Kindergarten student Joshua Moir constructs a structure, based on what the pilgrims built Friday morning in Centralia.
Kindergarten student Caleb Kohler listens attentively to what school was like for Pilgrim children Friday morning in Centralia.
Parent volunteer Christina Yeung teaches Centralia Christian School students about games the Pilgrims playes (called “lawful recreation” at the time) Friday morning in Centralia.
Fourth grade students Mikah Skaar and Alexis Hughes learn about making Johnnycakes Friday morning in Centralia.
Sitting in a miniature schoolhouse and dressed as if she had just disembarked from the Mayflower, a Centralia Christian School parent asked a small group of elementary students if they would want to attend school with the Pilgrims.
“It sounds very fun, and even though it’s very strict, it might be fun,” said fourth grade student Mikah Skaar, one of the students participating in Pilgrim Day on Friday morning.
The pretend Pilgrim teacher said the school would be incredibly strict and cold in the winter.
“I adapt fast,” Mikah said.
The Centralia Christian School’s Kindergarteners and fourth graders spent Friday morning celebrating “Pilgrim Day” — the school’s annual lesson on Pilgrim life for Kindergarten. The students dress up as Pilgrims and Native Americans, while parent volunteers dress as Pilgrims to conduct little lessons for the students about the day-to-day life for Pilgrims.
“In the school house, they are experiencing what it was like to go to school as a young child,” said Kindergarten teacher Linda Johnson. “Most of those schools were done either in homes, or a small building where there was a schoolmaster at that time, early on in Plymouth Plantation.”
Johnson said the hands-on lessons helps the students get a feel for what their lives would have been like.
“We had studied about the Pilgrims, how they left England and came to America,” Johnson said. “This is their chance to experience Pilgrim life as a child. We’ve learned about different things they do to work, what they eat and how they had such a rough winter when they came to America.”
The fourth grade students dressed as Native Americans and participated in the morning festivities as well.
“They learned about how they became friends those first few years they worked together,” Johnson said.
On the other side of the room was a station for students to make Johnnycakes, an early American staple food.
“They used grains and corn ground up and made little pancakes, basically,” Johnson said. “So the cooks are showing them different herbs that they might have had in their gardens and how they ground those up. They measured a lot of things with shells, so that’s what the shells are out for. The kids are helping mix that and bake it on a griddle.”
Parent volunteer Kelsie Stiltner helped the students make their Johnnycakes.
“We’re using seashells since there weren’t measuring cups back in the day to measure out our flour and cornmeal,” Stiltner said. “Over here we have some cinnamon that we are crunching up, as well as some dried corn. Then we have some fresh herbs for the kids to smell.”
Stiltner said the kids hadn’t tried their Johnnycakes yet, but she was hopeful they would turn out well. She chose to volunteer that day, because her son is in the Kindergarten class.
“It seemed like a fun experience to kind of join in with,” Stiltner said. “I think it’s great that kids are learning about Pilgrims with stuff they don’t usually do.”
The cutest thing Johnson heard the Kindergarteners say that day was to call the “Mayflower” the “cauliflower,” she said, but she also noted that Pilgrim life could be somewhat shocking to a 5-year-old.
“I think a lot of it is surprising to the Kindergarten-age children — that you stand and you don’t talk when you’re eating, the strictness that took place in the schools, the amount of work that the children had to do,” Johnson said. “That was very much a priority over play, but it was their survival so that was what they were used to doing.”
