Teacher and students go in costume, wearing clothing of the time period.
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Have you ever wished you could travel back in time? It is possible, and you don’t even need a time machine! Instead, you and your class can visit the Tubac Presidio State Historic Park and see what it was like to go to school in the 1880s.

Third- through fifth-grade students and their teachers can experience a school day in the second oldest schoolhouse in Arizona. Teachers and students decide if they want to participate in a traditional day in the 1880s or just do some basic lessons in the schoolhouse, have a spelling bee and then take a tour of the museum. If they decide on a traditional 1880s school day, the teacher receives a curriculum, which includes copying lessons from school textbooks from the 1800s and follow-up guidelines.

Teacher and students go in costume, wearing clothing of the time period, which means that girls wear long dresses or skirts with blouses, and boys wear jeans and a button-down shirt with suspenders. They will make individual slates to complete their schoolwork on, make their own lunch pail and fill it with food of the time period. Tortillas, fruit, beef jerky and vegetables were some of the common lunch items in the 1880s.

The students have lunch and enjoy recess playing games from that period. Marbles, jump ropes and tops were popular at the time. Boys and girls cannot play together at recess. Reading and a spelling bee complete the day. 

The cost for the field trip is $2 per student and $5 per chaperone. The teacher is always free. 

Reservations can be made by calling  (520) 398-2252 or your teacher can go to www.tubacpp.com/schools to read the program guide and for more information.

Edition: 
Phoenix
Tucson
Issue: 
August 2019