Page 50 - Sansarc Country School Museum, Orton School Bell booklet 2.3.2020

A typical day in a one-room school in the past

 Hang coats, store boots and lunch pails in entry area
 Went outside to get the water to fill the cooler
 Raising the flag and Pledge of Allegiance to the flag outdoors
 Sing songs, early days sang YCL song
 Sometimes said prayers, depending on the family background
 Health checkup: hands, teeth, hair; taught hygiene
 Duties assigned by YCL (Young Citizens League)
 Recitation by students at front of classroom
 Older students assist younger students with assignments
 Recess: Played games outside according to how many students
and what their ages so all played together; sometimes teacher
joined in, too; hand bell to call in to start classes
 Classes
 Lunch: carried lunch in paper sack, syrup pail, tin box; might
heat on stove i.e. soup or grilled cheese sandwiches; fruit and
cookie; wash hands at wash basin with soap, using water carried 1967 Sansarc School Campus
into school and kept in bucket or crock; games after eating
In winter kept lunch and water in classroom so it wouldn’t
freeze
After lunch recess, the teacher read to students a chapter in a
novel like “Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
 Classes
 Recess
 Fridays: Art lessons
 Lower the flag and fold properly
 Bank fire for next day in potbelly stove
 Erase the board, clean school
 Dismissed

Present day is similar with conveniences that are more modern.

2013 Orton School, Mission Ridge

Original drawings by Betsey DeLoache
Red Bird Studio

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