At 10 a.m., the air horn shattered the silence, followed by the rumble of wagons in the mad dash for land. In the frenzy, Sarah Hann and Nicole Dierkes' wagon took a tumble and spilled all their worldly possessions on the open plain, but the determined pioneer women threw everything in and still managed to stake their claim in Springfield Estates Elementary School's "Pioneer Day."
Sarah and Nicole lived to tell about their tragedy.
"Our wagon fell over when we were coming over," Sarah, 11, said.
Nicole, 12, munched on the fried chicken she got off the chuck wagon at lunch time.
"You had to rush to the area and stake your claim," she said.
Jocelynne Jinenez was in another tent with a plate of grub. She talked about the hardships on the frontier in the 1800s.
"They had nothing to drink but water," she said. And even that had to be retrieved from a central location in a container, not a water fountain.
The field at Springfield Estates was full of teepees and tents Friday, May 17, Frontier Day for the sixth-grade students. The morning started with square dancing in the gym, the land rush, pioneer activities all day, relay races and the chuck wagon. Principal Susan Garrison called the exercise part of "brain-based learning." The school often uses reptile handlers, costumed historians and contests as part of the curriculum.
"The artistic musical sensory knowledge works in the factual knowledge. They will remember this better, the sensory information tie-in. This is part of the social-studies curriculum," she said.
"My mom made this dress for Colonial Day in fourth grade," She did remember something from that lesson where they re-enacted the Colonial period as well.
"Britain and their taxes and stuff. They had to be so proper," she said.
SIXTH-GRADE TEACHER Laurie Hartt walked around with a cowboy hat, neckerchief, vest and sheriff’s star. She was getting into the role as much as the students.
"We wanted the kids to go through a real-life experience," she said.
Sixth-grader Hannah Gagarin was also decked out in a period outfit.
"We're learning how hard it is to walk around in high-heel shoes," she said.
Matthew Gabramadhin compared it with the realistic television series "Survivor," as he sat in his colorful abode, made partially of Winnie the Pooh sheets from home.
"We're like frontier people. We had to do a lot of work to get here," he said, referring to the classroom activities the sixth-graders initially did when learning about the land rush.
Parents helped out as well. Christine Wiggins was helping the students weave mats out of old scraps of cloth. Her son Jeffery was in one of the tents. Although Wiggins had no teaching experience, she did some research beforehand, reading "Pioneer Days," a book about crafts in those days.
"We are weaving braided rugs. Another mother and myself went through the book," she said.
ROSS AND ROBIN CAMERON were there with their son James. Ross works for the National Archives and specializes in local and family history as a hobby. He manned a crafts table and noticed one thing the students learned
"I think they found out if they forgot something, they had to do without," he said.
Lisa Palmer is in her last month with parental connections to Springfield Estates. She's had two daughters who went through all six years there, and her son, Bud, has been there since kindergarten. Palmer's experienced this learning method before and could sense it with her daughters.
"Hands-on was better than anything. It's a fun way of learning. That's the right way to do it, when they don't know they're learning," she said.
They live five doors down from the school, and she happened to be out in the front yard when the land rush was on.
"I live about five houses away. I could hear it," she said.