Centennial Day Reflection 11/12/14

OBB School of Education invited the second graders from Trace Crossings to Samford
University to help celebrate its 100th birthday. To celebrate we set up five stations that were
representative of the last 100 years. The five stations were: Music School where they learned
some dances from the 50s, a classroom from 1915, a classroom from 1955, a classroom in the
future, and a playground activity from the past. The students arrived at about 9am. They
started the morning all together and heard Dr. Frances Carter speak about her experience as a
teacher. She began teaching in the 40s right before WWII. The kids listened to her talk but I
think this was more interesting for the adults to hear her stories. At 9:30 the kids began to
rotate through their classrooms. I was in the classroom that was representing 1955. In our
classroom we had the students say the pledge first. Then we talked a little bit about President
Eisenhower. Next we taught them about bomb drills that would have happened during this
time. We had a siren and all the kids were told to get under their desks and cover their heads
until the lights came back on and they were given the all clear. They thought this was fun. Next,
we taught a short choral reading lesson using a Dick and Jane book. In the middle of this lesson
they had a bomb drill. They thought this was fun since they got to get under their desks but we
did make sure to explain to them that this is something that kids their age in the 50s did while
they were at school. Finally we talked a little bit about Disneyland, which opened in the
summer of 1955. We told them which Disney movies were out at that time. They were shocked
by all of this information. After all five groups rotated through they had birthday cake ice cream
to celebrate OBBs birthday. At 11:15 we went outside and took a group picture and sang happy
birthday. The day was so fun for the kids and was a great educational experience. They got to

experience the past first hand. We also taught them new vocabulary words during the
simulations. The vocabulary words we taught included past, future, decade, century, etc. This
was such a fun idea that offered the students experiences in the past that they will never
forget. When teaching history or even these vocabulary words it would be east to simulate a
classroom or the past in my own classroom. The kids will enjoy pretending and will soak up
experiences and information in a better way.