Pioneer Skills Outline
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Pioneer Skills Outline Class Length: Class size: Class Location: 1 hour 15 minutes Up to 60/4 stations • Smoklerville 2 hours 45 minutes Up to 120/8 stations Materials: Depends on station; see below. Preset materials based on group numbers and stations used. Costumes for Roles Class Set-up: Melt wax, set-up donut making, open buildings, get out candy based on stations used. Safety Precautions: If making donuts, students should not be close enough to the fryer to get burned. Provide clear rules for hay riding prior to boarding. When tools of any kind are being used students must know that horseplay is absolutely not allowed and that they must be supervised. Introduction: (5 - 10 minutes) “Today you are going to be pioneers, what is a pioneer?” A pioneer is someone or something that is the first to do something. The first person on the moon; the first woman doctor in America; the first plant to grow after a forest fire. Today, we’re going to be talking about the first European settlers to move into the western parts of America. Explain that throughout this class they will be performing some of the same activities that children would have done back in the 1860’s. Tasks like cooking, cleaning, and getting food required more work back then. Kids were very important in getting those jobs done. Of course, children did get to have some fun. While one staff member is having this very brief talk with the participants the other staff member should be explaining roles to the parents/teachers that are there to act as townspeople. Activities: (1 hour – 2 hours 10 minutes) Barn Animals Hayride Candle & Rope Making Saws Food Making Town Tour Games Tin Punching Tools Conclusion: (5 minutes) Have everyone meet together at the picnic table either for their meal or to get organized and make their way to their next destination. Class Tear-Down: All materials must go back where they came from including tools, costumes, information sheets, Hay Wagon (plugged back in), donut supplies (cleaned first), and games. Revised Oct 2012 Wax must be returned to pot, and turned off. All materials should be cleaned by dipping into the hot wax, and then replace the newspaper and return the water to the large kettle. Revised Oct 2012 Pioneer Skills Class Length: 1 hour 15 minutes or 2 hours 45 minutes Class size: Up to 60 – 4 stations or Up to 120 – 8 stations Class Location: • Smoklerville Materials/Set-up: All buildings being used must be unlocked and opened up. If cold outside (below 40), fires should be built in Pioneer Cabin and Craft Barn, if being used. All townspeople must be in costume! Groups will choose from the following Stations: Barn Animal Care (should all be in barn) • Hay & Feeds • Shovel/Rake/Pitchfork/Straw • Wheelbarrow • Brooms • Scrub Brushes Candle & Rope Making • Wicks (check #) • Melted Wax • Water cooling cans • 3 different colors of yarn (check #) • Rope Makers Food Making • Pre-made Dough (check #) • Knife & Cutting board • Skillet, Oil, Slotted spoon • Foil Pan lined with Aluminum Foil filled with Flour • Bowl with Cinnamon & Sugar • Plastic table covering • Napkins (check #) Games • Wooden Barrel Hoops (4) • Bandana • Bundle of sticks (2) Revised Oct 2012 • Burlap Sacks (6) • Button • Buzz Saws • Game of Graces (Ribbon Hoops with two sticks each) Tools • Toe Adze • Froe & Maul • Augers • Draw Knives & Draw Horse • Wood Hayride • Tractor (check gas) • Wagon with straw • Crate Saws • Axe (only to explain, NOT to use) • 2-person pull saws • 1 person saws • Logs to be cut Town Tour • Candy put out in Store (check #) • Music playing in saloon • Keys to the Jail / Sheriff Hat Tin Punching • Flashing pre-set on boards • Punches (5-6) • Hammers (5-6) • Markers/Stencil Objectives: • To expose participants to some of the daily activities of an 1860’s settler. Each participant should come away with an idea of what it was to be a pioneer. Safety Precautions: • If making donuts students should not be close enough to the fryer to get burned • Clear rules for riding the tractor must be stated prior to boarding • When tools of any kind are being used students must know that horseplay is absolutely not allowed Overview: Participants will be split into groups of 8-15 and group leaders will have chosen 4/8 different activities to be accomplished. Once the activities have been chosen, two to three Revised Oct 2012 staff along with parents and teachers will present each of the stations while students rotate through with their