Woodhull School Students Go for a Walk
Keith Meyers recently took his Woodhull School fifth grade class for a walk around Huntington, stopping for lessons in Heckscher Park, the Village Green, Town Hall and the Arsenal. The all-day excursion was a big hit with students who enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.
“We had a great day,” said Mr. Meyers, who is a longtime elementary grade level teacher in the district. “I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from my parents, who especially liked that we walked, the old-fashioned way, rather than take a bus. Many children also wrote that they loved the trip because we walked.”
The group left Woodhull at 10:20 a.m. via a path off the school’s athletic field. The youngsters made their way down to the Village Green area and eventually across Main Street to Heckscher Park for a math lesson.
Students worked in pairs counting various objects around the park and then graphed their findings before reaching some conclusions. They also developed a pair of questions for classmates based upon their respective graphs.
A later science lesson involved an effort “to combine science, movement and art to reinforce what they are learning about our solar system,” Mr. Meyers said. The lesson helped the youngsters develop an understanding of why it takes some planets a very long time to revolve around the sun and put the distance between these objects in better perspective.
While in Heckscher Park the students viewed some of the architectural flourishes of the Old First Church, Heckscher Museum of Art and the park’s amphitheater. They ate lunch in the Village Green near a variety of trees and with a historic stream flowing nearby. They then wrote in their journals, describing the surrounding scene. Mr. Meyers encouraged the youngsters to use four of their senses (not taste) to help develop a better description of the area.
The group then headed over to Town Hall, the former site of Huntington High School and a plot of land used for a school from 1797 through 1976. There School Heritage Museum Curator Jack Abrams brought them on a tour of the monuments erected in front of the building that honor the service of local residents to their country. Mr. Abrams, himself a Korean War veteran, also provided students with a quick lesson of school district history and of the site’s importance in education history.
Soon it was time for a ten-minute walk to the Arsenal on Park Avenue. A local volunteer dressed in an authentic Revolutionary War era uniform, discussed colonial life and later showed students weapons used by soldiers of that era,
“Some children even got a chance to hold a rifle, which they found to be heavier than expected,” Mr. Meyers said. “We have been studying the Revolutionary War so this was particularly interesting to them.”
Mr. Meyers said the volunteers who have opened the arsenal for his classes in recent years “do a wonderful job and it’s apparent they love sharing our town’s rich history with the children.”
The class walked back to Woodhull in time for dismissal and with plenty to tell their parents and friends. “We are so lucky to have such history in Huntington and are lucky that these sights are within walking distance,” Mr. Meyers said.
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