Class takes community studies to community

Last Friday was a busy day for Donna Kowalski’s Grade 1 class.
The 22 students shed the familiar walls of Crossroads School in Devlin and instead took their education act on the road for the chance to learn about life in a rural community from the inside.
The outing not only was yet another example of the “outside the box” thinking so common at Crossroads, but it also had the blessing of the provincial education ministry.
“It’s part of the Community Studies unit of the provincial Grade 1 curriculum,” explained Kowalski as she eyed her young charges at the Devlin fire hall.
“What better way to do it than to actually go?” she reasoned.
And go they did.
The tour began at 9 a.m. at Dev-Lynne’s variety store and gas bar on Highway 11/71, where employee Ashley Mutz took the youngsters on a guided tour of the store—complete with freebie snacks.
Next, they headed across the highway (in a school bus) to check out the fire hall, where Chief Leo Pruys and firefighter Trevor Mills took them on an extensive tour and also fielded a number of questions.
When “Sparky” the fire dog showed up, things lightened up a bit, but Chief Pruys managed to keep things on track by imposing a little homework on the class.
This assignment, however, was directed more at the parents than the students. After determining that the home of every student in the class had at least one working smoke detector, Chief Pruys then posed a challenge.
“When you go home, ask your parents to test the smoke detector tonight,” he directed. “I want you to really insist.”
Next, it was a short stroll to Greensides general store, where manager Pam Carlson took the group on another tour, this one including the butcher shop and meat locker (which fascinated some and repulsed others).
Of course, a parting gift of candy met with universal approval as the class headed for the next stop—the Devlin post office.
There, postmaster Trudy Badiuk took the students through the inner mysteries of mail handling and concluded the tour by giving each student a stamped envelope, which was put in the mailbox outside.
In a few days, the students will receive the letters and mail them back to the postmaster.
From there, the students made the short walk to Universal Enterprise, where owner Gary Greengrass took them through his shop and showed them how he works metal into various useful and creative items.
One student was shown how to operate the pipe bender and had the honour of pushing the button on the machine.
Finally, the students piled back onto the school bus and headed for the last stop at the ever-popular farm of Shirley and Tom Morrish, north of Devlin, where they spent the afternoon with the animals and also enjoyed some of Shirley’s snacks and goodies.
The senior kindergarten students from Crossroads were slated to visit the Morrish farm today (Wednesday).