EWMS Cyberfair Project

Project Narrative

In our school we study the continents in 3-year cycles. This year our focus is North and South America. In the years when North America is part of the geography lessons, we study the USA and we do the most with Delaware History. Students will see Delaware in depth in each classroom at an appropriate level. This year we also helped the 5 year olds with a presentation about Delaware for Delaware Day.

Students in the Montessori Classrooms study history with timelines – both as vertical timelines and horizontal timelines. In the summer I consulted with the classroom teachers to see how looking at the local historical landmarks in our neighborhood could enhance the students work with Delaware History. It seemed a perfect match. Students study history by thinking about the Fundamental Needs of Humans. We traditionally take many field trips and the teachers were an integral part of making the connection to the neighborhood, history and their classrooms. Starting from our sailing trip on a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel to Delaware Day when we all signed the preamble to the Constitution, we have been learning about our local area.

As the tech teacher I was interested in teaching the older class how to use Powerpoint. I am always trying to find new ways to have the students do research and learn to search more efficiently, to cite their sources and give proper credit. Creating this project gave much more importance to the bibliography. Several of the students did projects that were enhanced by visiting the site, interviewing a local expert or referring to some primary source documents. Students in the 6-9 year old classrooms worked together on their part of the project. They had lessons in using the Internet for research and using the CD-ROM Encyclopedia as well. Students used digital cameras and were able to insert their pictures into their projects.

Students were very excited when we went to visit some of the historical places. One day I took 4 of them on a walking tour where we visited the site of Thomas Garrett’s home, the Quaker Friends Meeting house, walked through the graveyard and looked at the headstones, and walked past the front of the Old Towne Hall. Before we were finished one of the students found that we were right outside the Historical Society Library. They were so excited to go in and just sit and read. The Librarian was delighted to have us there, the students told her what they were studying and she found things for them to read. No one wanted to leave. When they got back to class they declared that reading in that library was “the best.”

The work the students did learning about our school and the neighboring church was much different since there was no material on the Internet. We had to talk to the historian from the church. We also learned about some of the grandparents and great grandparents that had attended St. Mary’s. People were excited to share their notes and pictures with us about what it was like “in the old days.” People were very impressed with the questions our students asked.

Since 2006 was our school’s 35th Anniversary the students were aware of landmark celebrations. In the course of this project we learned from one of our parents that the city of Wilmington would be celebrating 175 years of being a city and that the Wilmington Railroad would be having a year-long celebration for its Centennial. Students began to ask about the relationship to other buildings and people and their place in history. They noted that one hundred years after its original opening, the Grand Opera House re-opened in1971 – the same year as our school started We noticed that St. Mary’s church was completed before the Civil War and St. Mary’s School was completed afterwards. Some of the students chose people like Thomas Garrett, Louis Redding, Jr., Emily Bissel and Peter Spencer to study instead of buildings. They picked some great Wilmington heroes in the process. They saw how important it is for people to stand up for what is right. One of the students was pretty sure if the Abolitionist Sewing Circles were meeting now she would want to help.

One of the things I have been reading a great deal about is having students reflect on their learning. I decided to try that for this project. It is not something they are used to doing and were very frustrated with me for making them do it, but I think it was helpful. One thing that often happens is that the students are sure that if it is computer class it is not related to anything else at school. I am always trying to have them see the computer as a tool to use to enhance their learning. I am including the reflective pieces below. I think they really tell a great story.

Student Reflections on Their Work

Delaware History Project: Stephanie and Olivia
For this project, we went to the Delaware History Museum in downtown Wilmington, and we also went to Ashland Nature Center. We also read a lot of books, like North American Indian Art by Andrew Hunter Whiteford. We think it was a good experience and it is good to preserve Delaware’s history. Our favorite part was going to Ashland, and we also got to stay overnight. The way we learn at Ashland is by trying stuff that Lenni Lenape would do. We went into the woods to see what they would gather for food, and we were going to go to the recreation of a wigwam they have at Ashland, but it was raining outside so we went inside and they had a pretend wigwam that they had created while we were outside with our tour guide. Inside we learned what they would wear as clothes. They would wear animal skins. That was really fun! We think the hardest part was making sure we got every thing down right and remembering where the notes are. We think we can learn about the area around EWMS by trying things, not just listening to someone talk about it. We can learn about what it was like in the past, and what sort of things people did way back when. We think that PowerPoint is a great way to do a project, not too hard, with a nice professional looking finish.

