Home >
Second Graders on The Mayflower
When second graders arrived at The Grammar School last week, they were ready for a different type of day at school. In preparation for Thanksgiving they had been studying the pilgrims and their trip to the New World, and teacher Eve McDermott had coached the students to reenact some of the pilgrims’ experiences on the Mayflower. Dressed in period costumes, students played the part of the ship’s captain, various women and children, and Squanto, a Native American. They sat quietly reading, writing, and nibbling on homemade hardtack in a designated area of the classroom as they imagined the tedium of the trip across the Atlantic Ocean almost 400 years ago.
Throughout the day the students eagerly explained their situations to visitors. One boy, playing the part of Squanto, described in detail how he was captured by an English sea captain, taken back to England and sold as a slave, and then returned to the New World to discover that his entire tribe had been wiped out by smallpox. Other students told graphic tales about being stuck in the dark crowded hold of the Mayflower for over two weeks in a bad storm, without being able to go up on deck for fresh air. They also explained why they were so quiet and well behaved: children in those times were only allowed to speak after “a grownup speaks,” because, as the second grader playing Captain Jones said, “They would get whacked with a stick if they spoke out of turn.” By the end of their ordeal, children had a much better understanding of the hardships of 17th century life, and also gained an appreciation for the comforts of their own lives today.