Amish Country

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What a wonderful, fabulous day I had today! I was in total culture shock today and loved the learning!

I must admit that before our visit today I had no idea what to expect in Lancaster County, PA. I think the picture in my mind was like a little Disneyized version of an Amish village set apart from all else. And in my mind’s eye I think the people themselves were little “costumed” interpreters. I was oh so wrong! These are thriving, involved community members mixed in among other residents of the county. But, also, as we learned this is a community that is growing in numbers but is having a hard time sustaining itself in the traditional sense due to the cost and scarcity of farm land. This has resulted in most Amish taking on other/additional jobs (such as opening up their homes to tour buses of strangers).

 We took a long, winding drive in the bus to the Pennsylvania countryside. Suddenly we were looking out the windows and there were buggies, women hanging laundry and men and boys working the fields! I got giddy seeing them. We stopped in Intercourse, PA at some shops where we ate lunch. Then we ventured to the Mennonite Visitors Center where we watched two introductory videos that did a great job of dispelling some myths and incorrect generalizations. We picked up our darling elderly little tour guide and she gave us an informative narrated tour. I found the information she gave us very interesting, but was very intrigued by the differences among Mennonite and Amish.

The highlight of the day was going to an Amish family’s home for dinner. These people were scurrying around cooking for 30+ without electricity and were still gracious. They made mounds of delicious food. The real joys, however, were speaking with Ada, having the family sing for us, and talking to the kids after dinner. It was pretty obvious that there are a bunch of moms in the group missing their little ones because we descended upon the kids pretty quickly. The most difficult thing was not taking pictures of the family! What photo-ops….

Classroom Application: This is another day that makes the classroom application too easy for me. In 4th grade we study states and regions. I believe in our antiquated SS text there is a sentence or two about the Amish countryside, and since I had no knowledge or frame of reference I never expanded upon it. Not anymore! I can’t wait to share with the students the cultural differences of this society that is just as much American as is theirs.

We also celebrate Holiday In A Box at our school. 4th grade students choose a country and then do a variety of research and activities centered around the winter holidays for that country. I was lucky enough to sit next to our guide at dinner so I made certain to ask her all about Amish Christmas traditions. I’m now tottering between doing my own project on the Amish to use as a sample of what the kids need to do, or assigning it to one of the kids….

Yet another kind of silly connection, but a connection to curriculum non-the-less. In years past I’ve read the book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key to my students. I like to read it towards the beginning of the year because it’s about a boy with really, really severe ADHD. It kind of sets the tone that no matter what kind of learner you are in my classroom, you are appreciated and loved. Besides that the kids find it hysterical. Poor Joey is constantly in trouble and he really blows it when the class takes a field trip to an Amish farm. He steals a shoe fly pie, eats the whole thing and then gets so hyped up that jumps off the rafters inside the barn into a big pile of hay. I will never be able to read this book again without the Alleghy’s farm as the setting!

 

 

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