Added to the Digital Collections!
Evelyn Grimes, between 1961 and 1996, collected obituaries of local and former community members from the local newspaper the Shellbrook Chronicle, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, and other as of yet unidentified newspapers. The names, birth dates, birth locations, death dates, death locations, and burial locations of the individuals have been indexed and the spreadsheet can be seen and downloaded from the Museum's Google Drive account. Digitization of the clippings is a future project.
Thursday 18 July 2013
Monday 1 July 2013
Shellbrook Museum's One Room Schoolhouse
written by Nancy Carswell
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Shellbrook Heritage Museum is sharing a series of articles focusing on a part of its collection. The homesteaders and homemakers highlighted in previous articles sought not only a better life for themselves but for their children and commonly viewed education as a foundation.
When a community had enough students, it applied for a school grant. Saskatchewan schools in the late 1800's were voluntary and taught the 3Rs—reading, (w)riting, and 'rithmetic. It was hoped that schooling would facilitate legal communication around homesteading and prevent con artists from taking advantage of immigrants who did not speak English. In the early 1900's, schools continued the 3Rs with some adding school gardens and agricultural lessons. While school was free, most students in the late 1800s and early 1900s left after achieving the mandatory Grade 4-5 to take up responsibilities on the family farm.
The Museum has a furnished one room schoolhouse from the Rayside School District #2808. It is a typical schoolroom with blackboard, teacher desk, student desks, and cloak room. Senior visitors may recognize the readers and the roll down maps. With a little imagination, one can hear a spelling bee, catch the laughter of outside games, sense the anxiety of a visit from the school inspector, and witness the splendor of an elaborate Christmas concert with students proudly presenting plays, poems, and songs.
The Shellbrook history book, Treasured Memories, explains that the first Shellbrook school was built in 1910 when the Pleasantville and Parkview schools became overcrowded. It was located at the intersection of 1st Avenue and 1st Street Miss Dowling, a first year teacher, was hired.
The student population served by the Shellbrook school rapidly outgrew the one room and in 1912 a two-storey brick building opened with D.L. Fitzpatrick as principal and teacher and Miss Dowling as teacher. On January 16, 1913, the Shellbrook Chronicle reported the results of the annual meeting of the Shellbrook School District No. 252. Some expenditures listed are: "Paid teachers' salary $1140.00", "Paid for erecting an repairing schoolhouse, outhouses, etc. $3345.19", and "Paid for school library and reference books $10.95".
Another growth spurt in student population doubled the two rooms to four in 1919 with the separate "Little" school added in 1923. These classrooms served the student population well into the 1940's. The current Shellbrook high school name honours W. P. Sandin who dedicated over 18 years of service to improving local schools. Sandin commented that his greatest challenges were obtaining funding and agreeing on the location for schools with the Department of Education which supports the truth of the adage "History repeats itself."
The one room schoolhouse model has modern admirers. Authors of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined admire the one room schoolhouse's student centered approach because the teacher had to customize learning and the learner had to practice independence. In a multi-grade environment, senior students had many opportunities to review and consolidate learning when they or the teacher taught content to junior students and junior students had previews of future content and concepts. Students practiced self-discipline as they worked independently on teacher-assigned activities. The one room schoolhouse model leverages the diversity within its learning community.
The Museum Committee and Friends of the Museum continue to invest energy in inventorying the collection. The inventorying process is the first step as the museum moves from storing artifacts to telling their stories. If you would like to help, please drop in to see Alanna Carswell at the library or call Marlene Fellows at 747-2475.
The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories. Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.
 |
| This
class photo from the Shellbrook Heritage Museum collection was donated by W.T.
Bill Smith who is in the middle row. 1946-47 school year, Miss Miller's Grade 9-10 class. Back row: Frank Sokolowsky, Russel Kennedy, Dave Roberts, Leonard
Harder, Ted Sokolowsky, Tom Bibby, Johnny Halliwell. Middle Row: Frank Zawada, Allan Miller,
Bertha |
When a community had enough students, it applied for a school grant. Saskatchewan schools in the late 1800's were voluntary and taught the 3Rs—reading, (w)riting, and 'rithmetic. It was hoped that schooling would facilitate legal communication around homesteading and prevent con artists from taking advantage of immigrants who did not speak English. In the early 1900's, schools continued the 3Rs with some adding school gardens and agricultural lessons. While school was free, most students in the late 1800s and early 1900s left after achieving the mandatory Grade 4-5 to take up responsibilities on the family farm.
The Museum has a furnished one room schoolhouse from the Rayside School District #2808. It is a typical schoolroom with blackboard, teacher desk, student desks, and cloak room. Senior visitors may recognize the readers and the roll down maps. With a little imagination, one can hear a spelling bee, catch the laughter of outside games, sense the anxiety of a visit from the school inspector, and witness the splendor of an elaborate Christmas concert with students proudly presenting plays, poems, and songs.
The Shellbrook history book, Treasured Memories, explains that the first Shellbrook school was built in 1910 when the Pleasantville and Parkview schools became overcrowded. It was located at the intersection of 1st Avenue and 1st Street Miss Dowling, a first year teacher, was hired.
The student population served by the Shellbrook school rapidly outgrew the one room and in 1912 a two-storey brick building opened with D.L. Fitzpatrick as principal and teacher and Miss Dowling as teacher. On January 16, 1913, the Shellbrook Chronicle reported the results of the annual meeting of the Shellbrook School District No. 252. Some expenditures listed are: "Paid teachers' salary $1140.00", "Paid for erecting an repairing schoolhouse, outhouses, etc. $3345.19", and "Paid for school library and reference books $10.95".
Another growth spurt in student population doubled the two rooms to four in 1919 with the separate "Little" school added in 1923. These classrooms served the student population well into the 1940's. The current Shellbrook high school name honours W. P. Sandin who dedicated over 18 years of service to improving local schools. Sandin commented that his greatest challenges were obtaining funding and agreeing on the location for schools with the Department of Education which supports the truth of the adage "History repeats itself."
The one room schoolhouse model has modern admirers. Authors of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined admire the one room schoolhouse's student centered approach because the teacher had to customize learning and the learner had to practice independence. In a multi-grade environment, senior students had many opportunities to review and consolidate learning when they or the teacher taught content to junior students and junior students had previews of future content and concepts. Students practiced self-discipline as they worked independently on teacher-assigned activities. The one room schoolhouse model leverages the diversity within its learning community.
The Museum Committee and Friends of the Museum continue to invest energy in inventorying the collection. The inventorying process is the first step as the museum moves from storing artifacts to telling their stories. If you would like to help, please drop in to see Alanna Carswell at the library or call Marlene Fellows at 747-2475.
The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories. Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.
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