JACKSON FOURTH-GRADERS GET LESSON ON THEIR STATE

JACKSON -- Fourth-grade students at West Lane Elementary School took a walk around the state Wednesday ... and still had time to catch their buses home.

It was all part of the school's observance of Missouri Day.

On March 22, 1915, the General Assembly set aside the third Wednesday in October each year as "Missouri Day," a time for schools to honor the state and for the people of the state to study and celebrate the achievements of Missourians.

Carol Ball, fourth-grade teacher at West Lane and coordinator for the Missouri Day program, said the idea for the day-long program began last year. A part of the fourth-grade curriculum is the study of Missouri history and culture.

"This is a totally new program," said Ball. "We've done other programs in the past on Missouri Day, but never anything this large, or lasting all day."

Ball said each November, the fifth grade at West Lane presents a program on Colonial Days. "We felt it would be a good idea to do something similar on Missouri Day," she said.

The purpose of the project was to give students a "hands-on" opportunity to learn more about their state, Ball continued.

"We wanted to involve the students as much as possible in the project, because by having them involved in the research and preparation, they will learn more about their state at the same time," she explained.

A large outline of Missouri was painted on the school's asphalt playground surface. The Mississippi and Missouri rivers were drawn in, with stars representing the major cities in the state, including Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

The state was divided into eight regions.

"Each class was assigned to a region. The students then researched and studied all about their region so they could tell the other students about it," Ball said.

In each region, many of the fourth graders dressed as famous real-life people of Missouri, or as characters (Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher) of Missouri's famous authors. There were also displays depicting what each region was famous for in history, culture, industry and political affairs.

For the northwest Missouri region, a student mounted on horseback told other classmates about the Pony Express. At Kansas City, a fourth grader portrayed President Harry Truman at his White House desk, with the famous "The Buck Stops Here" sign front and center. Also in the Kansas City area, teachers and parents served slices of Kansas City barbecue to the visiting students.

As the students walked through the state, Bob King played the fiddle, accompanied by his wife, Geneva, on the electric piano. Ruth Ann Allcock, fourth-grade music teacher at West Lane, provided additional music by playing "The Missouri Waltz."

Prior to the afternoon "Walk Through Our State," the fourth-grade students heard programs presented on Missouri streams, springs and wildlife by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Two members of the Oliver House in Jackson presented a program on the lives of Sen. Robert B. Oliver and Marie Elizabeth Oliver, followed by a presentation by state Rep. David Schwab (R-Jackson) on Missouri government and Jefferson City.

At noon, Patty Mulkey of the River Heritage Museum in Cape Girardeau gave a half-hour program on the history of the Missouri flag, which was created in Cape Girardeau.

In addition, each class watched video programs and slides on Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal, the governor's mansion in Jefferson City, and the Truman Library in Independence. There was also a program and displays dealing with the pre-Civil War and Civil War period in Missouri, and the role the state and its people played in the war.

Despite the amount of work and preparation done by the students, teachers and parents, Ball says it was all worth it.

"It was certainly a motivational day for the students, and a change from the classroom routine," she said. "We've been in class for about nine weeks and we wanted to do something that could be done outdoors while the weather was nice; and it was really great," she said.

Ball said next year's Missouri Day program will be somewhat easier since most of the difficult work has been done.

"We're going to continue with the same day-long program on Missouri Day, but we hope to add some things that we had to leave out the first time because of scheduling and space, to make the program richer and fuller," said Ball.