Date: Fri 14-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

schools-Middle-Gate-one-room

Full Text:

with photos : A Trip Back In Middle Gate's Time Machine

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Middle Gate Elementary School second graders took a stroll back in time last

week as they spent the day studying in the old one-room school house on the

front lawn of the school.

Second graders in Pat Thompson's class at Middle Gate School ate their lunch

outside Friday. When lunch was over, their teacher rang the bell and the

students quickly filed back into school. Inside, they discovered what American

life was like 150 years ago.

Students dressed in clothing typical of that worn during the mid-19th Century,

ate an early American lunch and conducted their studies as students did years

ago, complete with spelling bees and copy books. It was all part of Middle

Gate School's second grade curriculum.

"I think this is a really neat experience for the kids," commented Mrs

Thompson as she rang the school bell at the end of lunch period.

Barbara Gorham's second grade class also spent a day last week learning in the

bright red school house.

"We actually go back to the 1850s," she explained. It's a wonderful unit. The

kids really love it."

Students in Kristen Strobel and Dot Wenblad's classes also participated in the

program. In fact, Mrs Wenblad's class got an extra taste of how difficult

going to school was back then when it rained during their day in the school.

The sun never came out that day, forcing the students to complete their work

in the dark.

As part of the event, second graders from the four classes were scheduled to

travel to Main Street this week to visit the Matthew Curtiss House, the Old

Meeting House and Trinity Church. They were expected to meet with First

Selectman Bob Cascella to discuss the history of Newtown.

As town historian Daniel Cruson points out, there is probably no more revered

symbol of early American life than the one-room schoolhouse.

"It's image evokes a nostalgia of an earlier simpler time when values and the

education that created and supported those values, was strong and clear cut,"

he wrote in a piece on the Middle Gate school house.

The school house, as Mr Cruson notes, does not sit on its original site. It

was moved to its current site on Cold Springs Road in 1966 from its location

on Route 25's Tollgate Hill.

The school was believed to have been built during the 1850s.

The 18 X 20-foot exterior of the Middle Gate school house hasn't changed much

since its construction, except for an occasional new coat of red paint. The

interior has been significantly changed, according to Mr Cruson. It has been

restored to what historians believe it looked like 150 years ago.

The inside of the school includes a "slopping shelf," which served as a common

desk for all students. It runs along three of the four interior walls.

Backless benches were placed in front of the shelf. Students did their work

with their back to the teacher, and according to the historian, when she

wanted their attention she would yell, "about face."

A stove in the center of the room was the school's sole source of heat.

Mr Cruson discovered in his research that, at best, the education received in

the one room school houses was sub-standard; at worst, it was a form of child

abuse.

Many of the students who spent the day in the old school house said they felt

like they were on a trip back in time. But unlike days gone by when students

walked home, these students boarded their school buses at the end of the day.