Early American history in the spotlight during Harvest Festival
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

HISTORY SEEMS MORE RELEVANT WHEN CHILDREN GET TO 'LIVE' IT--Conejo Elementary School celebrates Harvest Day at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks on Friday. Portraying the parts of Colonial Jamestown settlers are, from left, Carolyn Buckley, Sean Levine, Cameron McLaughlin, Trent Seybold, Brooke Weger, Evelyn Truong, Steffany Eyre and Miel Apostol.

The waters flowing through the creek at Conejo Community Park could barely be heard over the gleeful cries of the young students who gathered for last Friday's Harvest Festival.

The 12th annual event, put on by Conejo Elementary's Open Classroom program, is meant to honor and remember the Jamestown days.

In the six weeks before the festival, kindergartners through sixth-graders studied JamestownVa., the first permanent English settlement in the New WorldThey learned about the natives who originally inhabited the land and how the colonists lived after arriving. The Harvest Festival is the culminating activity for the unit.

"It's not necessarily a celebration," said Lori Peters, director of the Open Classrooms program. "It was a pretty difficult time in history. We're honoring it and teaching the kids about it.

"Today's event is to build on what they've learned."

Parents led five centers all over the park where the kids gathered for hands-on learning about the ways of Jamestown.

One group learned Native American drumming, dancing and chanting, while a skit demonstrated the arrival of the colonists and their interaction with the Native Americans.

"The Native American traditions are a very big part of our history," Peters said. "We want them to understand that the white man wasn't the first one to come to the New World. They had to learn about these traditions, too."

Another station was set up for the kids to study the arts and crafts of the era, including wool spinning and making cornhusk dolls. Another was focused on period dress.

"My favorite part was dressing up," said 11-year-old Parker Jadwin. "We were making bags and bonnets. And I learned that they didn't have pockets back then. They had to make their own on the outside of their pants."

Peters said lessons about the hardships facing the colonists were a big part of the lesson.

"At the clothing station, when they were making the bonnets, the kids said, 'This is really hard,'" Peters said. "We tell them that this is what they had to do in those days. They couldn't just go out and buy something."

While playing a colonial game with homemade Mancala boards, Misty Pinnegar, 10, said she learned a lot during the day.

"We've learned what they did and what they wore," Misty said. "The kids did the wool and were in the fields, so they didn't have time to play many games."

After the centers closed, the students came together in a circle to sing Native American chants and share their appreciation for the organizers and volunteers.

"I'm thankful for all the things we've learned and have seen and experienced today," said Brooke Weger. "I've been having Harvest Festivals every year for seven years, and I'm in sixth grade, so this is my last one. This one was the best."

The Open Classroom program is a districtwide, schoolchoice program that involves parents working with teachers to create an environment of handson learning.