HOW ABOUT MY PROJECT: Marvin Jr.
I felt that my project was hard because we had to go back and find out the websites that I got pictures from and put them in my story. But my favorite part was when we walked to the Louis Redding Building to take pictures of the Louis L. Redding statue. We read about how his life was when white and black people were separated from their friends. I think that learning about Louis was kind of fun because my teacher helped me and told me how to work with my project. And I also think that it is because my sister went to school where Louis Redding went to school.

What I’ve Learned: Bernadette
My favorite part about this project was when went on a field trip to a library and looked up alot of stuff for our projects, and finding out that Wilmington used to be called Wilington, it was really funny. The hardest part about this project was looking up facts. I’ve learned as a result of this project to make sure you get all your resources or it will be really hard to try to find were you got your information from again. From this project I think we can learn that there is a lot of places that we can just walk to near our school, and they’re right in our faces like were sitting right in front of them.

THINGS WE'VE DONE THIS YEAR By: Kimberly
The most fun was looking for pictures to fit my slides. The hardest part of this project was finding enough facts. I think we can learn a lot about the history around our school. We can learn that there is a lot of things to learn and I think its cool because its so, so close! I learned a lot about the civil war and Delaware. On Delaware Day We had a special assembly just for it! We learned a lot about Delaware’s History. One of our field trips was when we went to the Kalmar Nyckel. We sailed on the Christina River. It was a lot of fun because we got to help sail. My US history project.

Project: Libby
My favorite part of this WHOLE thing, was definitely going on the field trip to look at the Friends Quaker Hill Meeting House. It was really fun. We looked at all the graves, and took pictures of each other in front of the Meeting House. We then went to Willingtown Square, we saw alot of old houses there and found some cool facts. Then I looked behind one building and I found this Library called Historical Society of Delaware Research Library, it gave us alot of useful facts for our report. The hardest part of this whole event for me was to pick a topic, because I first wanted to do Harriet Tubman, and Underground Railroad, but someone else picked that topic already. Then from our trip to the library I wanted to do Women Antislavery Sewing Circles, but there wasn’t that much information on that topic. So eventually I decided to write about Quakers, which was a fun topic because they had to do alot with the Underground Railroad. I ended up learning alot of facts, and learning about things I didn't know about. It was a difficult experience but fun.

Delaware History Project: Sammy
While studying about history I have learned many things that I would have never even thought to ask. We went to Old New Castle and I learned a very weird fact where in the early 1800’s if you didn’t have fire insurance and there was a fire in your house the firemen wouldn’t even come to save you! I also did a slide show on Emily Bissell who was born right in Wilmington and I found out how much she helped with the community and what surprised me the most was that she was against the women's right to vote because she thought that men had the right of way! And I would have thought that she would one of the many people to think that women should have the same rights as men but I guess not. We did this project with Powerpoint and it was easier for me to do because I’m familiar with Powerpoint since I have it at home so that was fun to use.

Project: Phillip
I learned about Thomas Garrett and how cool he was and he saved his household servant from these kidnappers and he really cared about people. We walked to where Thomas Garrett’s house used to be and we went to where Thomas Garrett was buried at Wilmington Friends Meeting House. It was hard to pick out the facts and we went to a library and but I didn’t get alot of stuff but I had fun in the library and we went to the Delaware Historical Museum and saw Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett talking.

Project: AMIRA
It was hard because I could not find any thing on the computer, the web didn’t know what I was looking for. So I had to go to the church with my computer teacher. And when I got the papers with all the information I was so, so happy. The papers were special because they were old newspapers and documents about the church. Through it all I managed to have a great report.

Delaware History Project: Allison
The first field trip we went on this year was to the Ashland Nature Center. We learned about birds and animals and pond-life. The hardest part is probably walking across all the hills and through the mud. The easiest part was being at the lodge and having lessons there. I had fun when we got to look in the telescopes at the microscopic animals that live in it. We went to the nature building and learned about the Lenni Lenapi.