groups. Introduction: (5 - 10 minutes) “Today you are going to be pioneers, what is a pioneer?” A pioneer is someone or something that is the first to do something. The first person on the moon; the first woman doctor in America; the first plant to grow after a forest fire. Today, we’re going to be talking about the first European settlers to move into the western parts of America. Explain that throughout this class they will be performing some of the same activities that children would have done back in the 1860’s. Tasks like cooking, cleaning, and getting food required more work back then than it does for most of us today. Kids were very important in getting those jobs done. Of course, children did get to have some fun. While one staff member is having this very brief talk with the participants the other staff member should be explaining roles to the parents/teachers that are there to help in the form of townspeople. Roles that can be performed by the parents/teachers include: Candle/Rope Makers Town Tour Givers Game Leader Tinsmith Roles to played by staff include: Saws (may be a parent if confident) Tools (may be a parent if confident) Barn Animal Care giver Tractor Driver Donut Maker Activities: (1 hour – 2 hours 10 minutes) Use the large bell to rotate groups through the stations. Barn Animals: Move the horses into the pasture or side pen so that students are not in the same area. Students will be invited into the barn. Explain that a lot of time and work went into caring for all the animals and maintaining the barn for them. Depending on the number of participants in a group you may break them up to work on 2-3 of the following tasks. Take into consideration how many groups are participating not only within the activity but the whole day so that you leave some tasks for other groups. Stall Cleaning The stall that the animals use must be shoveled out completely into the wheelbarrow and hauled out to the compost pile in the corner of the closest pasture. A package of wood chips should then be put down in the stall to act as insulation. Revised Oct 2012 Barn Swept Out Simply sweep up the hay towards the hay pile and any straw into the straw pile. Dirt can be swept outside and any mess in the feed room can just go into the trash. Pasture Shoveled All pastures need to be cleaned up for the health and welfare of the animals. Using the wheelbarrow, rake, and shovels a team can pick a pasture and shovel the poop. Once the wheelbarrow is full it can be dumped in one of the designated compost piles in the corner of the pasture area. Animals Fed Each day horses will receive 2 flakes of hay put into their feeder in the main pasture. We also have feed in the feed room, they may have a cup on M,W,F providing her additional nutrients. The white plastic can in the feed room has sweet corn which horses may have as a treat- perhaps 2-3 small handfuls a day. Obviously in feeding horses students will need to do so carefully from the other side of the fence. Chicken Care The chickens get a large scoop of mash to the point of filling their feeder every day and can have a medium scoop of scratch each day to pick at in their coop. Their water feeder should be clean and full, this needs to be done at the spigot in front of the barn. They can take a small handful of straw over to the chicken coop for the egg laying boxes and may retrieve any eggs. (Keep for yourself or give to Cultural Coordinator at a convenient time). The coop may also be raked out to look nice if necessary. Watering Hole The large container in which the animals drink from may be scrubbed out and filled if necessary on a hot day. Either way it should be filled if low. This can be messy so be sure to give clear guidelines on not playing in the mud. Candle / Rope Making: Fill 3-4 soup cans with hot wax using the angled pliers. Set spaced out on the table and then place a #10 can full of water next to each one. Candle Dipping Students will be provided with a 6” piece of wick. Have them tie a knot in the end of it. Explain that a very common chore for the children was to make candles for the family. “Why did they need candles?” Light, Comfort. Explain that they will be dipping their wick with the knotted end in first into the wax and then dipping it in water for it to cool and harden. They may repeat the process 2 more times for a total of 3 wax/water dips before moving to the back of the line. “What would happen if we just left our wick in the wax for too long?” The wax on the wick could melt right back into the can and off the wick.