SELINSGROVE — Second-graders stared with wide eyes at Civil War re-enactor Heather Hibbs on Wednesday as she detailed the many ways the plants they see outside their homes every day were used as medicine in the 1800s.
Hibbs’ presentation was part of Westward Ho, a class at the Kids’ College, being held this week at Susquehanna University.
In Westward Ho, kids learn what life was like for western pioneers, from how they treated illness, to how they prepared food and what kids their age would have played with.
It was all information that led Carter Casimir to the conclusion that he prefers life in the 21st century versus that of the 19th century.
“Not enough of the new technology,” Carter, 9, of Lewisburg, said. “I don’t think I would have liked to go out and leave a lot of my stuff behind in the East when you go out West because you need, like, only the essential stuff. You won’t be taking any toys, except maybe a bag of marbles and a bag of jacks.”
The summer camp is all about helping kids learn in ways they may not in today’s classrooms, said camp director Kathy Lentz.
“Certainly, it’s important to keep kids’ minds from rusting, but I also think that we have a philosophy that this is the way kids are meant to learn, that it isn’t always about picking up a pencil and doing a worksheet,” Lentz said. “They’re born with this kind of curiosity, and all of our activities hopefully nurture that and bring it out.”
Other Kids’ College classes include Curtain Up, a drama class, and From Plant to Plate, a class that takes students into the garden and teaches them to cook with the food they find there.
Buzzing in retired elementary teacher Nan Ruhl’s class was the class Bug It Up, where kids learn about the insect world. Bug It Up gives children a close-up and hands-on look at caterpillars and moths, lady bugs and bees. They even get to make their own edible bugs and bee hives.
Especially brave youngsters can test their palette by crunching on a real cricket — bacon-and-chedder flavored to make it go down easier.
Lentz’s class, How to Think Like Leonardo, sought to engage the creative side of students like Sydney Hartzell, who acted as an apprentice of famed artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, exploring nature, solving puzzles and trying her hand at drawing.
This is Hartzell’s third year at Kids’ College, an experience she said helps her learn without feeling like she’s in school.
“I love it because it keeps me active in the summer,” Hartzell, 11, of Lewisburg, said. “And it’s not even really school. It’s just fun activities where you get to see your friends and learn new things that you didn’t know before.”
News
Related Photos
-
Justin Engle
Discussion
Kids' College takes students on an educational journey
- News
-
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
SEATTLE — Money donated by the nation's most chartable people is starting to catch up with pre-recession giving, thanks in part to some very large bequests from a few donors. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports today in its annual report of the nation's most generous people that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion.
-
State Rep. William DeWeese convicted on five counts in corruption case
HARRISBURG — A jury today convicted a senior Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on all but one of six charges in the latest corruption trial stemming from a five-year investigation into the use of taxpayers' resources for political purposes.
-
State gas-drilling bill may pass today
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking state senator says he's hoping for a speedy vote in his chamber on sweeping legislation to impose a drilling fee and update safety regulations on the booming natural gas industry.
-
Senator warns of 'dramatic' and 'difficult' state funding cuts
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking senator says he expects dramatic and difficult spending cuts in Gov. Tom Corbett's budget plan. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said Monday that Pennsylvanians should be prepared for a debate on how best to use tax dollars, and he warned that he can't envision lawmakers raising taxes to ease spending cuts.
-
'It's just amazing'
PAXINOS -- Eli Manning may have been the Super Bowl's Most Valuble Player, but Henry Hynoski was the name on everyone's tongue in the Valley onSunday night. Patrons gathered in blue Giants jerseys to support Hynoski, the 23-year-old Elysburg native and Southern Columbia High School graduate who is now the proud owner of a Super Bowl championship ring.
-
Schools await word on Corbett's budget
SUNBURY -- Winston Churchill once said, "A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."
-
DA wants Loving Care leader held liable for $68G fine
MIDDLEBURG -- More than a year has passed since the former corporation that operated a Selinsgrove personal care home was convicted of stealing a resident's money, but the case still lingers in court. In December 2010, Loving Care Nursing Center Inc. was convicted of stealing about $32,000 of former resident Francis T. Simonoski's money while he lived at the 308 S. Market St. home in 2007. The corporation was fined $100,000, which later was reduced to $68,000 following an appeal.
-
For Riverside couple, game day means party
RIVERSIDE -- Super Bowl Sunday is more than just a sports day for Joe and Leanna Muscato. It's also one of their biggest parties of the year. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. "When it started, it was in my little apartment" in Danville, Leanna said. Only eight people were at the first gathering. Now, there are usually 25 to 30 people every year.
-
Who will feed US?
SUNBURY -- More than 60 percent of farmers are over the age of 55, and without young farmers to replace them when they retire, the nation's food supply would depend on fewer and fewer people. "This is an alarming revelation that we have been hearing for several years," said Tim Lesher, a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Young Farmer and Rancher Committee and president of the Northumberland County Farm Bureau.
-
A dip'll do: Few linger in 41-degree water
LEWISBURG -- Why? Group by group, about 250 otherwise perfectly sane-looking folks dived in and ran out of the Susquehanna River at St. George Street landing Saturday in the Seventh annual Polar Bear Plunge, part of the yearly Heart of Lewisburg Ice Festival.
-
5 of 9 coaches: Giants will be super
CATAWISSA -- Around 10 tonight, it will be the New York Giants being showered with multi-colored confetti, holding preprinted newspaper front pages that proclaim "GIANTS ARE SUPER!" and getting sweaty fingerprints all over the 7-pound sterling silver Lombardi Trophy, so say five of nine Valley high school football coaches.
-
State mandates manure must be managed
HARRISBURG -- Anyone who spreads manure on fields or has a pasture, barnyard or feedlot must now have a manure management plan, even if he has no animals and imports manure only for his fields, a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection official said Friday.
- More News Headlines
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
