Pint-sized pioneers

By BETHANY BLITZ

Staff Writer

Betty Kiefer Elementary fourth-graders marched to their classes Friday in prairie dresses, aprons, cowboy boots, bonnets and bandanas.

They had finally made it to Pioneer Day. Everyone learned to square dance, though the boys weren’t sure about it at first. Students got lessons in milking cows, grinding wheat into flour and throwing a lasso. They also got to make butter and learned how wool is turned into yarn.

“We’ve spent all week preparing for this,” said Shana Hostetler, the fourth-grade teacher who started Pioneer Day eight years ago. “They’ve read about it, they’ve written about it, and now they get to experience it.”

Fourth grade is when students learn about Idaho history, and recently, they’ve been learning about Lewis and Clark, pioneers and the Oregon Trail. Over the past month, students have made covered wagons and written and directed their own show, giving contemporary songs new lyrics to go with the Lewis and Clark theme. One song about trapping was by Justin “Beaver.”

One of the workshops on Friday let kids milk a fake cow and shake heavy cream in little containers until it turned to butter.

Terence Morgan — a fourth-grader who dressed up in a cowboy hat, a red bandana, a plaid shirt and work pants — started playing the air-guitar with his container because his arm was getting tired of shaking.

“This represents the pioneers and how hard it was to do some of these things,” he said. “But it’s not really hard for me — I know what it’s like to be exhausted so I’m used to it.”

Down another hallway, fourth-graders were grinding wheat to make flour.

“Now I know why they have machines to do this,” Evan Wallace exclaimed as he cranked the grinding handle. “It’s hard and we’re only doing a handful of grains.”

Stephanie Vogl, who looked straight out of the movies in her bright blue pioneer dress and bonnet with red pigtails sticking out and freckles across her face, said her favorite part of Pioneer Day was baking bread. She said she’s going to make her own bread from now on.

“We’re celebrating pioneers and learning to do things without electronics,” she said as she ground her wheat into flour.

Just across the hall, another group of students learned about making wool and the importance of working hard.

Sue Tye, a fiber artist from Coeur d’Alene, showed the kids how she spun wool on a drop spindle and her partner showed them how to do it on a spinning wheel.

They explained to the kids that pioneers didn’t have all the dyes we do now — hot pink and hunter orange didn’t exist back then.

Instead, pioneers dyed wool with onion skins, flowers, leaves and moss. Also, pioneers had to make everything by hand, like sweaters and socks; there was no Walmart.

As Bridgette O’Dwyer watched her fourth-grade class learn and engage with pioneer culture, she couldn’t help but to be excited with them.

“It’s a super way for them to learn all day long, no pencils, no paper, just hands-on learning,” she said. “They’re putting all the things that we talked about, like hard work, clothing, food, and realizing how much work goes into it. This is the day that really makes it a bit deeper.”