Taryn Ashby
Williams Elementary School fifth graders transformed their media center into the colonial village of “Williamsville” on Wednesday and Thursday to showcase colonial life to their fellow students.
The fifth-grade social studies standard is history from the earliest Americans to the 1850s. Laura Maxwell, the American history and English language arts teacher, feels that the interactive colonial village is one of the best ways to teach the difference between life hundreds of years ago and life today.
“Throughout January, the students have learned about colonial times,” Maxwell said. “So, to make the social studies history come to life, we prepared the colonial village. It is a great way for the kids to learn as well as have fun.”
Around 40 students were assigned to research daily life in the colonies. After the research, students wrote down their top five scenes to partake in.
Once each student received a scene assignment, they were given complete control over the scripts, choosing who gets what part, set layouts, and costumes.
The media center was filled with nine daily colonial scenes—home, general store, apothecary, tavern and inn, school, soldiers, cabinet makers, black and silver smiths, and a witch trial.
Other classes in the elementary school took turns walking around the village, listening to the performances, asking questions, and filling out worksheets.
The sessions were presented on Wednesday and Thursday from 8 -8:45 a.m. and 9- 9:45 a.m. Each scene lasted three to four minutes before student visitors rotated to the next scene.
“This project always proves to the kids that they can perform in front of strangers and persevere through 36 rotations of the same material,” Maxwell said.” It shows the students they can speak in front of adults, peers, and strangers. So many different fifth-grade standards contribute to putting the colonial village together.”
