April 18, 2019 – A Trip Through Time

Dear Third Grade Families,

What an experience we had, this past Wednesday, traveling back to the mid-1600s!

Last Tuesday, the Third Grade went on a field trip to The Wyckoff House Museum, in Brooklyn. It is the oldest standing house in New York City, built in 1652. During this year, Petrus Stuyvesant was Director of New Amsterdam, but Dutch and European Jews had not yet arrived in the New World. Before Stuyvesant, the people of New Amsterdam had already seen six Directors come and go, and they were working hard to prosper as a colony.

By 1652, Pieter Wyckoff had paid his debt as an indentured servant to a landowner near Albany, and had been working as a farmer for almost ten years. At this time, he built the Wyckoff House and farm for his wife and two children. What started as a one room house for thirteen people — similar to a studio apartment set-up in New York City (though with an outhouse instead of an inside bathroom) —  turned into a multi-room house on 20 acres of land. Eight generations of Wyckoff’s lived on the land from 1652-1901, and it was named a Historic Preservation building in the 1960s.

While in the first room of the house, the students explored the artifacts that were on display around the room. They were asked to find items that could be used to help with everyday life in the 17th century. One student noticed the spindle, which was used to help make yarn for clothing. Another student noticed that there were many materials to help make candles, so they must have been important. Some noticed all of the pots and pans laid out in the stove/kitchen area of the room, called the hearth. One artifact looked like a musical instrument or an extremely old typewriter, and we were all surprised to learn it was a meat grinder. Who knew they had those back in 1652?! A surprising fact to many was that room we were in was multi-functional. It was used as the kitchen, the dining room, the workroom AND the bedroom. Large sacks filled with hay, leaves, and herbs, called hay pallets were used as mattresses, typically fitting 2-5 people each.

In the second bedroom, which Pieter’s grandson added onto the house, was the way they showed their new wealth. The ceilings were higher, windows taller (to let more natural light in), and the space itself felt bigger. As well, they had a cabinet to display certain items to represent their status, holding feather quills, plates and XX.

We investigated more artifacts in this room, thinking about:

• what does it do?
• who used it?
• how people used it?
• where people used it?

Students also explored a butter mold, yokes (to help carry buckets full of material), a rug swatter, a carder (for brushing out wool), and a butter churn. We then learned how to turn wool into felt, and created our own felt balls. We ended our trip by look at HSCDS´s lower school art teacher, Iviva´s, own artwork that is up on display at the museum! How cool is that?

For pictures, of this trip, please click HERE to connect to a google photo drive!

Chag Sameach, everyone! I can’t wait to see everyone’s smiling faces on Monday, April 29!
Hilary

Click Here for Hebrew with Ilana Swisa

Judaics with Aliza