Gr6BNews

= Grade 6 Homeroom 6B = = Colonial Day News  =

Colonial Trades:
**Saddler** By Kirsten A saddler’s job in the colonial time is to make many different types of saddles for the horses and their riders. Some of the different types of saddles are hunting saddles, racing saddles, positions saddles, and sidesaddles. On a saddle there are also many accessories like a harness, girths, and bridles, etc. A saddle is built on a wooden tree and was soon tailored to the customer’s measurement and those of his mounts. The tree that they used was strengthened with iron plates, and the fitted with hardware to secure the stirrup leathers. The accessories like a harness were sewn from strips of leather cut on the areas were they would need them. Once the saddle was done they would strap it using rings and buckles that were supplied from the blacksmith. The things that you need to learn to be a saddler is math because you need to learn to measure things perfectly. If you cannot measure things the right way the saddle (or bridle or bit or girth) it may turn out lopsided and not please the customers. The person may need to go saddler school or just go to regular school to learn these skills **Wigmaker**  By Mia and Marygrace   Well it is just like the ones today. The bigger your hair is the wealthier you are. They just made wigs and they had slaves and the slaves got to powder the wigs. They get a sculpture of their head. Then they get sheep hair or any animal hair. They comb it so it looks like real hair. Then they get a weaving frame to hold the animal hair on. They sculpt it to what they want. Then they powder it or they can put a ribbon in it. Then they make sure it fits. Then they buy it. This is job was important in the 18th century because a wig was a way for people to be fashionable. People would wear them to cover up grey or bald heads, so no one would see them. There were different types, like wigs for soldiers; which signified them different then a wig for a traveler. Someone would want to do this job because you get to help people out in your community, and you got to dress people up, and make them look different then they really do. I think it would be satisfying because you could make your own hair, and you learn how to sew. The education the person needed to have is to be an apprentice and learn to make wigs by being taught and watching others. The skills you need are you must know how to handle the tools correctly and you must be careful with the needles and tools.
 * Shoemaker**  By Morgan and Kelly   With strange-sounding names such as "helling sticks," "petty-boys," and "St. Hugh's Bones," those were the names of the tools they had to use. There purpose was to make shoes. A shoemaker's complete tool kit included relatively few items and could be purchased for about the same price as a common pair of shoes. They needed to know how to make shoes and have skills in sewing. They had to learn how to make the shoes and had to be good at it. The shoemaker job was needed because they needed shoes to keep their feet warm back then, especially in the winter because of the weather and the diseases. Also, their clothing accessories were very important to their appearance. The benefits it gave to the community were that the shoes gave the peoples feet protection and it made the shoemakers wealthier. Someone would want to be a shoemaker because they made a lot of money in the shoe business. In my opinion, it would be satisfying to be a shoemaker because you would make tons of money and you could have all the shoes that you want!

Colonial Schooling
By Devon, DeAnna, Mackenzie, and Anna In colonial times schools served in session between December and March. Younger children that are too small to help with chores, also attended school between May and August. New England children usually began to attend school when they were four, sitting in the front seats to learn the alphabet from their spelling books and then going on to reading. At about seven years old children began to study geography, followed by penmanship at nine, and arithmetic and more difficult reading between ten and twelve. Older students worked in history and grammar books. Teachers were between the ages 17 and 25 years old. Teachers also had just a district school education themselves. It was a tradition that women teach only young children in the summer term. School committees were coming to see them as more effective teachers and less expensive than men. A school stove was named as a fireplace. A school classroom has no blackboards or globes. Schools were used not only for district meetings and interviews with teachers, but for evening spelling competitions, singing schools, and even religious revivals. In colonial times the best part of the day for me would be to go home. The reason why I say this is because school would be boring to me. I would not even learn anything because for me to learn something I need to see it in order for me to understand it. If the classrooms don’t have a blackboard what are they going to write down for us in a better way so we can understand it. School in colonial times was much different than school today because in the New England colonies, parents believed that their children should learn about Christianity. Parents taught their children to read so they could read the Bible. Once those kids knew how to read, they could read school books as well. New England town’s hade more than 100 families set up Grammar Schools. These schools taught boys Latin and Math so that they could go to college and one day provide for the family. Although girls could read, they weren't allowed to go to grammar school or to college. School age kids in the Southern Colonies were taught at home, for the most part, by their parents or by private tutors. When these kids became teenagers, they would then go off to college or to Europe. As in the other colonies, Southern girls did not go to school. It may not look like one, but a [|hornbook] is really a book. Paper was pretty expensive once and hornbooks were made so children could learn to read without using a lot of paper. A hornbook was usually a small, wooden paddle with just one sheet of paper glued to it. But because that paper was so expensive, parents and teachers wanted to protect it. So they covered the paper with a very thin piece of cow's horn. The piece of cow's horn was so thin, you could see right through it. That's why these odd books were called "hornbooks." I would rather go to a school in this century because now we have computers and a lot more other technology. Their school was a lot different than ours. In the southern colonies, children generally began their education at home. Because the distances between farms and plantations made community schools impossible, plantation owners often hired tutors to teach boys math, classical languages, science, geography, history, etiquette, and plantation management. Most then completed their education in England. A governess usually taught the girls enough reading, writing, and arithmetic to run a household and the social skills to attract a husband. We either started in school or we got home schooled and then went to school just like colonial times.

