Marybeth's Class Notes

We are all enjoying a growing sense of community as we settle into the school year.  The children have been working hard, playing hard, and appear to be loving all of it.  After months of quarantine, I find that the ordinary moments together on campus have new meaning and bring great joy. 

We have begun our work as historians by identifying the purpose of studying history beyond our personal edification.  Several children in the class were quick to share their own version of the famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, and several others made loose connections between the Black Lives Matter protests that they witnessed this summer, and the Civil Rights Movement. Thus far they have showed themselves to be engaged and curious. 

In order to develop a concept of ‘100 years ago’, we made a simple timeline out of toilet-paper (yes, toilet-paper!) whereby each square represented one year. The children were able to see, in concrete terms, the relative distance between their year of birth, and the time period we will be studying, which stretched beyond the confines of our classroom and all the way into the school’s gathering space.   

In order to truly grasp the momentous change that occurred in the 1920’s, particularly for women, we needed to begin our study by exploring what rights women had before that decade. Over the course of the last week, we worked in small research teams to answer questions about what life was like for women and girls in early America.  As the children wrap up their research, they will take turns teaching the rest of the class what they learned.   

Please be aware that beginning on Monday, our class will enjoy a week in the Art Studio with Sabra and Perry.  If they have not done so already, they should bring their art materials to school next week.  

Finally, we will come together on Zoom on Saturday morning, October 3rd for a program discussion. Please mark your calendars.