As an extension of the Social Studies curriculum, elementary students at Glen Head School dressed up as students of long ago and studied how school differed from today versus over 100 years ago.
Most American students attended a one-room schoolhouse taught by a single teacher with students ranging from five to 15 years old. The number of students could vary from six to 40 or more. The youngest students would sit in the front while the oldest in the back. Generally, the teachers would give lessons in writing, arithmetic, history, and geography. The students memorized and recited their lessons. The girls often wore dresses, and the teacher was usually a woman. A wood-burning stove was in the center of the classroom that provided the only source of heat. Students would have to go to the bathroom outside in the outhouse.
In addition, our elementary students had the unique opportunity to learn all about the one room schoolhouses built in the 19th and 20th centuries North Shore Schools one-room schoolhouse, a historic replica of the one built in Glenwood Landing in the 1800’s, that is located on the North Shore High School campus and was built by North Shore seniors in the Long Island Studies Program.
Article by Shelly Newman. Names are fictitious.