By Angela, Courtney, Mickey and Ariah The women in colonial times were homemakers. They cleaned the house, made food for the family, made clothing, doctored their family, sold goods, took care of their animals, maintained a cook fire, and tended the kitchen gardens. They built fire, picked fruits and vegetables for their meals, and made breakfast. The women trained the young girls to become mothers and wives. The women worked very hard and would never get a break. I would rather be a woman in the present because the women back then had to do everything and the kids had to work and there were very hard times back then. Male colonists worked almost as hard as women. Although they didn’t do housework, they worked to support their family. As either a farmer or shoemaker, blacksmith or store owner, they had to work hard to earn the money. Many men didn’t have much extra time, but if they did, they would stop by at the tavern to socialize or help their wife with the housework. I would rather be a man in the present because you really only have to do mental work, not physical work. Men in the 1700s had more to worry about then men now. Colonial women had to be married by the age of 25 or else they were socially disgraced. It was typical for them to be engaged and married at the age of 13 or 14. Colonial housewives began their days very early. The built the fire, carried water, picked vegetables and did other things, and then prepared breakfast. Then, if they had daughters, they trained them to be housewives and mothers by having them help around the house. They sewed, cooked, helped with little siblings, etc. Girls could not go to college, but they may have become educators. I would rather be a woman in modern times because we have more rights, and are not forced to be housewives or married at all. We have a lot more freedom and can become almost anything we would like to be and pick a career. A normal day for a child is when you are younger then ten they spend most of there time playing games: rolling the hoop; nine pines; sack races; played tag; quoits ; marbles; hopscotch, leapfrog; and blindman. But when they turn ten things change, they half to go to school to know to learn manner, and also have to act like noble women at home. I would have like to live back then, because it was a simple life, and was something fun, but sometimes hard. If you were a boy in colonial times, you would go to school and be educated. If you were a girl, you would probably stay home and learn to cook, clean, etc. In their free time, children of colonial times played Blindman’s Bluff, flew kites, and went fishing, swimming, and played with a big wooden hoop. I would rather be a child of today because living today; we do not have as many responsibilities. Girls are not forced to be married and are educated. In colonial times, they drank peach and apple cider, and ate what they caught, hunted, picked, or got from animals at the farm. Children couldn’t sit down, and in most cases they were not allowed to talk or even move! On Sunday, they would always eat baked beans. The mother would start to make the beans on Saturday night. She left the beans in the fireplace all night, and in the morning they were ready to eat. The colonists ate all sorts of sea creatures (fish, rays, oysters, etc.), and also they ate all kinds of meat (beef, pork, raccoon, etc.). They would get their food by sending the men out to hunt for it. There were lots of rules the children to abide by: they could not move there mouths with any noise; stand while they were eating; and they could not even say a meal was good when it was good! I think that colonial meal time had some very strange rules and to me they were very unnecessary, but it would probably make sense to me if I lived in colonial times. I wouldn’t want because like I said, it is very silly to me to follow these rules.
 * Every Day Life in Colonial Times **

By Alexa, Jenny, Emily Clothing in the eighteenth century was a lot to them. They were a lot of clothing to. First they put on there stockings, which were the same as people ware now. Then they put on their stays which were undergarments that formed a torso into a conical shape. Next you would put on your shoes! Next you would put on your pocket. It wasn’t attached to your clothing. In colonial times, all men would wear some type of breaches. They could either be nice Sunday breaches, ragged work breaches, or just regular day breaches. Under their breaches, instead of socks, they would wear stockings. Their shoes had strait soles, and weren’t left or right footed. On their upper body they would wear a linen shirt with a vest. Over that they would were a coat and sometimes a cloak. Accessories they would wear are a three sided hat and a walking stick, also known as a cane. In the eighteenth century children’s clothing evolved a lot, first they wore constructed clothing that their parents didn't wear any more. Then they started to wear clothes made especially for them. When a small child was learning to walk they would wear a tight fitting bodice with attached strings or band for the parents to help guide the little child. I would image young girls would wear small dresses, and eventually grow into a more poufy tied tight at the top dress. Young boys would probably wear small replicas of their father's clothing, which is stockings, Capri pants, a coat like thing, and a vest. Colonial clothes are very different from the clothes wore by children today. For example small children wear onezies, or little pants and a shirt. Young girls do not wear dresses all the time, young girls almost never wear dresses. Boy or man you don't wear tights in this century, there fore colonial time clothing is very different from modern day.
 * Colonial Clothing **