School History

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Home : 2008 : January : 11

School History
By jch

I don't know what grade you teach, but will share my experience.

I was teaching 4th grade when my school reached its 90th birthday and it was decided to throw an anniversary open house.

I did a Power Point
project with my class in conjunction with a grant project. I garnered stories from every phase the school had gone through from its construction in 1911. I included the purchase of land, contractor, the first graduating class, and significant changes during subsequent decades. We interviewed as many people as we could, trying to get representation from as many years as possible. We scanned

pictures from the local museum and from former students. The class pictures were wonderful. I went through microfiche at the library and gleaned any articles that mentioned our school.

It wasn't that difficult to get people to come forward. I networked with other teachers and people I knew were "natives." I put an ad in the paper, when interviewing one subject, we asked who else we should contact. The stories we got run the entire spectrum from the hijinx of sneaking off to the corner store to buy candy to the poignant memories of WWII scrap drives, bond drives, and losing the friend who had stood next to you in your class pictures during the war.

The oral history value is immeasurable. It is truly a treasure and the kids did a great job.

For a bulletin board, you could scan class pictures from different eras, display them with names of the students, if possible. Perhaps get some "now" pictures of people who are in the class pictures. Or maybe a "Where are they now?" theme.