Great Great Grandma Gertrude gently guides,
giving glimpses, generating guesses with gewgaws and gadgets.
History unpacked from her Gladstone bag.
One of my alter-egos, who would "visit" the classroom looking for her great, great granddaughter (the class teacher) who unfortunately always seemed to be out of the room when she appeared!!
We had "driving history" with bits of automobiles - bulbous car horn, starter handle, petroleum can, headlight etc we had "washing history" with washboards, brushes, soap and dolly, we had "toy history" with wooden spinning tops, pottery animals, lead soldiers etc and "seaside history" which even ended with a Punch and Judy show and other "history days" when the need arose. I always loved having the children explain to Great Great Grandma Gertrude how things had changed and help her understand the differences, look and describe her historical objects closely and figure out what they were or how they would have been used. The children used to ask so many fantastic questions and we had lots of laughs as "Great Great" tried to understand what the children were telling her about how they lived now. These sessions would often be spoken about by parents (months afterwards at parent evenings) telling me how much their child had talked about what "Great Great" had brought in and sometimes asking me if indeed my own Great Grandma had visited???
Can you remember being told stories by your more aged relatives about how their lives were long ago? Do you still have old artifacts you use today? Did you like learning about history at school? What was your favourite historical period? Please leave me a comment below because I'd love to know :)
Love this idea. What a tremendous way to keep kids interested. I was a teacher but I retired in 2010. Thanks for visiting me!
ReplyDeleteIt was a way to indulge my passion for dressing up!! But it always worked so well :)
DeleteLovely post. I used to visit my Grandfather while he was at the nursing home. He forgot how to talk after a while, but we would sit with some of the other residence and I loved talking with them. They had some of the best stories about things from their own lives, and they talked with such passion that I really could sit there and listen all day. Great post, thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting my blog as well.
ReplyDeleteGirlfriend
Shari
I am sure you Grandfather loved having you there - warm human contact is so necessary and listening to the other residents' tales even if he couldn't say things himself must have helped him pass the time too :)
DeleteMy dad gave me an album full of pictures of relatives going back to the 1860s. It's a treasure. I wish he would speak more of the past because those details are so interesting.
ReplyDeleteG is for Gardasil—Is It Safe?
You MUST write down what he tells you before it all gets too late - I wish I had done so when my Great Aunt showed my photos - so many names and stories get lost when those older relatives pass away.
DeleteExcellent teaching method. Kids learn without realizing it. I always like the senior stories. Old pictures and mementos just add to the joy
ReplyDeleteSo true, Joanne about learning without even realising it and it was amazing how much they did remember for years later!!
DeleteInterestingly enough, I had a Great Aunt Gert.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a wonderful technique for helping kids learn. I bet they had a blast.
The children used to love it and as I said it often got quite noisy as Great Great pretended not to understand about modern ways!
DeleteI enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteIf you like genealogy, my post is here: From 1840 to 1880, GERMANS were the largest group of immigrant
Thanks, Debby - I'll be popping over to read your post:)
DeleteSuch a fascinating class/teaching idea, and what a way to get the kids interested and engaged. I remember going to a museum with my grandmother and her being quite put out the the 'historical' items on display were ones that she had used on a daily basis!
ReplyDeleteYes my children often amazed museum curators with their knowledge as my mum (their grandma) has many Victorian and earlier items in her kitchen hanging from the old kitchen range so they recognised a lot of them and what they were for!
DeleteThat sounds like such a great way to catch the interest of children.
ReplyDeleteYes this and bringing animals into the classroom are sure fire winners!!
DeleteI am so emotional now.
ReplyDeleteI miss my grandma
I wish I could have told her, how much I love her.
I loved the post
A Peice Of My Life
I wish my history teacher was as motivated and innovative! No, I did not like history at school- which was mostly a dry list of which king did what when. My interest in history was acquired in teenage seeded by reading historical fiction and then trying to ferret out how much of that 'fiction' was 'fact' and also a couple biographies - sealed my fate forever :) Thanks for sharing this heart warming post!
ReplyDeleteNilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
I remember my grandparents telling me a few stories about when they were young, but I don’t think I have anything of theirs that’s really old. That bag is cool!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Now that sounds like a lot of fun! :)
ReplyDeleteSophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - Dragon Diaries
I recall my grandpa telling me how the snowfalls in southern WV being waist deep. That seemed pretty darn impressive to a little girl and deep down I wondered if he was exaggerating just a bit but it's quite possible the snow was that deep eons ago. I know when I was little we got some good snowfalls. It seemed a foot of snow storm dumping a foot of powder was common in the 60s. My FIL has an old mining lamp that belonged to my MIL's daddy. The first time I saw it I knew it was used in a coal mines but didn't know what it was at first. He has some other old gadgets, too. It's great fun to see vintage stuff like this and to hear the history behind each piece. My FIL loves to talk about life when he was a boy or young man. His face really lights up when he shares his stories, too. It's great seeing how life was through his eyes. Thanks for sharing and for visiting Saturday'sArt Sketching Through the Alphabet with little GIRLS post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my A to Z post -- it got me to yours and your way of teaching the children about the past is brilliant. It not only got them to thinking about what things used to be like, but also about what things are like now and how they change. It seems all my family for generations back have been story tellers. At family dinners and picnics and on those long Oklahoma evenings we spent in the storm shelter waiting for the all-clear. My children and grandchildren are continuing the tradition. And most of our stories are "mostly true."
ReplyDeleteMy Late grandfather used to share stories with me about his youth and the events that happened around then.... Missing him!
ReplyDeletehttp://jaishwrites.blogspot.sg/2017/04/atozchallenge-2017-i-for-igloo.html