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Third Graders Discover Connections Between Modern and Colonial Day Professions

3/22/2016

BY ASHLEY JONES

Collegiate 3rd Graders spent the morning learning about professions that were popular in Colonial times from guests who perform the modern-day version of those jobs.

Six local professionals shared their work and gave students hands-on opportunities to explore a particular trade. They represented the professions of blacksmithing (jeweler), medicine, woodworking, toy making, farming and sewing (seamstress/designer).

The students have been studying Colonial America recently, and today’s guests helped prepare them for a field trip to Colonial Williamsburg on Wednesday.

“We are trying to prevent and eliminate a disconnect, so we use the hands-on [approach],” said 3^rd Grade teacher Dani Mendonsa.

Each 3^rd Grader chose a profession from the Colonial times to specifically study, and spent time listening to the speaker who represented that trade.

Melanie Barker, one of Collegiate’s Upper School librarians, showed students how to make modern toys and games with a 3D printer, in comparison to the Colonial toys.

Lower School nurse Kathryn Heidt demonstrated how nurses and doctors administer CPR.

Laure Ray, a local jeweler, explained how the tools she uses for examining or cleaning stones, diamonds and other fine pieces are pretty similar to Colonial-time tools.

During their visit to Colonial Williamsburg tomorrow, students will visit the locale that features a detailed history of the trade they studied, and gain a greater amount of knowledge.

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