On March 4, 1998 Mrs. Decker's Fourth Grade Class went to the Stuhr Museum located in Grand Island, Nebraska to visit the old country school. They pretended to be students in the year 1888. When they arrived at the school the flag was flying and their teacher from 1888, Professor Melody Jobman, told them about the four buildings that they saw. There were two privies, one for boys and one for girls, that had pictures on them because people in 1888 could not all read the English words. There was a shed for keeping horses and the schoolhouse with smoke coming out of the chimney. It was cold outside, so everyone was glad to line up and follow Professor Jobman into the schoolhouse.
We hung our coats in the coat room and noticed the lunch pails, the water dipper and the different kinds of equipment they used for recess. We tried to find a seat that fit our size because schools in 1888 had different ages of students in one classroom so they needed different sizes of desks. Professor Jobman told us about the old-fashioned clock at the front of the room. It had to be wound with a key and we had to be quiet enough to hear the clock ticking. We thought it was great that the clock showed the time AND what day of the month it was at the same time.
Go to next story
page.
Go to Student Stories Menu.