The One Room School House

Our class has finally wrapped up our Grade 3 Social Studies unit on Communities in Canada where we learned all about First Nations and Early Settlers. Because there was so much to cover in this unit, it took about two months to do it right.

The kids had learned so much about First Nations and how they lived in North America, making use of their environments and overcoming various challenges, such as facing the arrival of the Early Settlers.

Eventually, we moved exclusively into the life of a pioneer, specifically a child. A few weeks ago, the kids arrived to find that I had transformed our classroom into a one room schoolhouse (well, as best as one can do in a 21^st Century classroom; we had to ignore our new wall-mounted Smart Board at the front of the room).

I took the desks out of groups and arranged them in rows and pretended that there was a big wood stove in the middle of the room.

Furthermore, when they finally found their desks, they saw that I had set them up to resemble the desk of a pioneer student’s.

Since we don’t actually have slates, we pretended by using white boards and markers; and since I bought brand new markers for this little project, the kids were just that much more excited.

So what’s that up in the top right corner? That’s a slapper tracker. No, pioneer school houses didn’t have such a thing because the teacher would just whack the children for misbehaviour and other misdemeanours. Obviously, I would never hit a student, but they were so interested in what would warrant a slap, that I used this tracker to let them see how it worked.

First off, my two poor kiddos that are left-handed immediately got a slap, because that was forbidden at the time. I had them fill in one of the circles-with their right hands!

In order to understand all other punishments, we looked at the rules for a one room school house:

Student Rules

-Boys and girls shall file into classroom in separate lines and be seated quietly on opposite sides of the room

-Children must be clean and tidy in clothing

-There will be a daily inspection of neck, ears, and fingernails prior to class to ensure cleanliness of person

-Young ladies must never show a bare ankle; girls’ and boys’ clothing should cover arms and legs completely

-Move their caps when entering

-Children must sit up straight at all times

-Children must not squirm, fidget, or whine

Punishments

-Five minutes tardy = 1 hour after school

-Double assignment id homework is not done

-Nothing shall be dipped into ink wells except pens

-Children who are caught writing with their left hand = 1 ruler rap on the knuckles

-Do not speak unless spoken to by the teacher. Talking in class = 1 whack with a rod

-Nothing shall be thrown in class. Such behaviour = 5 whacks with a rod

-Chewing of tobacco or spitting = 7 whacks with a rod

-Speaking immoral language = suspension

-Carving on desks or defacing school property = expulsion

-Fighting, lying, or cheating = expulsion

ONLY WELL MANNERED CHILDREN MAY ATTEND SCHOOL.

REMEMBER: EDUCATION IS A PRIVILEDGE

*I’m sorry, I cannot remember where I accessed this list, but it appeared on many websites after a Google search

They had a blast as I looked in their ears and doled out “slaps” for bare ankles showing. Even the poor little guy that came in late from a dentist appointment asked (no, begged) if he could actually stay one hour after school for being late…haha!