Down the Hall in Room 177: Pioneer Life in the 1800's: Field Trip to Carriage Hill Farm

On Friday, October 24, Third Graders from Horizon Science Academy- Dayton Elementary took a Field Trip to Carriage Hill Farm and MetroPark. This field trip was a follow-up enrichment activity that concluded our study of pioneer life in the 1800's and our novel study of Common Core exemplar text Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia McLaughlan. While there, we took the self-guided tour: A Walk Through History. Students were able to learn more about Carriage Hill MetroPark and its history by touring the Visitor Center and watching a 7 1/2 minute video told through a child's perspective. Afterwards, we strolled through the historic farm with the provided tour information. We concluded our stroll with a nature walk and lunch at the Visitor Center before returning to school.

Students began our visit with a 7 1/2 minute video about farm
life in the 1800s told through a child's perspective.

Students visited the one room school house in the Visitor's Center. They learned
that during the pioneer times, children like Anna and Caleb Witting all attended school in
the same classroom regardless of age or grade. They also recalled that students
only attended school during the fall, winter and early spring. We discussed that this was
because during the summer, children were needed to help work on the farm by plowing, planting,
and harvesting crops. This tradition of having summer break still continues today.

Dymond observes several different tools used by the pioneers.

Ra'Jhay and Cayla look at some of the items that pioneers like Sarah
and the Wittings may have shopped for in town.

Ray'Von, Jayda, Khadijah and Marcus were impressed by the tools
that were madein the blacksmith shop.

The third graders gathered in front of the barn and windmill at Carriage Hill.

Third graders decided that the amenities we have today are much better
than the outhousethat Sarah and the Wittings and the Arnold family who
lived atCarriage Hill Farm must have used in the 1800's

Students noticed that the chickens at Carriage Hill Farm were kept in a
pen and hen house but in the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall the chickens
were free to roam and even come into the house.

As we walked to another area of the farm, we stopped on the bridge to make
some observations of the pond ecosystem.

Ray'Von and Kaylin observed that two of the gravestones had smaller gravestones
at the other end of the grave. Some students hypothesized that those might be graves
of babies. Ray'Von suggested that since the initials on the smaller stones
corresponded to the names on the larger stones, that those smaller stones were
marking the feet of the people in the Arnold family who were buried here.

Cayla, TaMya, and Ra'Jhay noted that many of the tombstones were from young
children and even infants who lived anywhere from 1 day to a few years. Students
discussed reasons why people may have had so many children in the 1800s (to help
work on the farm) and why so many children may have died (lack of proper health
care, no vaccines to prevent disease, living far away from the doctor).

Sharnetta and Lavon (behind) found what Ms. A calls "monkey brains".
We are not sure what these are really called, but they do resemble
the brains of a small animal. Our hypothesis is that they are the
fruit or seed (or both) of a type of tree.