Colonial Day: Exploring our Country’s History

On Tuesday, Grade 4 students celebrated Colonial Day at Grace. Colonial Day is an interdisciplinary unit of inquiry and a longtime tradition at Grace that allows Grade 4 students to develop a deeper understanding of the history and politics of our country in the eighteenth century.

Several projects helped Grade 4 with their in-depth study of the historical and social forces at work during this time. Students wrote a five-paragraph informative essay about a person who lived during the time of the American Revolution. In addition to researching topics for these essays, students continued to discover events and civic issues during the eighteenth century that caused the British colonists to seek independence from Great Britain, and ultimately led them to war with the Mother Country.

Yesterday, Grade 4 students immersed themselves, through costumes and hands-on activities, in the culture of the eighteenth century. All of our time looking at drawings of how people dressed during colonial times, and brainstorming about simple ways to replicate this apparel using items from our own modern wardrobes, paid off in a fantastic display!

This past Friday, April 20, and Tuesday, April 24, Grace was fortunate to host visits from the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. In connection with Colonial Day, musicians from the Old Guard performed and shared information about the importance of musicians’ roles in Revolutionary War times in Colonial America. Students learned how the fife, bugle, and drums are played and how the musicians and the drum majors helped to organize troops to defend the colonies as our country was forming. Musicians from the fife and drums corps, as well as members of the Historical Flutes and Trumpets, performed for us. We are grateful to these musicians for serving our country and for their generosity in sharing their time and talents with us!