Ye Olde Shopping Mall

Maddie has the neatest teacher this year in 5th grade.  The kids in her class work hard and there are a lot of projects, some of them fun, some of them not so much, and Miss K. expects a lot…including good, responsible behavior.  But Maddie absolutely loves Miss K. and hates to miss school, she is even dreading the coming summer vacation, believe it or not.

One of the most anticipated events in her class is Colonial Day.  Weeks before the big day, the students chose a job that was available in Colonial times, then they researched the job, designed a “shop” with a display and products, prepared speeches, then they got dressed up to sell their wares  to the customers (moms, dads, little brothers).  Besides their speeches, they must be able to answer any questions you may have for them.

Welcome to Ye Olde Shopping Mall at Forge Elementary

These silversmiths told us all about how they melted down silver and molded new products.

This cute wigmaker was asking me to pay 2 shillings for a wig.  We thought that was a bargain and snagged a deal!

These twin blacksmiths showed us how they made horseshoes.

We learned that a candlemaker was called a chandler.  This hardworking chandler taught us how she made candles by dipping them in either beeswax (expensive but smells good) or animal fat (cheap but stinky).

Here are some coopers (barrelmakers)…

…and a brickmaker.

There were also gunsmiths, though I somehow missed a picture of them.  Maddie was an apothecary, which meant leeches (on the left) and lots of herbs (and the apothecaries were very knowledgeable when I asked them the purposes of each herb).

Here is Mistress Maddie showing Master Jack how to grind herbs with a mortar and pestle (it helps to stick your tongue out when performing this procedure…)

I liked this guy’s festive Colonial footwear:

Jack and I absolutely loved our visit, and afterwards, we ate lunch with Maddie in the cafeteria!  Although Jack was excited, after lunch he told me that he thought he would be mostly packing lunch next year in first grade.  His lunch of a corn dog, baby carrots, jello, and french fries  apparently did not meet his high culinary expectations…

The next day, Ben and Jack decided to open their own Colonial Shoppes:

Jack was a silversmith,  Ben was a gunsmith.  They even made me paper money so I could shop there. 

Many thanks to Miss K. and her fabulous Fifth Graders, we enjoyed time-traveling back to the Colonial Era with you!