"In the olden days"

Connor working on the chart: how did you get to school?
Francine chose to write her name all by herself

In this grouptime we began exploring how it might be like living in the olden days. I told the children a story about my mom's childhood in the early 50s where there weren't much cars and electricity in her town. Through a simple drawing I showed the children how my mom had to walk up and down the hill for about an hour (about the same time as music and grouptime combined) to get to school. Connor was in disbelief and was very concerned about safety. He said: " It's not safe to walk because a car can hit you".  I think we shall revisit this comment and talk about road/pedestrian safety and how people especially in the olden days when roads weren't paved, no crosswalk etc. had to be extra careful have be very aware of their surroundings. We then made a chart to show how we all got to school and learned that we all drove to school and none of us walked. Matthew pointed out that it's faster to drive than walk.
Electricity was not as efficient when my mom was growing up.  She often told me stories of power outages due to mechanical problems which would often take hours to fix. So we imagined how it was like to read and study with only a candle as your light source. Some of them found it spooky and Paxton exclaimed: "This is so hard!" They enjoyed it anyhow and they even thought of the times when they used their own flashlights at bedtime.
As we wrapped up and made our way to the lunch tables I told them about how like my mom I had to help and do my share in the household chores. So I asked what they do at home to help out. Mila said: "I don't think I help a lot." Jokingly, Paxton said: " I make a lot of mess".
This is something we'll definitely explore further. 
"It's hard to read in the dark"
"What? We can't see!" Is the children's reaction when I flicked off the light

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