43
Poland 2nd-graders get taste of past
Poland 2nd-graders get taste of the past
POLAND
As local histor- ical societies try to boost membership, one is reaching future members while they’re young.
The Poland Historical Society welcomed second-graders from Poland Union Elementary to the Little Red Schoolhouse this week.
“People say they just don’t have the time to get involved, but it’s important that they do. We need to have the history of our town taught to future generations,” said Sue Holloway, a trustee on the historical board.
Georgene Fry of the Mahoning County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society arrived at the schoolhouse in full Civil War-era garb, complete with a bonnet.
“It’s important to teach these students history. It makes them appreciate what they have,” Fry said.
The Little Red Schoolhouse, at U.S. Route 224 and Struthers Road, was an active school from 1858 to 1915. It’s now home to the historical society.
Holloway assisted students in Phyllis Jeswald’s class Friday. Students answered the call of the school bell, wrote on slate tablets and memorized lessons from a McGuffey Reader.
They recited those lessons, too.
“Work while you work/ Play while you play/One thing each time, that is the way/All that you do, do with your might/Things done by halves are not done right,” students said, chanting the rhyme.
“We went back in time,” said Theresa Detoro, as she sat next to Brianna DiFabio. The two were sitting in a circle with their classmates and munching on lunches packed snugly in baskets or bandannas.
Jeswald said the annual trip to the schoolhouse, which began about eight years ago, brings the curriculum to life.
“It’s part of our social- studies standards: Life long ago compared to life today,” she said.
“They still have their imaginations,” Jeswald said, gesturing toward her pupils, who were jumping rope, sewing, playing stick ball and running around during recess.
The schoolhouse belongs to the Poland Board of Education, which leases it to the historical society each year for $1, Holloway said.
The historical society meets at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the Little Red Schoolhouse.