La Cygne Elem. Kansas Day
By Kevin Gray
History came alive for the 150th birthday of Kansas Friday morning at La Cygne Elementary, as familiar names from Kansas’ past dropped by to see the students. From Josette, a Native American, who lived in Kansas in 1841 to football great Barry Sanders and so many others in between like John Brown, George Custer and Dorothy Gale, students spent the day learning more about Kansas.
The youthful performers, said Janet Reynolds, Prairie View High School librarian and one of two sponsors, are known as the Young Historians, a group that formed last summer during Summer History camp. Several of the morning’s participants had been trained by Emporia State University professors Joyce Thierer and Ann Birney, known for their “Ride Into History” workshops and living history shows.
The Young Historians other sponsor, Johnnye Ann Lane, said the 15 performers had 399 potential characters to choose from the book “Kansas Characters”. “This is good for the kids. They search out their own information and work up their own scripts. We have kids involved, who go to the public schools and five are home schooled,” Lane said.
Lane and Reynolds said they are hoping to get another grant for this summer. “But if we don’t get the grant, we’ll still do something,” they said. Reynolds said they plan to have the group perform at the La Cygne Fiesta in September. Both sponsors hope to recruit more students to join the group.
The cast in order of appearance included: Liza Heide as Josette, a Native American; Paul Reynolds as John Brown; Amy Fohner as Clarina Nichols, a journalist; Spencer Mitzner as George A. Custer; Gracye Wilmirth as Laura Ingalls; Sam Reynolds as Bob Dalton and James Crook as Emmett Dalton, outlaws; Tori Harper as Carrie Nation; Amanda Fohner as Dorothy Gale; Cailey Partida as Martin Johnson; Tatum Troutman as Osa Johnson; Grace Crook as Amelia Earhart; John Reynold as Emmett Kelly also known as Weary Willie, the clown; Andrew Fohner as Dan Carey, founder of Pizza Hut; and Isaac Partida as Barry Sanders.
The Crook and Fohner children are homeschooled; Sam Reynolds is in 10th grade at PVHS; Paul Reynolds is in ninth grade at PVHS; Tatum Troutman, Cailey Partida, and Spencer Mitzner are sixth graders at PVMS; John Reynolds is in fifth grade at Fontana Elementary; Tori Harper is a La Cygne Elementary fifth grader; and Isaac Partida, Liza Heide and Gracye Wilmirth are La Cygne Elementary third graders.
After listening to the historical figures, students spent the day visiting centers in the Commons area, gym and throughout the building. By rotating from learning center to learning center, volunteers shared information and hands-on-activities about plants and seeds, the library, honey bees, bread and wheat, butter and popcorn, telephones, spinning wool and quilts. Other topics included Native American lore, railroad and trains, farming, trapping and furs, the Pony Express, rocks and minerals, Kansas wildlife and wood splitting.
Former La Cygne Elementary custodian, Wilber Fleming, and his brother Joe took time to show students how to split and cut wood. “This is a cross cut saw,” said Joe, and Wilber said, “Last year, we didn’t think we would cut up that much wood. We came prepared this year with more wood because of how much the kids wanted to saw.”
Other activities could be found in classrooms. Tally Butler was set up for fiddling, and water color painting was ongoing with the help of the Prairie View High School art students.
Cindy Hubbard and Ruth Gaffney showed students how to wash butter and then talked to them about popping corn. Hubbard said she was still using her grandfather’s 1930’s Dazy churn, but modified to fit a modern glass jar. “We have the kids shelling corn, but we also wanted them to see how washing butter helps the butter last longer,” Hubbard said.
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on Feb 2 2011. Filed under Kevin Gray, Opinion.
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