Current News
Welcome to our website!
The Friends of the Schoolhouse web site will keep you informed about The Old Britannia Schoolhouse and the activities
and events planned by the Friends' organization. We encourage you to check this site often. New information will
be added monthly.
Ecofest was a great success. Though rain and thunderstorms were predicted for the day, the rain held off. Cloud cover until mid afternoon helped to keep everyone cool. By 2 o’clock the sun broke through. At the bandstand, schools qualifying for Ecoschool honours received their awards. The variety of inventive ways that students found to make their schools environmentally friendly was quite remarkable. There was a lot to do to keep visitors busy - learning to tie a fly, drawing or painting something in the garden, playing with old-fashioned toys at the schoolhouse or talking to people from various conservation groups. Congratulations to everyone who planned this exciting event.
Lemonade on the Lawn
Every summer the Friends thank their many supporters with a mid-summer lemonade and cookies event. Members of Friends of the Schoolhouse and staff of the Peel District School Board are invited to bring a picnic lunch to the schoolhouse grounds for an old-fashioned Victorian lunch in the garden. The Friends provide the lemonade and cookies. The schoolhouse is open for visitors and the gardens will be in full bloom. It’s our way of saying thank you to the many people who support the schoolhouse program and activities. This year’s event will be held on July 20.
Great Summer Reading for Children
The long warm days of summer are great times to indulge in reading favourite books. Many adults recall wonderful times when they were young sitting under a tree, or in a tree house, or curled up in a chair by a window on a rainy afternoon devouring a good story, sometimes for the second or third time. One popular series of books was written by naturalist and early conservationist Thornton W. Burgess. His books are as popular today as when they were written between 1910 and 1960.
Burgess (1874-1965) was born on Cape Cod and was a direct descendant of Thomas Burgess, one of the original settlers in 1637 of Sandwich, Massachusetts. His lifelong interest in nature began when he worked as a young lad to help support his widowed mother. One of his employers lived on Discovery Hill Road, a wildlife habitat of woodlands and wetlands. When he began writing stories for magazines and a syndicated daily newspaper column, Bedtime Stories, he created tales of animals he remembered from his early days. Over his very productive career he wrote 15,000 syndicated stories and many books which have been published around the world in many languages.
The animals – Grandfather Frog, Chippy Chipmonk, Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk and others of Mother Westwind’s Children – live as real animals would. Though given human voices, the challenges they face are those of real animals in the forests and fields. Because some of their problems originate from human intervention, the stories contain important messages about preservation and conservation.
Here is a partial list of his books. They are available from Amazon.com.
Mother West Wind’s Children
The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
Mrs. Peter Rabbit
Old Granny Fox
Blacky the Crow
And many others ….
This picture of Peter Rabbit is from the Thornton W. Burgess Society website. Go to www.thorntonburgess.org for more information about Burgess, the museum, and a complete list of his books.
July Open Sunday - July 11, 1 to 4 pm
The lavender in our gardens is blooming in abundance. Come and learn how to make little sachets and lavender wands to discourage moths. We may be able to pick and taste a raspberry or two if they are ready. Children can play turn of the last century Victorian games and everyone can test their balance on the stilts.
Come and Join Us
If you have a couple of hours a month or only a few hours once or twice a year you could help us support the schoolhouse and its programs. The executive committee meets on the second Tuesday of the month from September to June to conduct the business of the Friends of the Schoolhouse and to plan programs and events. Our meetings are from 4 to 6 in the afternoon at the schoolhouse. Volunteers help on an occasional basis with our events and in the gardens. Not only do we support a worthwhile cause, we have a lot of fun doing it. Email our executive director Joan Reid at jem1mma@aol.com, if you have a few hours to spare and an interest in helping preserve a community treasure for future generations of children.
A Word Game
A game called Anagrams was popular with both adults and children. It’s a good activity for a rainy day in the summer.
1. Cut about 50 small squares (2” x 2”) of paper. On each piece of paper print a letter of the alphabet. (You can also use tiles from a Scrabble game.)
2. Place the pile of letters face down in the center of the table.
3. Each player in turn takes a square and turns it over. Continue turning over letters until a player calls out a word that can be made from the letters.
4. The player who sees the word takes the letters that make up the word and places them in front of him/her.
5. Continue turning over letters until another word is found. Letters can be added to a word already found to make a new word. For example, if the word bird is found by a player and later the letter “E” is turned over, a player can call out the word bride. When a new word is identified the player takes all letters in the word, “stealing” letters from the person who holds the letters in the previous word bird. The game ends when all letters have been turned over. The person holding the most letters wins the game. Players need to concentrate and be quick to recognize new words.
Come and Dig In!
Spring has officially arrived which means we are thinking of gardening. We need volunteers who can donate several hours of their time during the month of May to do a Spring cleaning and get the flower beds in shape for planting. Both adult and student volunteers are welcome. Secondary school students will receive credit towards their Community Service hours. If you can help on any or all of the following dates, please contact Joan Reid at jem1mma@aol.com for time and directions. Even a few hours of your time are helpful and greatly appreciated.
Saturday June 5
Work continues in the gardens all summer. Contact Joan Reid if you would like to help.
Open Sundays 2010
1 to 4 pm - Something new every month with light refreshments
For more information about our Open Sunday programs go to the Events page.
Mark Your Calendar
To see a list of our year’s events go to the Events page.
Researching our Roots
Joan Reid has done a wonderful job of documenting the history of the Old Britannia Schoolhouse as well as many of the other early one room schoolhouses in Peel. There is still much more to discover. Read below for a wish list of “Wanted” items that will help us learn more about our historic schoolhouse.
For use in a book on one-room schools in Peel County:
- Minute Books
- Cash Books
- Class Photos
- Report Cards
- Prize Ribbons
- Medals
- Certificates
- Shields
- Contracts
- Trustee Memorabilia
- Teacher Memorabilia
- Newspaper Clippings
- School Registers
Your contribution will be acknowledged. Materials supplied will either be returned to you or donated to the Peel County Archives on your behalf.
SLATE Group
SLATE stands for So Let’s All Talk Education (in a one room school), or as one witty person suggested, being truly Canadian, So Let’s All Talk Eh! Each year for a day in the spring people involved in working or volunteering in living history one room schoolhouses get together to exchange ideas and learn from each other. We meet at a different schoolhouse location each year which gives everyone the opportunity to experience how living history is presented in a setting different from their own.
If you are a staff member or volunteer in a living history one room schoolhouse and would like more information about SLATE, contact:
Helen Booth
Museum Director
Town of Lincoln's Jordan Historical Museum
3800 Main Street
Jordan, ON. L0R 1S0
905-562-5242
Fax: 905-562-7786
www.lincoln.ca
