To view a slideshow of St. Thomas students and their models of Old Sturbridge Village, click here.
PROVIDENCE – Students in grades 6-8 at St. Thomas School didn't just visit the perennial field trip favorite Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts; they built it.
For about a month, groups worked together to complete models of the historic village that include exact replicas of each building. Among the many model buildings they created are a mill with a working water wheel, a bank, farms, and a schoolhouse. Using materials like cardboard, Popsicle sticks and clay, they made ingenious miniatures of the village that represent the unique way of life of the people who lived there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Sixth grade teacher Doris Lawson said the project was valuable for more than a history lesson because of the teamwork required to build the intricate models.
"They have to rely on each other...it's a total cooperative effort," she said. The emphasis on teamwork is at the heart of the middle school program at St. Thomas, she added. "In K-5 we teach them that we love them. In middle school we teach them responsibility."
After finishing their models the students traveled to the actual Sturbridge Village for a first
Hand experience.
In addition to learning about life in Sturbridge Village, the students said they learned a lot
about each other and teamwork.
"Everyone has a special talent, said 8th-grader Jacquelyn DiMuccio. “One of the kids in our class –we never knew he was so good at clay, and he did almost all the pottery for our pottery shop.”
Eighth grade teacher Tracy Colagiovanna said that because the students do so much research on the village, they have a much greater appreciation when they visit. "They just have a better understanding of it because they researched it, they built it and then they have to give an oral report on it as well," she said.
