Palliser Students Connect with Community
COALHURST: Before school let out for the summer, students at Coalhurst Elementary School got a first-hand look at the past, a lesson that teacher Emma Lenz figures will serve them well in the future.
The hands-on history lesson came courtesy of the “Coalhurst: Connecting Through Stories” community project. A total of 89 Grade 2 and 3 students interviewed local seniors and toured historic sites in order to put together two magazines.
The assignment meshed with the social studies unit “My Community in the Past” and its goals, including student appreciation of how stories of the past connect individuals to the present. It also met the requirements for a Barons-Eureka-Warner Family and Community Support Services (BEWFCSS) grant to facilitate the development of a stronger community, which in turn made the publishing exercise possible.
Lenz said it’s a challenge to connect seven-, eight- and nine-year-olds to the past in that their history barely extends beyond yesterday.