TEXARKANA, Texas - Rhode Island's soil was not suitable for many crops, Pennsylvania allowed religious freedom, and James Edward Oglethorpe founded Georgia.
Those are just a few of the facts fifth-graders at St. James Day School taught visitors to the school's Colonial Fair on Friday. Under the direction of middle school history and Latin teacher Jennifer Jordan, the annual event lets students step into the past for an immersive history lesson.
Each student portrayed a 17th-century settler of the original 13 American colonies, with a name, backstory and occupation. In sets such as a Rhode Island general store, a Pennsylvania blacksmith shop and a Georgia home, they told visiting schoolmates and family what life back then was like.
"They all have to research all the colonies first, and then they're divided into the three colonial regions, New England, the middle and the southern. And then they have to do some further, more in-depth research about exactly how colonists lived: what type of businesses were in each region, how the climate affected the building of houses and the growing of crops, because that's a big deal, and the geography, how their land forms," Jordan said.
With the help of school staffer Denise Henley, the students then designed and built a business and a home setting that would have been typical in each of the three regions. Period costumes completed the students' transformations into characters with names such as Sytrach Williams, Benjamin Harrison and Lydia Robinson.
"I am most impressed for these students to do this - and they're so well-versed, and they know their history," said Carolyn Latimer, grandmother of fifth-grader James Moore. "They do a wonderful job. I'm as proud as can be."