Time travel isn’t just a way to reboot a science-fiction film franchise ? it’s also great for elementary-school research.
That’s what Andersonville Elementary students and teachers thought, bringing history to life through a film project using time travel to move the plot.
‘Four kids are in the library researching the past, touch these apples, and are transported into the past,? said Eric Yeloushan, who created the project with fellow second-grade teachers Jenni Conley and Cathy McEwen. ‘They learn about the school’s milestones and find answers to their questions.?
‘We’re learning about the olden days,? said James Robert Hogg, second grader. ‘We’re working really hard on the skit ? practice, practice, practice, until we get it right.?
The time travelers visit the 1800s and the 1950s, learning about earlier versions of the school and what life was like for students and teachers.
‘Handwriting was called penmanship,? said second-grader Jake Gillitti.
‘Kids studied the three Rs, reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic,? said classmate Megan Ford. ‘Arithmetic means math.?
‘Boys and girls used separate entrances,? Yeloushan said. ‘They had one teacher so students taught each other a lot. It’s really neat, a different perspective.?
Another difference: clothing.
‘Kids dressed in different ways,? said Ashley Dunlop, portraying a student from the mid 1800s in a red-and-white dress and bonnet.
‘In the old days, girls couldn’t show their legs and had to wear a dress,? Ford said. ‘They had to curtsey to the teachers.?
Dunlop said she prefers the dress to modern jeans-and-a-Tshirt attire.
‘I look pretty in it,? she said.
Parents came up with pioneer-type costumes for actors to wear.
‘Families have chipped in a lot,? Yeloushan said. ‘They help out with research, check microfiche records at the library. It’s really been great.?
The DVD project also includes photos ad interviews with former students, who explain firsthand what the school was like in the ?50s.
It was inspired by Clarkston Community Historical Society’s book ‘Our Children’s Heritage,? about Clarkston and Independence Township.
‘We wanted to supplement it, with focus on Andersonville Elementary School and our place in history,? Yeloushan said.
Funded through an Academic Service Learning grant, students write letters, act in skits, produce videos using computers, and make posters, he said.
‘The idea was to involve the entire second grade,? he said.
They plan to premier the DVD at the end of May, he said.