Kids, Youth and History – What SCHS Members Can Do
Part of the mission of SCHS is to educate. According to some SCHS board members and directors, if we are not taking part in the education of youth, we as a historical society are not fulfilling our mission, or worse, we are avoiding our responsibility. Those are strong words, but it could be taken as a call to doing strong works. SCHS has in the past gone into schools for hands-on activities with kids and also still has an interpretive program with re-enactors called Tombstone Tales. But even Tombstone Tales gets less attention from our schools and teachers due to new priorities and restrictions of recent years, including less funding for buses to take kids to events.
Since going into schools to work with kids and youth has become more difficult in recent years, the SCHS in 2014 is making two new efforts to reach out to youth. The intent is to offer programs for kids who want to participate in history programs outside of school.
The one program in July, 2014 is to have two Lewis and Clark re-enactors visit the SCHS general meeting. See more info at Events – 2014. These professional re-enactors work with children in schools around the St. Louis area and on that night, Wednesday July 23 at 7:00 pm, the SCHS membership is encouraged to bring their kids, grandkids and great grandkids to interact with the Lewis and Clark re-enactors and participate in Lewis and Clark-related activities. See Lewis and Clark Night for Kids.
The other “program” to reach out to youth is in May, 2014, at the Lindbergh Spirit Festival. The SCHS will have an informational booth year after several years of not participating in the festival. The SCHS is also encouraging 5th graders at the Crestwood Elementary School to march in the Spirit Festival parade in their Revolutionary Days costumes. Each 5th grader is assigned a “character” from the American colonial era to study and create a costume. Refreshments will be served after the parade to the participants.
See photos below of some of the Revolutionary Days characters from 2013. These photos show the 5th graders doing their hands-on activities on the morning of Revolutionary Days.
If we adult SCHS members were to come to the Spriit Festival parade (see directions to the festival) to cheer on these 5th graders in their educational efforts, would we be as familiar with these characters as they are? And the same for visiting the hands-on activities the morning of Revolutionary Days 2014, May 15 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Crestwood School. Four SCHS members are invited to observe the activities that morning. Learn more about the characters the students are studying by looking at the Wikipedia articles below. They are short and simple. Invest a little time in the children’s education as well as your own by reading over the biographical sketches of characters you are not so familiar with.
Adult SCHS members can also have a part in the education of these kids by writing them a note of encouragement. Pick one of the “characters” below and address your note to the child using the character’s name. A few words saying who you are and recognizing their Revolutionary Days program as well as the child’s part in the program. Send your note to schs.webmanager@gmail.com. We will print it and deliver it to the school. If you would like to print it and sign it yourself, you could deliver it to the office at Crestwood School and the child will receive your note through the teachers.
The characters are as follows with a link to the Wikipedia article about the character.
Abigail Adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Adams
Alexander Hamilton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton
Ben Franklin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin
Benedict Arnold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold
Betsy Ross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross
Charles Cornwallis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cornwallis
Crispus Attucks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks
Debra Sampson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson
George Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
John Adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams
King George III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_George_III
Marquis de’Lafayette
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_lafayette
Martha Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Washington
Mercy Otis-Warren
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Otis_Warren
Molly Pitcher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Pitcher
Nathan Hale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hale
Nathaniel Green
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_Greene
Paul Revere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere
Samuel Adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams
Thomas Jefferson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
William Dawes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dawes
Sappington-Concord Historical Society…
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