Mexico 4th Graders Visit One-Room Schoolhouse

May 22, 2018 Submitted article

MEXICO – Mexico Elementary School students recently took a step back in time when they visited an 1800s schoolhouse, located on the grounds of their sister school in Palermo.

With a view from the teacher’s desk, one may see the setting of a classroom circa the late 1800s/early 1900s. Mexico fourth graders recently visited the one-room schoolhouse, adjacent to Palermo Elementary School.
With a view from the teacher’s desk, one may see the setting of a classroom circa the late 1800s/early 1900s. Mexico fourth graders recently visited the one-room schoolhouse, adjacent to Palermo Elementary School.

Dressed in flower-printed lace and bonnets, the girls were joined by boys decked out in plaid or dress shirts and suspenders as they lined up to enter the one-room schoolhouse when the bell rang.

Teacher Linda Daly portrayed the school master and inspected the children’s hands as they entered the building before she and colleagues Donna Handley and Kate Laduc offered lessons back in time.

The students were in awe as they learned the early punishments for boys and girls playing together, betting or playing cards.

Lying was not acceptable, because “your word was a reflection of who you were,” Daly said.

Dressed in late 1800s-to early 1900s attire,student Kellsey Dermady-Thomas intensely listens to a teacher speak during the fourth grade field trip to the one-room schoolhouse on the grounds of Palermo Elementary.
Dressed in late 1800s-to early 1900s attire,student Kellsey Dermady-Thomas intensely listens to a teacher speak during the fourth grade field trip to the one-room schoolhouse on the grounds of Palermo Elementary.

Much like yesteryears, students today still learn the following schoolhouse lessons: minding manners, spelling, geography and penmanship.

The Mexico Elementary fourth-graders were able to review the structure of the building with their teachers, including the woodstove used back then for heat and cooking potatoes for lunch.

In a community effort, the schoolhouse was recently restored to its 1930s appearance, when it was last used as a school.

The building has since served as a living history museum.

Daly said the schoolhouse visit was a culmination activity for academic units about American history, colonialism, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and Erie Canal.

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