A Trip Back in Time

Dear Third Grade Families,

What an experience we had, this past Wednesday, traveling back to the mid-1600s!

On Wednesday, the Third Grade went on a field trip to The Wyckoff House Museum, in Brooklyn. It is the oldest standing house in New York City, built in 1652. During this year, Petrus Stuyvesant was Director of New Amsterdam, but Dutch and European Jews had not yet arrived in the New World. Before Stuyvesant, the people of New Amsterdam had already seen six Directors come and go, and they were working hard to prosper as a colony.

By 1652, Pieter Wyckoff had paid his debt as an indentured servant to a landowner near Albany, and had been working as a farmer for almost ten years. At this time, he built the Wyckoff House and farm for his wife and two children. What started as a one room house for thirteen people — similar to a studio apartment set-up in New York City (though with an outhouse instead of an inside bathroom) —  turned into a multi-room house on 20 acres of land. Eight generations of Wyckoff’s lived on the land from 1652-1901, and it was named a Historic Preservation building in the 1960s.

While in the first room of the house, the students explored the artifacts that were on display around the room. They were asked to find items that could be used to help with everyday life in the 17th century. One student noticed the spindle, which was used to help make yarn for clothing. Another student noticed that there were many materials to help make candles, so they must have been important. Some noticed all of the pots and pans laid out in the stove/kitchen area of the room, called the hearth. One artifact looked like a musical instrument or an extremely old typewriter, and we were all surprised to learn it was a meat grinder. Who knew they had those back in 1652?! A surprising fact to many was that room we were in was multi-functional. It was used as the kitchen, the dining room, the workroom AND the bedroom. Large sacks filled with hay, leaves, and herbs, called hay pallets were used as mattresses, typically fitting 2-5 people each.

In the second bedroom, which Pieter’s grandson added onto the house, was the way they showed their new wealth. The ceilings were higher, windows taller (to let more natural light in), and the space itself felt bigger. As well, they had a cabinet to display certain items to represent their status, holding feather quills, plates and XX.
We investigated more artifacts in this room, thinking about:

• what does it do?
• who used it?
• how people used it?
• where people used it?

Students also explored klompen (what we now call clogs), yokes (to help carry buckets full of material), an iron (made entirely of a heavy metal), and a butter churn.

At this point, our very own Lower School art teacher, Iviva, stopped by for a visit. She informed the students that she is an artist-in-residence at the Wyckoff House, and works there a few days a week. We talked a bit more about delft tiles, which the class is currently designing and creating. The class noticed that the color was different than the ones we’d seen. Typically they were drawn in shades of blue, most often royal blue or sky blue. Since blue was the hardest color to create, usually only the wealthy could afford true blue, so “lower class” citizens needed to find other ways of have affordable delft tiles. The tiles in the Wyckoff House are shades of dark purple (probably created from ink made of berry juice) and navy.

Our final stop on the trip was a return outside where we were able to play some Colonial games and try on klompen. Some of the toys were familiar, such as jump ropes. Others, like the whirligig and “rolling the hoop.” I think we can all agree that this trip was full of new information and exploration!

Yesterday, your student took home multiplication flash cards. Please practice the facts with your student at home every day, as we are looking for automaticity for our 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s facts. As we introduce the 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s times tables over the next few weeks, those cards will be created and added to the nightly study.

Dates to remember:

• Friday, February 2 — dismissal is at 2:30
• Tuesday, February 6 — 3rd and 4th Talent Show “auditions”
• Thursday, February 15 at 9am — Grade Talent Show
• Monday, February 19 to Friday, February 23 — NO SCHOOL for February Break
• Wednesday, March 14 — field trip to Urban Glass
• Thursday, March 22 — field trip to The Brooklyn Bridge

Shabbat shalom to everyone!
Hilary and Alisa

Hebrew with Ilana 

This week the third grade worked on their new writing project about winter. After having conversations, learning songs, and watching video about the winter, they had to write sentences such as; what is the weather, what we wear and what we do in the winter. Also they had quiz on the vocabulary from the song Reamim Uvrakim. Next week they will finish and present their project to the class.