Fifth graders have been actively learning about Stoddard's history during this exciting 250th-anniversary year celebration of the town.  Most recently, they visited the Historical Society of Cheshire County as part of the Celebrate Stoddard 250 events.

         We wanted our students to learn more about local history and engage in historical thinking through hands-on study of primary sources. We started with a walking field trip to the Stoddard Historical Society in December and were excited to extend their learning even further with a visit to the larger collection of Stoddard-related artifacts and documents at the Historical Society of Cheshire County. It was a wonderful opportunity for students to gather evidence to deepen their thinking,” commented 5th-grade teacher Maggie Forrestall. “During the visit, students investigated their individual research questions related to the essential question, ‘What is the biggest change in Stoddard history? How do you know?' " 

     “The historical society often works with regional educators to provide students with an opportunity to engage with primary sources and make inferences about the past,” said Jenna Carroll, Director of Education for the Historical Society. For James Faulkner 5th graders,  we gave a behind-the-scenes tour of our facility and showed them the work we do to preserve the history of 23 towns in Cheshire County.”

     Ms. Carroll and the Society’s Executive Director Alan Rumrill did a youth curator activity where the students wore white gloves and worked in teams to observe touchable artifacts from the early 1800s to determine their use. Later in the visit,  artifacts, historic photographs, and original documents related to Stoddard’s history including those related to agriculture, logging, summer camps, and schooling were brought out for the students.

          Mrs. Forrestall’s 5th graders are using the research they gathered on this trip to write a piece they will share at the Celebration of Learning on June 5th at the James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard; this is one of Stoddard’s 250th Celebration events.