Colonial times come alive for kids

Dress-up time didn’t end on Oct. 31 for the kids of El Morro Elementary School.

Decked out in feather headdresses and mobcaps, children, school staff and parents celebrated a school tradition on Monday and Tuesday.

At Colonial Days, students relive the period from the 1607 founding of the Jamestown colony to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, using educational assemblies and a re-created colonial village.

At the Monday morning assemblies that opened the event, students sat on the ground and at lunch tables outside the multipurpose room to hear tunes like “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Principal Chris Duddy then came on the scene, wearing a massive, floor-length feather headpiece with his Native American costume. Kids did double takes, exclaiming “Whoa!” as he passed by.

Suddenly a junior fife and drum corps comprised of colonials and Native Americans entered, circling the assembled kids before taking their seats.

The 2006-07 school year quilt was then presented; each class had constructed a square for it, and a memorial square for teacher Marshall Klapman, who died July 26, was included.

Laguna Laughter Club founder Jeffrey Briar, impeccably dressed as Thomas Jefferson, led the assembly.

Between skits, with students performing various chores and hobbies from the time, Briar taught the assembly about America’s origins and the concepts of freedom, equality, liberty and happiness.

His story brought raucous cheers and boos from the crowd; the former for freedom; the latter for the described evils of the English king.

Briar taught about the election process, using examples in which students voted for their president and their favorite ice cream flavor.

He then explained the difference between a president and a king, illustrating that a king instates his own favorite ice cream flavor — pickle — whereas a president tries to heed the taste preferences of the people.

Briar said this was his first Colonial Days experience. The PTA contacted him about the event, and he later came up with the Jefferson concept. The costume was recycled from his annual piano performances as Beethoven.

Classrooms spent Monday and Tuesday visiting a historical autumn wonderland created by the El Morro PTA.

“They did a really nice job of turning the multipurpose room into a colonial village,” Duddy said.

Real fall leaves peppered the floor, which was covered with a brick red paper. Bales of hay surrounded craft stations, and all the parents and teachers in attendance were dressed in costume.

Baskets of beads and feathers sat at a jewelry- and keychain-making booth, and the aroma of hot apple cider (donated by Trader Joe’s) wafted from the next station.

Beside the cider, at the newest addition to Colonial Days, women worked at spheres of dough called testales, which became handmade tortillas that were smeared with Country Crock and cinnamon before being given to the children.

Colonial Days mastermind Lynn Gregory has been the PTA’s program coordinator for three years. She said she first became involved when her on Harrison entered kindergarten at El Morro.

“It’s so worth the work when you see how much fun it is for the children,” she said.

Gregory’s father, Joe Thomas, comes to Laguna from northern Georgia each year to celebrate Thanksgiving. While here, he also helps out at Colonial Days. He said he’s very proud of his daughter’s work.

“As busy as she is, she still makes time for something like this,” he said, smiling.

Kindergarten students were the first to enter the “village.” They sat on the floor around storyteller Chris Sullivan. Each child held a paper bag with their name on it.

Sullivan, dressed like a sailor, then launched into tales of maritime history and superstitions.

Within seconds of Sullivan’s conclusion, the sounds of hammers, crunching leaves and laughter filled the room.

Guides took small groups of kids to each station, where they made corn husk dolls, sewed buttons onto fabric and hammered designs on pie tins.

Other crafts for the kids included pottery, calligraphy, rope-making, and carding and spinning wool.

“The kids today don’t even know their clothes come from sheep or cotton, so it’s really great to show them,” said spinner Margie Bell, who is a member of the South Coast Weavers Guild.

This is her first year back at Colonial Days after a long sabbatical; although her kids are older now, she still wants to help out, she said.

Bell gave “hand cards,” rectangular wooden pieces covered on one side with short wire bristles, to approaching students, and showed them how to “brush” raw wool to clean and straighten it out, to provide for a smoother handspun yarn.

Kids watched as the wool they prepared was run through the spinning wheel and joined the long string of yarn that was created.

Candle-making was also popular with the youngsters.

Lagunatics founder Bree Burgess Rosen, whose son Noah attends El Morro, carefully taught children how to alternate dipping wicks into vats of molten wax and water to create tapers.

Gregory said that Colonial Days originated about 20 years ago, when two mothers visited Colonial Williamsburg, the original capital of Virginia that has been turned into a living-history educational center.

They brought back the seed of an idea to do something similar at their children’s school.

“Since then, it has truly become a tradition here at El Morro,” she said.