We are learning about the history of The Elisabeth Morrow School. We interviewed Ms. Hooven, who was one of the first students to attend our school. Ms. Hooven said that when the children arrived at school they shook hands with Elisabeth Morrow and Miss Chilton, and they went directly to the nurse to check if they were healthy enough to attend school that day.
The Little School, as it was named at that time, was only for nursery- and kindergarten-aged students, and there were only five or six students in each class.
Ms. Hooven remembers building with big hollow blocks, and having jobs such as polishing silver and cleaning out the canary cage. One day the canary got loose when Ms. Hooven was cleaning the cage and the bird flew all around the room until the teacher finally caught it!
Each class also had a piano in it for music. Sometimes the children sang songs and sometimes they did movement to the music. Ms. Hooven remembers using her arm like a trunk and moving around the room pretending she was an elephant. Ms. Hooven also remembers having fresh squeezed orange juice and graham crackers everyday for snack.
After a few years, The Little School became far too little for all the children who started to attend the school, and so the building we are in now was built on property given to Elisabeth Morrow by her mother and father. Later, Chilton House was built and Morrow House was donated to the school as well.
~Ms. Lowell's First Grade
(artwork provided by Ms. Lowell)
