Students Travel Back in Time!
Students Travel Back in Time!
March 26, 2019 at 3:55 PM
Can you imagine life without a washing machine, a phone, a car or refrigerator? Equal measures of curiosityand wonder crossed the Year 3 boys faces yesterday as they walked through the Howick Historical Village gates.
Dressed in ‘old fashioned’ clothing to enhance their learning experience, the boys looked the part walking around the Village which houses more than 30 buildings from the 1840-1880 period, including Hemi Pepene’s whare, the old mail runner’s raupo cottage, the 1800s Pakuranga School, a courthouse and a blacksmith’s shop. It wasn’t until the students got involved in the first activities that they realised how hard it was to live in the Victorian era.
After wandering through a settler’s cottage and looking at the kitchen utensils used in the 1800s, the boys pulled up their sleeves and put some elbow grease into washing and drying clothes by hand. Pegging wet clothes on a line was a new experience for some!
They then took off their hats, pulled up their socks and sat up ramrod straight in rows to take part in a short Victorian styled, writing, geography and maths lesson in the classroom. The boys walked away from both experiences feeling relieved that times have advanced!
The next two activities entailed games the Victorians played and archaeology. The boys enjoyed playing the games they were familiar with such as bowls and stilts, and were eager to try the games they had never seen before, such as Diabolo, which proved to be challenging. They also indulged into digging up old objects out of small sandboxes and learning about their history. Following this, the students set off to lunch before ending the visit with a walk around the Village with a chance to ask many questions.
This was a fantastic outing for the students and helped broaden their knowledge about ‘who we are and where we came from’ – which is their current Social Science Inquiry. This trip supported their learning and focused on how technology and lifestyles have changed over time, and just how lucky we are today with the vast amount of innovation and technology available to ease daily living.
Thank you to the parents who offered their time to help, we truly value your input. We are also grateful to the Village staff for sharing their expertise with the students.
