Pictured at the Country School Day held July 6 are: Ava Powers, Astrid Hopkins, Preston Allen, Maya Pont and Karae Hopkins with teacher Cara Hach. (photo courtesy of Chris Juhl)

On Thursday, July 6th, elementary students participated in an 1890’s Country School Day at the Dysart Historical Center, with a second group attending on Tuesday, July 11th. A total of ten students attended the classes. Teacher for the event was Cara Hach who is a senior in elementary education at Iowa State University. The girls in attendance were provided with traditional aprons and sunbonnets while the boys had vests and straw hats. Outfits for the students and the also for the teacher were made by Historical Society board member Debi Miller and her team of seamstresses.

The theme for each day was “Westward on the Orphan Train” with lessons centered on that theme. Students participated in traditional lessons in spelling, reading, math, map studies, art, and music using the Orphan Train theme. Playground games such as were played in country schools long ago were enjoyed. A typical 1890’s lunch was prepared by board members and served in “lunch buckets” provided by Farmers Telephone Company. The lunches with the homemade bread sandwiches were a great hit with students commenting that they were the best school lunches ever! To top off each day, the students presented a readers’ theater play, “West on the Orphan Train” based on a script written by former local student, Margaret Wrage. Each student received a certificate and a special Orphan Train book at the close of the day.

Country School Days will be held in summer 2018 with the theme to be announced in the spring.