad said the hands-on projects help make the curriculum meaningful for students. It takes weeks of planning and collecting supplies to organize the daylong project, she said, and "there's no way we could do it" without the parents and other relatives who donate money, supplies and their time to the project.

Parents participate

Susan and David Ludolph were among the parents participating Thursday. Susan Ludolph took a day off from work to participate in the event, and her husband, who had planned only to observe the day's events, was soon recruited to cut fabric for cross-stitching projects.

Although neither claimed to be a crafts person, both said they were interested in the projects and wanted their son to know they were interested in his education.

"It makes them try a little harder to know I'm interested," said Susan Ludolph.

Conrad said former students often tell her they became interested in crafts after participating in a Colonial Day event. She said she hopes to participate in more hands-on projects after the district opens a new fifth- and sixth-grade center in fall 2002.

"We don't know yet how that will go, but it's going to be exciting to share ideas with other teams of teachers when we get there," said Conrad.