Students explored a replica coal mine, learned about life in an Indigenous longhouse, and had a 1900s school experience.
Last week at Nanaimo Christian School our Grade 1 & 2 students took a field trip to Nanaimo Museum. Students saw what daily life was like in a traditional longhouse of the local Snunéymuxw peoples and had a chance to test their weaving skills and take home their creations.
Students also walked through a replica coal mine and learned about the days when coal was king in Nanaimo, drawing immigrant workers from afar. Students watched a video tour of a miner's cottage built in the 1890s, one typical of Nanaimo that housed two families and was adorned with oil lamps, laundry washing boards and wood stoves. The children found the appearance of a chamber pot quite amusing!
At the school classroom exhibit students were able to dress up in old fashioned clothes and learn what school was like 100 years ago: a one-room school, oil lamps, a potbelly coal stove and a picture of King George V. Students sat at traditional desks with ink wells and were introduced to the MacLean cursive writing method. Students each had a chalkboard and practiced writing their name in cursive. When it was time to play, students tried out the wooden spinning tops, pick up sticks and a Jacob's ladder.
Thank you to the staff at Nanaimo Museum, our teachers and parent volunteers for making this fun morning possible for students.
Comments