Merry Lea

I went on a field trip with my daughter to Merry Lea near Wolf Lake. Merry Lea is part of a Goshen College program that not only connects children to history but to earth sciences, biology, and life science. We also learned how people lived in the 1800s.

This machine takes the corn kernels of the cob.

This machine shakes the corn to take off all the dust from when it was taken off the cob.
 Students are grinding the corn and turning it into corn meal.











This students are grinding the corn to make corn meal.

The students were able to taste corn cob jelly on crackers. Then the students heading to the kitchen. They used their imaginations to make magic muffins. Our guide pointed out that one of our ingredients was one that we had just ground up (corn meal). Once he put the empty pan in the oven, out came out a pot with warm cornbread muffins. We shared the muffins and talked about some of the other uses for the stove, (not pictured here). We learned that water was kept warm in one compartment, for baths. Two of the students were able to get in the small tub and take a "bath" using a ladle. They also saw that the iron was made hot on the stove as well. It had many uses.

The students were also able to play with toys that were used during that time. The kids had so much fun and there was no technology involved.

another use for the corn cob...

                                                 can you get the ball into the can?

                                                                                                                          pick up sticks

Students also made their own apple cider they were able to turn the wheels and cranks to make it possible. They drank their cider back at school. Students were then taken to the garden where they picked berries and tomatoes to eat. Our guide explained how the vegetables and fruits were canned so they could be preserved during the winter.                                                                                           

The theme of the tour was energy. How we need energy to move, what kinds of energy we use, where we get our energy from, and how we use the energy to work and grow/make food. 

Cabin Days

We took a field trip to Leeper Park in South Bend, to take a look at life in the 1820s. This was truly a rich experience. I learned so much. It was set up in stations: the cabin, cooking, medical care, sewing, candle making, and blacksmithing.

Our first stop was the "Navarre" cabin. There, I learned that cabins did not have glass windows back in the 1820s and that there was wooden shutters clothes and animal skin were used to cover the windows.  I also saw that the bed did not have a mattress, like we do today. just a heavy blanket on top of ropes going across the bottom.

tomahawk and container to carry gun powder

                                          kettle


broom

     corn sheller- used to take the kernels of the cob

blacksmith making a tool for heating coffee or water

I learned the process of making thread out of sheep wool. First, the sheep wool has to be washed, then it has to be combed through, finally it can be picked off the comb and turned into thread by twisting it tightly. The wool is twisted and put on a around a spool at the same time. A wheel that is turned by the pedal shown below, turns the spool and twists the wool.

 making thread of wool

This sweater is made out of sheep wool.

Travis shared that everything had to be used because waste equaled death. Corn cobs were even used. They were made into tobacco pipes and they could also be used as toilet paper. They could also be boiled and then made into corn cob jelly.

cow tongue (even this was eaten)

 Travis shared how the hind of a beaver is treated so it will not rot away. Cow brains and urine are used.

Testing out the pails. They pretty easy to carry. I wonder how it would feel once they are filled.

Doctor Visit

According to the "doctor", the leading cause of  death in 1830 was infection. Barbers did a lot of "doctor" work in their town. People had to travel farther for a doctor. Doctors bartered for their service. Back then, to become a doctor, you had to be a doctor's servant for 3 years, while paying him 50,000 a year) and then he gave you a certificate.

                                                     

                                                 


                                                                bone saw
                                                             

I learned a lot from this field trip. If the students are asked to somehow reflect on this field trip by doing an art piece or reading books related to this experience, they can make some really neat connections that they can remember.

Using field trip items to create art and deepening of content (extension to Portage Trail and Riverview Cemetery field trip)

Before we went on the field trip, we were told to bring a bag so we could collect some things found on our the field trip. We were not told what these items were going to be used for. We just knew we needed to collect items that were meaningful to us. I collected acorn shells, sand, twigs, leafs, and an artificial poinsettia leaf. We found out next class, that we were going to use the items we found to make an art piece that represented what we learned or experienced on the trip. We discussed how knowing before hand would have negatively affected our experience, because we would have been too concerned about what to take with us. After making our art piece, we wrote how the our creation represented what we learned or experienced. This is a creative way to integrate art with social studies. Students are learning about history, but they are also using critical thinking and creativity to synthesize what their new knowledge.

My art piece was about the portage trail.  The sand is the trail, ant the acorn shells, poinsettia leaf, and twig represent what I found on the way. The poinsettia leaf would have probably not been there when the trail was used, but it still represents a "thing" encountered on the path. I wonder what sort of things La Salle saw on his way down the trail.

This was from classmate, Jessica Leatherman.

This was from Heather Stutzman.

Geography Garbles

To start talking about how to make geography exciting for our students, we started with a little geography quiz. Then, we were given a page of geographic garbles to solve, which are words or messages that are produced by using a combination of pictures and word play. After we tried to figure them out, we got to make our very own geographic garbles about states, countries, or landforms. It was easier than I thought it would be.

3 in One Field Trip

 On Monday we went to Riverview Cemetery to visit the portage that French explorer, Robert LaSalle, used centuries ago. What I did not expect was to take a tour of the cemetery and learn about the early contributors to the community. It was really powerful to hear of the history behind the people while standing near their grave site. We also collected memorable items we found along the way to use with the Arts. I will post what we did with these items in a later post.

 Heading toward the portage...

Stopped to learn about the crematorium. It takes 90-60 minutes to turn a body into ashes. Anything that is not in ashes is ground up and put in an urn with the ashes. Some urns are buried in the cemetery

Heading towards the entrance of the portage..

 trek, trek, trek...

 The entrance to the portage..

 The guide shared that LaSalle got lost once while he was trying to direct his crew to the portage entrance. He said that he had gotten down and told his crew to follow them on a boat. His crew lost sight of him and La Salle was found the next day. He put X's on the trees next to the entrance so it would be more noticeable from a distance. The trees are gone now, due to flooding in the area and the uprooting of the trees. This Lake used to be part of the St. Joe River. Now, it is Pinhook Lake. The Portage from this entrance to the Kankakee was about a 5 mile walk, but is now as far as Crown Point, due to the draining of the Kankakee marsh.

 View of the entrance from above.

The Cemetery part of the field trip...

                                                                    
 J.B Birdsell invented a machine to make it easier to extract clover seeds.

 Studebaker brothers-Jacob, Peter, Henry, and Clem.
Famous for making carriages and wagons. Two of the brothers went to California to follow the gold rush. They made digging tools and wheelbarrows for those who wanted to dig for gold. Came back just in time to keep the family from going bankrupt.

The Muessel Family was from Germany and they started a brewery. They also donated a lot of money to South Bend Schools. 

Stephenson's made clothing and died wool. 

 These are only some of the many grave sites that we visited. It was interesting to make the connection between the street names, school names, and other facilities in South Bend and those of the prominent people we learned about such as The Morris Performing Arts Center.