On a chilly day in early April, children’s voices could be heard and classes were in session once again in the historic McCormick School Museum building. Fifty-three second- graders and their teachers from Kelly Liberal Arts Elementary School in southwest Wichita spent the morning learning about what school was like at the turn of the 19th century. They took part in reading and spelling lessons in the 1890s classroom, played listening games and made toys during recess and toured three floors of museum exhibits. Finally, they ate lunch in McCormick’s multipurpose room before returning to Kelly.
McCormick School, located at 855 S. Martinson, was designed by well-known architects Willis T. Proudfoot and George W. Bird and operated as a school from 1890 to 1992. It is now run as a museum by the Wichita Retired Teachers Association.
Kelly Elementary students learned to make whirly-gig toys during recess.
Photo by Dennis Duty
Teachers Kara Knudson and Courtney Bell came up with the idea of the field trip to McCormick. As part of USD 259’s “Then and Now” unit, students compare and contrast subjects such as schools, homes, farms, clothing, communication methods and games from different eras. Students typically use school-assigned iPads to conduct their research and record their findings. The McCormick field trip gave them a more hands-on learning experience.
Dee Starkey, a McCormick volunteer serving as school master, welcomed students after the school’s bell rang to call them in. He pointed out features of the room that are different than those in modern classrooms — including gas lamps and black chalkboards covered in cursive writing. Starkey had students read a lesson from the McGuffey’s Reader for a taste of the morals and life skills presented in the curriculum of that period. Students used slate and slate pencils to complete a spelling lesson from the McGuffey Reader, then went over Roman numerals as part of a math lesson before the bell rang again.
Recess was held indoors due to the weather. Museum volunteers Kathleen Oster and Cynthia Davie led the students in listening games before a couple other old-time games — “Hide the Thimble” and “Squirrel and Nut” — were played. Then each student was given a small wooden disc, a piece of string and directions to make a whirly-gig toy. They were twirling these when the bell rang again, signaling it was time for the tour led by museum curator Paul Oberg.
In the museum’s printer shop, Dennis Duty explained how the old printing press and typesetting process worked. The students also watched a 16mm film from the school’s large collection, “The ABCs of Driving (Accelerator, Brake and Choke pedals).”
But like kids from all eras, Kelly students said their favorite part of the school day was recess.
A longer version of this article originally appeared in MSM Bellringer, the newsletter of the McCormick School Museum.
