Making Meaning through Active Learning - Student and Parent Evaluations - Colonial Technology Integration

Narrative Feedback - Making the Connections
Responses to Colonial Day Web Site - Student and Parent Evaluations

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How were you able to make people think they were back in Colonial Times when they came to 3^rd Grade's Colonial Day?

We dressed up in colonial outfits

We talked like colonial people

We put backdrops and colonial scenery all around the room

We decorated our rooms with colonial props by cutting, pasting, and drawing lots of things.

We gave speeches like colonial people

We picked names that sounded like colonial times

We tried to stay in character (doing a colonial job)

We acted out punishments in a colonial schoolhouse

We wrote with quill pens

The tools we used were colonial tools

We played colonial games

We prepared the same food as colonials and ate it

In art were made people and arches

We made it realistic

How did you prepare for Colonial Day?

We read books, found facts

We found lots of information

We did research about colonial times

We wrote facts in our blue notebooks

We wrote and memorized our scripts

We learned what colonial people ate and found recipes in cook books

We found out what crafts they did and made some of them

We learned vocabulary

We searched on the Internet

We played games on the Internet that taught us how people dressed

We visited the library

I wrote a report

We made posters

We went on field trips

I visited an apothecary in Colonial Williamsburg (web site)

I collected a lot of herbs with my mom

I learned how a gunsmith made guns

What did you do on Colonial Day that was similar to guides on our field trips to Pennsbury, Ridley Plantation, and Rittenhouse Town?

We wrote, practiced, and memorized speeches so we didn't need to read from a piece of paper

We planned our speeches so we could say it over and over again.

We dressed in colonial costumes

We demonstrated our trades

We showed people around our rooms

We had to pay attention

We showed visitors everything on our tables (marketplace)

We were hosts and hostesses teaching our guests

We told visitors about our day

We answered questions

We were very polite

We spoke clearly

We explained our characters (I acted like a colonial school boy by sitting up straight and being very quiet)

We had props like museum guides

We assumed roles and answered detailed questions from visitors about colonial life style

As a waitress in the colonial tavern, I was friendly to people who came. I served them food and drinks.

I told some history about clock making, I explained how to paint clocks and what materials to use to make a clock.

We showed visitors how to write with pen and ink

We showed people how to make hornbooks and write with a quill pen

At a museum guides showed us what things were and at the marketplace I did that too.

In what ways is our 3^rd grade Colonial Day Web Site like visiting a museum?

There are lots of places to go and every click is like turning a corner

There are written descriptions of what you are looking at

There were different exhibits and slide shows just like at a museum

There were pictures to look at

You can see tools like a museum

The web site has different windows that are like different rooms in a museum

I feel we explained everything well enough to be understood

The web site gives a lot of information

Everything is well labeled

We had to answer questions and explain history back in colonial times

In the marketplace, people would tell you what an object was for and how it was made.

You can see what happened in the past

You can't touch stuff on the web site, but you can learn a lot

Everything was made by hand, not by machine

You can go from area to area and spend as much time as you like

Parent Comments:

I was very impressed with the amount of work that went into the web site; both by the children and the teachers. It was as if I were reading a "Journal" of children going to school in Colonial Williamsburg. The costumes and settings really made it authentic.
We were very excited to be able to revisit Colonial Day at GA. And the best part is we can share it with other family members who weren't there.
What a wonderful experience for everyone. The decorations, food, and costumes lent an authenticity to the experience. . . . Clearly the 3^rd grade bonded as though it was its own Colonial village.
I think the Colonial Day web site is very well done. It is a good mixture of facts and pictures. It is an excellent guide for other schools to implement similar programs as well as a great opportunity for us parents to feel in touch with what our kids are doing.
My parents grew up in rural North Carolina and I remember eating cornbread, stories of my mother churning butter, and taking homemade whiskey-rock candy cough syrup which really worked, eating homemade applesauce and turning the grinder. They were very self-sufficient farmers as were our ancestors in colonial times. I'm glad the 3^rd grade class had an opportunity to learn about so many activities of colonial times, first hand, through crafts and their research.
I loved spending time with Sarah exploring her work and listening to stories that she shared about the whole experience. I was impressed with how deeply you all delved in the project
The web site was very detailed. It explained each child's contribution to the Colonial Day event. I enjoyed seeing all the children dressed up. I was also very impressed with their preparation and final work.
It's obvious a lot of time, hard work, and effort went into making the day so successful and so much fun for the children as well as parents and teachers. Everyone did a fabulous job!
Congratulations, the colonial era costumes looked authentic. . . most importantly, the classmates looked like they were having fun learning!
I found the web site to be very informative, interesting and well laid out. I loved looking at the photographs of all the children; I could see the colonial spirit captured in all the scenes.
A true learning experience. It is an in-depth view of colonial times explained by our children. We love the pictures.
The pictures on Colonial Day really show us how it was back in early America.
The marketplace was interesting, since it had different types of jobs displayed.
I truly enjoyed reviewing the colonial day web site. I feel it was a wonderful way for the children to understand the life of the colonial times.
Even though I couldn't be there that day, I now feel like I was.
I was very impressed by the web site. The photographs and the text gave a nice overview of the Colonial Day activities. The only thing better was to attend Colonial Day in person.
We especially enjoyed the slide show of all the individual pictures. The web site was a great way for parents to also experience and learn about Colonial Day.
I believe that third grade study of colonial times makes the students appreciate all of the modern conveniences we have today, while also realizing that many things have remained the same.
Colonial Day is a wonderful and creative insight into our children's imagination of what colonial times was.
I thought Colonial Day was a wonderful "hands-on" experience for the children. It is also a wonderful way for parents to get involved.
I think the web site presentation of Colonial Day is exceptional. I love all the pictures and the enthusiasm depicted in each one. It's obvious the children had a blast!

Germantown Academy
P.O. Box 287
Ft. Washington, PA 19034

Andrea Owens, home page coordinator & Micki Vieille, 3rd grade technology coordinator
© 1999-2004

Last updated 05/03/2004

Colonial Study | 3rd Grade | GAnet