Camp New Hope!

I had the pleasure of joining our 5th graders today on their fieldtrip to Camp New Hope. Despite the rainy, cold weather, the students were in good spirits and happy to be learning in the woods!

The students have been learning about the 13 colonies in their classrooms and my rotation combined outdoor exploration with the importance of fences in colonial times. The Colonial Williamsburg website tells us: "The construction of fences was among the most essential activities of the newly arrived Virginia colonist... fences were built for mainly practical reasons. In Virginia, livestock of all kinds was accommodated in the woods surrounding cultivated fields. As the animals could be branded or otherwise marked for owner identification and cleared land was often limited, crops came to be enclosed and livestock was thus fenced out. By no means restricted to agricultural use, fences also defined and protected all types of rural and urban spaces, such as churchyards, gardens, and workyards."

I showed the students 5 different types of fences found during colonial times: snake, split rail, chinese chippendale, plank, and paled. We discussed the reasons colonists might need fences of various types and what owning a fence said about a person's social status within the colony.

Then students broke up into 5 groups with each group attempting to build a model fence. We explored the trails near the front of camp and groups collected natural material to build the fences. I was impressed with what the students were able to create in such a short time!