Published: June 01, 2008 11:29 pm         

ALBION: Pioneer's work

A small group of fourth graders wearing calico dresses and buttoned vests gathered around their teacher Jeff Radder outside the Albion Central School District’s Nature Trail on Friday. Slightly out of breath from their hike, they quieted as Radder made an announcement.

They were going to learn how to make fire.

A few disbelievers whispered and giggled. The rest fixed their eyes on the bow, wooden peg and lint scrapings at Radder’s feet.

The teacher kneeled and the students followed. They were warned that Radder hadn’t yet been able to produce flames. The disbelievers promptly whispered some more.

Taking a deep breath, Radder started working the bow’s string around the wooden peg. The students watched in anticipation. Some swatted at bugs that rose from the grass.

Continuing to work the make shift contraption over the next few minutes, Radder finally gave up. A fellow parent called the students over to a pan resting on a small camp fire and began to make Bannock — a simple scone made from flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. The snack cooked quickly and they were soon giving it a taste, forgetting about Radder’s fire demonstration.

Though unsuccessful, it exemplified for the students just how difficult life was before electricity, stoves and microwaves. Even the simple task of producing fire could become challenging. It was the perfect Pioneer Day lesson.

“They worked a lot,” said teacher Julie Keller. Her students were in the midst of a Pioneer “Social,” waiting to learn how to dance. They had just finished baking molasses cookies. “No TV. No radio. No VCRs. No Playstations.” The students blinked, the concept difficult for them to grasp.

Pioneer Day was celebrated by Albion 4th graders for the 23rd consecutive year on Friday. They spent the entire day traveling from class to class learning about life in the 1800s, Radder said. In all, the students had 17 activities to choose from.

The favorites seemed to be the classes in which students created a souvenir, like candle making, said teacher Rob Kania.

“They have something to take home and show their parents,” Kania said. The students who chose his activity played “Rounders,” an early form of baseball. “The kids enjoy the (activities) they didn’t even think they would enjoy.”

With teacher Linda Kerr, students spent some time “tin punching.” It was called “white smithing” at the time and those in the profession often worked 12 to 15 hours a day, said 4th grader Jon Welles. They often worked from their home, said his classmate, Matthew Decarlo.

In next door in Dawn Squicciarini’s classroom, student August Dugan was busy making a woven wreath of “corn husks” died with berries. Celtic music played in the background, setting the scene. She was told the pieces would have been used to decorate homes.

Down the hall, students Guadelupe Perez, Melissa Monds and Abigail Maines were learning how Pioneer women churned butter and cleaned their clothes with teacher Danielle Cammarata. Wearing aprons to protect their Pioneer dresses, they quickly figured out how to work as a team.

They grabbed towels from the dirty pile, smothered it with a bar of soap, scrubbed it on the wash board and squeezed it through the drying press before hanging it up to dry. Nearby, a parent helped their classmates with an old fashioned metal iron.

When the three girls moved to the final table to taste freshly churned butter on a saltine cracker, Maines described it as “Scrumdidlyumptious.”

In basket weaving with retired teacher Cindy Pileggi, the students wove a small square using soaked reeds. Trenton Lipscomb said it was “easy;” his friend Manwell Taylor, a student dressed in a white ponytail wig and black tri-corner hat said it was “hard.”

Elsewhere in the 4th grade wing, Bob Epperson hosted a jumping jacks activity, Village Historian Neil Johnson held a seminar about Civil War camps, Pauline Lanning held a stenciling workshop, Erin Komendat taught the art of calligraphy, and parent Lisa Gramlich spoke with students about antiques.

Student Kassidy Hasting’s favorite activity of the day was Bonnie Day’s quilting session. By the end of the period, she had sewed a heart inside a plain, white quilt square.

Teacher Debbie Karas spent the day teaching students about the importance of paper cutting in the 1800s. Fourth grader Greg Husung listened to directions while his father, Carl Husung, helped the students with their construction paper silhouettes.

“They didn’t have wall paper. They couldn’t afford the paintings we see in museums or buy for our homes,” Karas said. “Paper back then was extremely scarce. One, they didn’t make a lot of it. Two, it was expensive.”

To compensate, families used scraps, she said — for rag rugs, quilts and silhouette creations to decorate their homes.

“Our forefathers were the ultimate recyclers,” Karas added.

Contact reporter Nicole Colemanat 798-1400, ext. 8227.