Museum School

As the school year comes to an end, we are also finishing up this summer's Museum Schools too.

This year we were treated to just less than ten classes from Rocky and the surrounding area. It was a treat to see the excitement in the kid's eyes as they got to experience a day in a one-room schoolhouse. Their innocence was adorable especially when they called the staff "Miss Teacher Lady" or would assume that all of the adults, even the ones only ten or twenty years older than themselves, had grown up using hundred year old artifacts. They made us laugh with their creative names and answers when we played "Guess the Artifact".

My favorite memory this year will be from a grade four class from St. Matthew's school asking me to be a "meaner" teacher and giggling with excitement when I threatened to put a kid in the corner or rapped a ruler on a desk. Their enthusiasm and energy kept us going throughout everything we had planned.

The students surprised me not only with their creativity but with their maturity, and these qualities made activities like rug braiding, finger weaving, biscuit making, and butter making not only possible but enjoyable. The student's antics brought smiles and sighs to the staff, supervisors, and teachers.

One such time was when a student stubbornly insisted that kerosene was not a word and that there would be no convincing him otherwise. Another student was fairly convinced that the steam tractor in our implement shed was a fact a "choo-choo train." The final good laugh I got from the kids was when they told me that butter was the most delicious and nutritious par of the day. Getting the chance to work with such wonderful kids will easily be the highlight of my summer. It will be interesting to see where these kids go in life and I hope they always make time to "step in to the past".

-Robin Phillips