Grade 5 Classrooms Travel Through Time for a Colonial ‘Revolutionary Experience’

St. Margaret’s grade 5 students took part in “A Revolutionary Experience” last week, dressed in costumes reminiscent of colonial times, with activities and games that more closely brought students to the time period around the United States’ founding. 

 

The unit was created by grade 5 teachers Todd Clarke, Erika Higgins and Rachel Stephens as a way to bring history to life and for students to experience what life was like during the American Revolution. 

 

Students rotated between three activities, each of which applied their learning in creative and fun ways. The experiential day was the culmination of several class projects around the Revolutionary War. 

 

In one stop in the rotation, a grade 5 classroom was transformed into a tavern with the goal that students would experience the daily life of colonial patriots. The tavern recreated the social life of colonists, as students enjoyed snacks, played board games and read Revolution-era newspapers.

 

In addition, in McGregor Family Theater, students performed plays that reenacted key moments during the Revolutionary War, writing the scripts and acting out historic events which they rehearsed ahead of time. Parents were in attendance to watch the shows. 

 

Lastly, the students experienced the digital escape room held at the library. The digital escape room designed and orchestrated by Melissa Fisher, Lower School digital literacy teacher, is where students were organized in small groups and whisked away into a digital world to solve a host of puzzles, crosswords, and challenging activities using their knowledge of the time period.