We went to the Delaware Historical Society on Market Street and there were a whole lot of scenes set up and we learned about the first jobs that the people in Delaware had to do and we also learned about the Underground Railroad. We learned a little bit about George Read there too. We had a scavenger hunt and looked for special people and the jobs they did. I didn’t think George Read was very interesting there though.

We also went on the remake of the Kalmar Nyckel and learned about the first settlers and Fort Christina. When we were on the ship, we got to set sail and we got to turn something called the capstan. It was used to lift heavy things on the ship. We went to the Mercers Museum and there were a lot antiques and old boats and tools. They used turtle shells and made them into combs and clips.

Class 5 also went to the Grand Opera House in down town Wilmington. We learned about the building and when it was built and what it was originally used for. Which was almost always operas.

Class 5 went to Old New Castle for a tour of the George Read House and the whole town. The houses had mirrors outside on the top floor window. They were called busey bodies because they could look up and down the street and they could look at their front door. People also had to pay for fire insurance and they would have a small metal plate above their door showing that they had fire insurance. If there was a fire in a house that had fire insurance and it spread to a house that didn’t, they would forget about that house completely and concentrate on the house(s) that did have fire insurance. I ended up doing George Read after we went on that trip.

We celebrated Delaware Day at the school and we signed a remake of the Constitution. We had assembly and learned about the Constitution. George Read was one of the people to sign the Constitution but he also signed the Declaration of Independence. I’ve learned a lot about Delaware and the people who lived in it from a long time ago.

Project: Shannon
I went to Peter Spencer Plaza and learned that he grew up close to where my school is now. Peter Spencer Plaza is located on 800 North French Street in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. We never used Powerpoint before. My favorite part of this project was changing font color and the way it looks. The hardest part of this project was getting ALL the information. I think we can learn about the settlers and ALL the people that taught here and lived/live around my school.

Project: Alysah
I have learned about the Old Swedes Church and that the Old Swedes Church is the oldest church in Delaware. The hardest part about doing this project was looking up information for my slideshow but I got to go to Old Swedes Church and go inside the church. My favorite part about this project to was doing the slide show. Old Swedes Church is right across the street from my school and I walked there. I got to pull the bell and I got to sit in the oldest pews around.

Project: Richard
We went over to Peoples Settlement and took pictures of the building. I interviewed my grandmother because she worked there. She told me a lot of stuff that I did not know. I got most of my facts from the internet from the Peoples Settlement web site. This was the first time I ever used powerpoint and it was easy.

Project: Claire
Making a project of the 1700’s was not hard but it was not a piece of cake either. That old book of clothing by Richard Bowood really helped me and it was fun to read too, I actually got stuck in it! I also got the information from movies too, like Little Women. I have learned a lot on this project, it was really fun. You should have seen my rough draft in it has so many facts! My favorite part was drawing the illustrations, I love to draw. There really wasn’t a hard part, though putting the pictures in was kind of hard. Really, it seems that typing this is the hard part. A child’s life was hard in the 1700’s and 1800’s the corsets would keep you from breathing deeply, so you couldn’t really play or run. Children’s schools did not have heaters or air conditioners. Some of the schools are still around that were built in the 1800’s, like my school, it was made in 1866. It’s very tall, It’s one hundred,forty-six years old. You can learn from our school that schools were very tall a long time ago. And were mostly made of bricks, wood, and a little bit of metal. The schools had a LOT of pipes that they went through the ceiling, you can see the pipes!

Delaware History Project: Eric Jude

I learned to record the web site right after I find out a little bit of information even if its only a tiny bit of information that I might not need at first.

The favorite part of the project was learning about the Brandywine River Powder Mills and the Du Ponts, I did not know that the Du Ponts are a little bit French. The hardest part of the report was figuring out how to make the the lines above the e’s in EI du Pont’s name.

I think we can learn a lot about the past by studying the history of the area around our school, I think we might even be able to learn about our family’s ancestor’s past and what they did in Delaware. We can also learn a lot more about important events in history by studying the past even if it’s only about Delaware.

The web sit that had the most information was
http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Landmarks/Brandywine_River_Powder_Mills.cfm I got most of my facts there.

Elementary Workshop Montessori School

In the Middle of

History and the Future

Project Narrative

Student Reflections on Their Work